U36B #4007 leads two sisters at the head of the Auto-Train through Ettrick, Va. on the Seaboard Coast Line, ex-ACL main line. Ettrick is the station stop for Petersburg.

The original Auto-Train, which operated from 1971 to 1981, used a fleet of passenger cars that included ex-Santa Fe "Big Dome" full length dome lounges, Western Pacific dome coaches and most of the former Union Pacific dome car fleet.

To haul passengers' automobiles, Auto-Train used a fleet of former Canadian National enclosed autoracks. The trains originally ran between the company's Lorton, Va. and Sanford, Fla. terminals; A short-lived midwestern service operated between Louisville, Ky. and Sanford in the mid-1970s, and was even combined with Amtrak's Chicago-Florida "Floridian" for a short time.

Amtrak, which took over the original Auto-Train route in 1983, has operated it ever since. It is one of the company's most popular and best-producing routes.

Photographed by Thomas McCann, 1975.
Added to the photo archive by Thomas McCann, June 10, 2010.
Railroad: Auto Train.

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