Could someone fill me in on the history of post-1971 private rail operations in the US? I know about the few continuing private operators from before Amtrak as well as Auto-Train, but I'm not as familiar with the others that made a go of either "regular excursion" services (i.e. they did a long-distance excursion train, but the train was run on a reasonably predictable and/or full seasonal basis) or of actual, regular intercity service along a route. The base end of what I'd consider would be either the Grand Canyon Railway or Alaska Railroad:
(1) One-way service is offered, and there is a destination to be had.
(2) Service is regular (in the GCRR's case, it is daily, but I'll go with less frequent services considering that less frequent service has a precedent, so long as it is predictable at least in-seson; in the AR's case, it's daily on some routes in-season and less frequent out-of-season).
(3) The service is substantial in length (GCRR's service is 65 miles long; AR's is far longer on the main line) and not just "within a property".
Whether the operation piggybacks on Amtrak, VIA, or another operator is beside the point.
Off the top of my head, I can think of:
-Auto-Train (1970s-80s)
-American Orient Express (1980s-2000s)
-American European Express (no idea when it ran, but apparently it ran WAS-CHI coupled to the Cap)
-Some operation down in Texas
-The Grand Canyon Railway (the sole success story to date here)
The Rio Grande's Ski Train is in a bit of an odd place...I can't quite tell if DRG&W kept that one as a seasonal PR tool even after handing the Zephyr operations over to Amtrak or not.
So...who else has come and gone, and what have they run?
(1) One-way service is offered, and there is a destination to be had.
(2) Service is regular (in the GCRR's case, it is daily, but I'll go with less frequent services considering that less frequent service has a precedent, so long as it is predictable at least in-seson; in the AR's case, it's daily on some routes in-season and less frequent out-of-season).
(3) The service is substantial in length (GCRR's service is 65 miles long; AR's is far longer on the main line) and not just "within a property".
Whether the operation piggybacks on Amtrak, VIA, or another operator is beside the point.
Off the top of my head, I can think of:
-Auto-Train (1970s-80s)
-American Orient Express (1980s-2000s)
-American European Express (no idea when it ran, but apparently it ran WAS-CHI coupled to the Cap)
-Some operation down in Texas
-The Grand Canyon Railway (the sole success story to date here)
The Rio Grande's Ski Train is in a bit of an odd place...I can't quite tell if DRG&W kept that one as a seasonal PR tool even after handing the Zephyr operations over to Amtrak or not.
So...who else has come and gone, and what have they run?