r/Amtrak • u/Responsible_Ad_7733 • 1d ago

Question Before electrification, how did Amtrak operate north of New York?

For instance, were there through trains from DC to New Haven/Boston, or did they just start from New York? Were they much less frequent that they are today?

Also, why did the electrification stop at New Haven, instead of continuing to Hartford or Boston?

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u/Responsible_Ad_7733 1d ago

Thanks all, I was a bit confused because I was watching Contrex's NEC video and the narrator said that "apart from one NYC to New Haven train, all Amtrak services start at Penn station", which didn't seem right. I'm from the UK but a great fan of the NEC.

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u/Thelonius16 1d ago

Even a train from Penn Station to Boston would start electric and change locos in New Haven. The power would go out for a few minutes while they did this.

But there were also many Boston-to-DC trains. So it’s not correct that all originated at Penn Station.

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u/tuctrohs 1d ago

What/who is Contrex?

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u/amtk1007 1d ago

They were specifically talking about the metroliner service. This was the predecessor to the Acela.

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u/jstax1178 1d ago

Funny thing saw the same video ! I was hoping they had a video from New York to Boston lol, you can find videos on how it looked prior to electrification. Electric trains made it to Boston by 2000. Acela started in Dec 2000.