As we continue on day 2 of our train trip to Iowa, let’s look at the history of Amtrak. Of course, I’m all about educating the children in my home.
FUN FACTS
Amtrak is the national train service running in every state except South Dakota and Wyoming. As you will find out in the near future, we are heading to Wyoming after Iowa and so we will have to get off the train in Colorado! Amtrak also runs to three Canadian provinces. Raised in Canada, I’m going to have to explore my options with this one!
The company was founded in 1971 (wow, it is as old as I am). They receive some government help as a “for-profit organization.” Their headquarters are in Washington D.C.
Amtrak has 500 stations along 21,400 miles of track! While top speeds can be up to 160mph, most trains run at a limit of 79mph. In 2024, Amtrak had 32.4 million passengers ride the rails with them!
HISTORY
According to Wikipedia, this is the history of Amtrak (briefly). Amtrak, officially known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, was established in 1971 to provide intercity passenger rail service in the United States after private rail companies faced financial difficulties. It consolidated operations from multiple railroads and has since expanded its network to cover 46 states and three Canadian provinces, continually receiving federal support to maintain and improve services.
With the steady increase of ridership in the 2000s, Amtrak expanded it’s services with a high-speed service in the Northwest Corridor. As of today, they have 300 trains running throughout the USA daily.
For a popular timeline of the Amtrak history, you can read on that here. Melanie and I are keeping our own notes on the Amtrak experience and will be excited to share them with you as we continue our journey westward. What an education she will get!
OUR STOPS
Our first stop is historic Fort Madison (I’ll try to share that story on Friday), IA. We will be visiting our “home” church of Joy Baptist and not only worshipping there but providing some of the music. I can’t wait to visit all the places we lived in our two different 4 year stays there. I am looking forward to seeing all our friends and church family and showing Mellie the parks we played in. The fall colors will hopefully be amazing. We haven’t been back to “cold weather” since 2021.
Our second stop is Wyoming. We will get to stay with my married daughter, Genevieve and her husband, Justin on a ranch! How cool will that be! Plus, an added bonus is I get to spend time with my baby sister, Joy and her family who are serving God in Cheyenne, WY (about an hour from our daughter). Her four children have grown up so quickly and I can’t wait to spoil them as a fun Auntie should!
God has been good to us to provide us with the time, money and opportunity to explore the train routes and take this trip. What a great experience for our children. What a great time to spend with each other.
My prayer tonight as we continue sleeping on the train: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.” Psalms 4:8
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