On June 25, 1986 at 7:18 am, a trio of Amtrak AEM-7s lead the Southward Montrealer (Montreal, Quebec to Washington D.C.) over Metro-North at South Norwalk.
My pal, T.S.H. and I were trackside from 6:50 am. Our primary objective was to catch the venerable former New Haven Railroad FL9s on the move.
The late running Montrealer was an added bonus. We knew this as ‘The Bootlegger’—a prohibition-era term relating to the train’s cross-border activities.
Today, this photograph seems doubly appropriate because Amtrak’s AEM-7s made their farewell trip just a week ago.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily.
Oh. Yeah.
1986, 2016 whatever!
I think he was poking a little fun at your date typo at the top of the article. Nice photos though. Long live Rolleiflex!
In 1986-30 years ago-the Montrealer routinely operated with a mix of Amtrak’s Heritage fleet cars (Baggage car, Diner, Sleeper etc) and Amfleet. As you can see in these views it was mostly Heritage Fleet. The Heritage fleet were rebuilt cars largely inherited from the railroads that joined (conveyed their long distance passenger services to) Amtrak. As far as the three AEM-7s were concerned, it was the only time I photographed the Montrealer with three Electrics. I don’t know what the story was on that. Amtrak discontinued the Montrealer 21 years ago (1995) and the Vermonter was introduced on much of the US portion of the route (with a few notable deviations).
I hope that helps.
Brian
Wow. Heritage fleet on the rails in 2016 and looking relatively clean. Was this a special move or is Heritage fleet cars and a three unit locomotive a common thing for The Montrealer ?