Twilight Shoreliner
| Twilight Shoreliner | |
|---|---|
 A former Twilight Shoreliner Viewliner sleeper, still in revenue service. | |
| Overview | |
| Service type | Inter-city rail |
| Status | Discontinued |
| Locale | Northeast Corridor |
| Predecessor | Night Owl |
| Successor | Federal |
| Former operator(s) | Amtrak |
| Route | |
| Start | Newport News, Virginia |
| End | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Service frequency | Daily |
| Train number(s) | 66,67 |
| On-board services | |
| Class(es) |
|
| Catering facilities |
|
| Technical | |
| Rolling stock | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The Twilight Shoreliner was a sleeper train operated by Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor. The Federal replaced the Twilight Shoreliner and eventually became just another regional train.
History
The Twilight Shoreliner replaced the Night Owl as Amtrak's dedicated overnight service on the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak equipped the train with a Viewliner sleeping car, replacing the Heritage Fleet equipment used by the Night Owl. The new train also featured a Custom-class coach and the specially-branded "Twilight Café," which served hot meals and was restricted to sleeper- and custom-class passengers. Finally, Amtrak extended the southern terminus from Washington, D.C. to Newport News, Virginia and moved the departure time from Boston from 10 PM to 8 PM.[1] The Twilight Shoreliner provided a second daily frequency between the Northeast and Newport News, supplementing the Old Dominion.[2]
Equipment
Consist
The Twilight Shoreliner's consist initially was:
- Viewliner Sleeper
- Amfleet I Café (Twilight Café)
- Amfleet I Custom Class Coach
- Amfleet I Café
- Amfleet I Coach
- Amfleet I Coach
- Amfleet I Coach
- Heritage Fleet Baggage
- MHC Mail Car
- AEM-7 Engine BOS-WAS
- P42 Engine WAS-NPN
However, due to budget cutbacks in 2001,[3] the train ended up losing certain services and was scaled down to look like:
- Viewliner Sleeper
- Amfleet I Café
- Amfleet I Coach
- Amfleet I Coach
- Amfleet I Coach
- AEM-7 Engine
The Twilight Sleeper
The Twilight Sleeper was the same design as other Viewliner sleepers, but contained Twilight Shoreliner soaps, curtains and special windows. The Twilight Shoreliner Sleeper was the only sleeper on the Northeast Corridor. Maintenance issues with the Viewliners led Amtrak to remove the sleepers from the Twilight Shoreliner and add them to other long distance trains.
The Twilight Cafe
The Twilight Cafe was for Custom class and Sleeping car passengers only. Meals were served by an attendant on Trays, the Twilight Cafe was more luxurious then the coach cafe.
Route
- Boston-South Station
- Boston-Back Bay
- Route 128-Westwood
- Providence
- Kingston
- Westerly
- Mystic
- New London
- Old Saybrook
- New Haven-Union
- Stamford
- New York City-Penn
- Newark-Penn
- Metropark
- Trenton
- Philadelphia-30th Street
- Wilmington
- Aberdeen
- Baltimore-Penn
- New Carrolton
- Washington, DC-Union
- Alexandria
- Woodbridge
- Quantico
- Fredricksburg
- Ashland
- Richmond
- Williamsburg
- Newport News
Connecting Motorcoach service to Virginia Beach
References
- ↑ "HERALD TRAVELER: Bet on a good time with golf, gambling". Boston Herald – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . July 3, 1997. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
- ↑ Messina, Debbie (July 10, 1997). "LIKE HOME ON THE RAILS AMTRACK EXPANDS SERVICE TO HAMPTON ROADS WITH SECOND TRAIN, LUXURY SLEEPING AND DINING". Virginian-Pilot – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved 27 October 2012.
- ↑ Amtrak July 9, 2001 Northeast Timetable