Photo of the Week: 2/24/2012

As you probably noticed, James and I were both away on vacation during the first part of February. Once I returned, I was quite busy for a while, and I have not been able to do any writing on the blog because of that. The vacation was a cruise, so I did not get many rail photos during the week. However, the cruise left from Florida, and I took Amtrak's Silver Meteor to get to the ship before the cruise and to get home after the cruise. As much as I love trains, I was more excited about the cruise, and I didn't get many rail photos, but I did manage to snap this one as we raced past the Auto Train facility in Sanford, FL:

Auto Train was started as a private company in 1971 to carry people, and their automobiles, between Lorton, VA, and Sanford, FL. It was very successful, and the company quickly looked into expanding service. A second route opened in 1974, connecting Louisville, KY with Sanford. However, this route was not as successful, and was closed three years later. Despite its popularity, however, Auto Train was forced to shut down in 1981, a result of several major derailments costing the company more money than it had. Two years later, in 1983, Amtrak started up its own version of this successful train, and has been running it ever since. Today, it is one of Amtrak's most popular trains, because it gives people the easiness of taking the train somewhere instead of driving, but also giving passengers their own car once they get to their destination.

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