Amtrak's 40th Anniversary
Exhibit Train in Milwaukee
Oct. 16-17

Photos by Dave Ingles

Amtrak's 40th Anniversary Exhibit Train parked under the Milwaukee station's trainshed on the weekend of Oct. 15-16, open 10 am-4 pm, and on Sunday morning I was on hand at 10 a.m. to go through the train. As I hoped, it wasn't crowded at that hour, and I took digital photos of almost every display (well, maybe 90% of them). The train was parked, west to east, in this order: NPCU 406, P40 822, back to back; Amcafe 43386 (for employees' rest breaks and meals); Amdinette 85999, modified to be the "40th Anniversary Store"; Display cars 10095, 10094, and 10093 (ex-ATSF baggage cars 3512, 3547, 3535); and 10&6 Heritage sleeper 10020 Pacific Bend, ex-UP same name, for employees traveling with the train.  Off the platform for Depot 4 track (second from the south; the first is the PV parking track, though it was empty this weekend, unusual), you entered on the front end of Pacific Bend, which was closed to the public, and proceeded west (rearward on the train, officially, tho the engines were at the "rear") thru the three display cars, then the Store, and exited the train from its front vestibule. Visiting the train is free; I didn't even go through the station, coming in from the back, which is well known to area railfans. Amtrak, Trains Magazine, Walthers (selling Amtrak models), Operation Lifesaver, and others had display and/or sales tables in the depot itself. I spent about 25 minutes on board, including making purchases in the Store Car (with my Amtrak Master Card, earning double points, of course, like with an Amtrak ticket).
The photos progress us through the cars as described. In most cases, they are self-explanatory and I have not captioned many. The train usually travels on the back, or front, of a regular train, to save crew and other costs. It arrived Thursday night after dark on Hiawatha #341 and went back to Chicago Sunday night to go west on Monday on the Empire Builder, for its next display. It is not displaying in many cities. In August, it spent weekends in Boston; Freeport, Maine; Burlington Vt.; and Rensselaer, N.Y. In September, Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pa.; St. Louis, then a weekend off, and finally Galesburg, Ill. Its October itinerary was Chicago; Jackson, Mich.; Milwaukee; Seattle; and Portland, Ore. I hope you "enjoy the tour."

The scruffy P42 in back is #155, the rear (power) end for Hiawatha #334, to leave an hour later at 11 a.m. with friend Craig Willett at the throttle.

The "406" was an F40 with that number, but it was not renumbered 90406 when it was retrieved from Beech Grove storage lines to be part of this train.

Here's where I boarded.

Employees or ex-employees who donated or loaned personal collection items (uniforms, menus, buttons, timetables, posters, etc., you name it) are listed on a handout sheet given to each visitor as they board. Among the names, I recognized three: Rich Copeland, internal auditor at Philadelphia (and a mileage collector); and Phil Gosney and Doug Riddell, engineers (Oakland and Washington-based, respectively). Doug is not running anymore, having gone to other duties, including shepherding the 40th anniversary Amtrak book.

Why there are GM&O. GN, and BN cars in this Walthers HO train I do not know -- but I heartily approve!
The real cars had six-wheel trucks, but who's complaining!

Fans of the TV show "Two and a Half Men" might recognize someone here as "Rose's" "husband," Manny Quinn (Mannequin). Sorry, can't help myself. The Asst. Conductor's nametag says "A.D. Riddell"

We Midwesterners will not trip on Glenview vs. Glenwood Springs or Lafayette vs. Lafayette.

Each horn display had an interactive button to push to hear the horn's melodic sound. The K5LA is my hands-down champ!
T.J. Van Haag is a Waukesha resident and hard-core fan who works for Walthers. He was an Amtrak extra-board conductor in years past, who was condutor on the by-then-Saturday-only "Heifer Zephyr" when Rob McGonigal and I rode it from Janesville, Wis., to Glenview, Ill.

A visitor and his Dad take advantage of the interactive locomotive control console.

Now we are in the Anniversary Store car, staffed by a regular Amtrak attendant from Chicago who was very pleasant.

The "modified" lounge area to the left (as you face the counter) of the cafe counter in the Store Car.

I have just exited the train. The employee is real, to assist folks, not a mannquin :-)

The emblem on the employees' break and cafe car.

This is the best I could do on the Heritage P40 at the station visit.

Which design do you prefer, the modernistic 6th St. bridge or the F40PH? Sixth St.'s old bridge also had North Shore Line tracks in it!

En route to my car I passed thru the employee parking lot.

He's probably an engineer, but "eng" could refer to an engine, too.

This is engineer Willett's new home-to-work vehicle.

After the Milwaukee display on Sunday, the Anniversary Exhibit Train deadheaded to Chicago to enable it to be made up as part of Monday's #7 Empire Builder to Seattle, the Exhibit Train's next display, next weekend. This also got most of the train's Amtrak employees who served during the exhibit back home, as some, if not all, were Chicago-based, from conversation snippets I had Sunday. Ten minutes ahead of its scheduled arrival time, here is #7 crossing Plankinton Ave. just east of the depot, at 3:35 p.m., engines 154/50, the anniv. train (with the P40 and NPCU turned around from their positions here on the weekend), the 6 Exhibit Train cars, and then the normal 11 cars on #7.

#822 was not on-line, and of course 406 is an NPCU, so the 2 P42's were doing all the work.

He had about an 18-minute dwell in the depot, plenty of time for us to go out St. Paul Ave., across the tracks on 13th St. and in on the "railfan freeway" along the south side of the tracks (also used by Post Office employees and a few people who fish in the Menomonee River, plus of course Amtrak employees going to their parking lot.) The train had stopped almost perfectly positioned for the circumstances, with the lead unit's nose in sunlight in between shadows of the I-94 bridge high overhead, and virtually all of #822 in sun, plus the first 3 cars beyond the umbrella shed at the depot. We had plenty of time to get portrait shots here of what we could and get back to 13th St. for the planned slow-speed action runby, which mainly was slides. I shot no slides until right here where the train had stopped. This is the employees' cafe/break car, just a normal NEC Amdinette or Amcafe, I think.

Of the 3 display cars, only 10095 was in the "clear."

Like most places, the exact stopping point is for the first convenience of the baggage car and station people driving the baggage trucks. This also puts the Superliners in a good loading spot; Track #1 is preferred for the Builder in MKE, and works out most of the time, almost always for #7 unless late, and most of the time for #8, depending on timekeeping. Using Depot 4 makes the passengers negotiate two ramps and the dank tunnel beneath the tracks, MKE is not really set up for ADA, and there are no baggage carts for indivudal use owing to the ramps. It may be unique for a big city terminal with these limitations. It is not unheard of for #7 and #8 to be in the depot at the same time, and if a late #8 can be held back just a tad for #7, I'm aware of that happening so both can use Depot 1. The shuttling Hiawathas also are preferred to use Depot #1, which is an extra track north of CP's two main tracks.

Here's the telephoto digital at 13th St. right after #7 whistled off and departed on-time. Closer up I was motor-driving slides.

And away he goes. I had not seen the other two fans shooting photos down there beyond 13th St.; I was the only one at Plankinton Avenue.

A bonus on the way home was photo'ing #8, a couple hours late, in Wauwatosa at Hart Park, 72nd St., with friend Craig Willett featherbedding in the fireman's seat, dutifully waving his timetable at us. Units 40/57 and the usual 11 cars at 4:16 p.m.

This page was designed and is maintained by Mike Condren. If you have materials
that you would like to contribute, contact me at mcondren@cbu.edu