Much had changed in the previous 24 hours when this photograph was taken at Broad Street Station in Richmond, VA on May 1, 1971. The train, Amtrak Train No. 81, the "Silver Star," had been SCL No. 21 the previous day. The number of trains serving Richmond had been cut by half. That said, much appears as the day before. The power had come through from Washington on the RF&P and was being serviced for the trip south on SCL. The outbound SCL engine crew is boarding the same "battle scared" SCL E units that they had the day before. Platinum Mist and mixed consists were a few weeks, if not months off.
What did passenger trains look like before Amtrak in America, and Via Rail in Canada? Find out in this album with 2,700+ Historical Photos from early passenger trains of North America from the 1900's up until the early years of Government passenger trains
