Respected and sometimes feared rail executive Louis W. Menk once proclaimed: “You couldn’t make money then, can’t make money now, and won’t make money ever on intercity passenger trains!” Interestingly, Menk was a member of Amtrak’s first Board of Directors. Menk’s beliefs – held by many railroad and business executives – and the loss leader side of moving passengers, figured greatly in the process Amtrak employed to select and purchase new passenger equipment.
Immediately after its inception, Amtrak faced the very real need to replace the hodgepodge of worn-out heritage equipment they inherited from member railroads on day one, May 1, 1971. To save design and procurement costs, Amtrak turned to the Budd Company, builders of the Metroliner train sets on 1966-1967 for the Amfleet cars – that employed the same curved side design as the Metroliner cars. Those cars entered regular service in 1974 and 1975 and were proclaimed a success. That initial success tempered by the limited number of passenger car builders would influence future, new equipment purchases. The same cost-effective, retro design thinking was applied once more when the need additional single-level passengers cars surfaced in mid 1980s. This time a commuter car design was selected as the prototype.
Amtrak turned to a 1970 Pullman-Standard design for modern commuter coaches that were introduced on the non-electrified commuter lines of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and NJDOT in New Jersey between 1970 and 1973. That fleet was eventually transferred to New Jersey Transit who christened them “Comet” cars, a name that paid tribute to the famous Blue Comet passenger train of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The Blue Comet is remembered as the coach train that established a new level of comfort and luxury for passengers in the now distant year of 1929. The Blue Comet was a financial failure due in part to its birth on the eve of Black Friday and immense market penetration by competing Pennsylvania Railroad – but its landmark status remains firmly anchored in railroad and model railroad history.
Pullman-Standard was no longer producing passenger equipment so the rights to the designs were purchased by Bombardier Transportation. In 1988 Amtrak signed a contract for 86 coaches and 18 food service cars. The fleet was christened Horizon to suggest an undefined or limitless destiny. Since a proven design was chosen, the cars could be acquired quickly and were less costly than designing and testing a completely new car design. Originally designed to accommodate between 76 and 82 passengers depending on configuration, the cars were all rebuilt to be fully handicapped accessible and seating was then 68 and 72 passengers respectively.
The first cars entered revenue service in April of 1989 and later in 1994, Amtrak considered purchasing additional cars to replace the troublesome Turboliner trainsets in Empire Service in the state of New York, but that never occurred. Additional purchases of bi-level Viewliner equipment and general shifts in market and fleet reassignments found the Horizon fleet used on trains based out of Chicago by May of 2024. Exceptions were several Horizon cars that were assigned to Amtrak’s Los Angeles Division on the Pacific Surfliner Route, Cascade Service in Washington and the Downeaster in May of 2024. During regular inspections of the cars, corrosion was noted and on March 26, 2025 Amtrak removed all Horizon cars from revenue service. Unfortunately, that unpleasant discovery of corrosion on Amtrak recalls one that one-time matriarch of railroading – the PRR – experienced in 1945-1946 with the “revolutionary” class P-85b coaches. Those cars totaled 100 – with luxury seating for only 44 passengers per car – were built by American Car and Foundry and the PRR Altoona Shops. Their road service was compromised within ten years due to excessive corrosion between the walls.
This week we celebrate the greater record of the Horizon fleet by offering a number of variations of coaches and food service cars painted in the different paint schemes they displayed throughout their successful years of service. This is the perfect time to start or expand your fleet with our current listings, offered at competitive prices with timely delivery assured.
Frank Wrabel
modeltrainstuff.com