Hilltopper (Amtrak)

Hilltopper
Overview
Type	Inter-city rail
System	Amtrak
Status	Discontinued
Termini	Boston, Massachusetts Catlettsburg, Kentucky
Stations	37
Operation
Opened	June 1, 1977
Closed	October 1, 1979
Operator(s)	Amtrak
Technical
Line length	1,674 miles (2,694 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map Legend Boston South Station Boston Back Bay Route 128 MA/RI border Providence Kingston Westerly RI/CT border New London Old Saybrook New Haven Bridgeport Stamford CT/NY border New York City NY/NJ border Newark, NJ Metropark Trenton NJ/PA border Philadephia PA/DE border Wilmington DE/MD border Aberdeen Baltimore Beltway Station MD/DC border Washington, D.C. DC/VA border Alexandria Quantico Fredericksburg Richmond Petersburg Crewe Farmville Lynchburg Bedford Roanoke Christiansburg Narrows VA/WV border Bluefield Welch Williamson WV/KY border Catlettsburg

The Hilltopper was a passenger train operated by Amtrak in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It ran daily from the South Station in Boston, Massachusetts to Catlettsburg, Kentucky. The 1,674 mi (2,694 km) route made 37 stops in traversing eleven states and the District of Columbia.^[1] The Hilltopper was in operation beginning on June 1, 1977 in serving as a replacement for the discontinued Mountaineer.^[2] Initially the Hilltopper terminated at Washington, D.C., but on January 8, 1978 was combined with the Night Owl and extended to Boston.^[3] The service would continue through October 1, 1979, when service was discontinued, and in the period since service has not returned to many of the places once served in Southwest Virginia and West Virginia.^[2]

Although the Hilltopper had a warm supporter in West Virginian congressman Harley Staggers, it was in the words of one author "cited by critics as an example of everything that was wrong with Amtrak" and it was one of several routes cut in October 1979 as part of a reorganization initiated by the Carter Administration.^[4]

Notes

1. ^ "Amtrak Hilltopper Timetable". Amtrak. 1979. http://www.robertpence.com/md_baltimore_1979/timetable_66.jpg. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Sturgeon, Jeff (July 22, 2008). "Can passenger rail return to Roanoke?". The Roanoke Times. http://www.roanoke.com/news/wb/170238. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
3. ^ Sanders (2006), 73.
4. ^ Solomon (2004), 51; Dilger (2003), 91.

References

• Dilger, Robert Jay (2003). American transportation policy. http://books.google.com/books?id=eiFvke4qJWMC. 
• Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34705-X. 
• Solomon, Brian (2004). Amtrak. http://books.google.com/books?id=313LC1TljQMC.