Subscribe to download
Amtrak Turboliner RTG

When Amtrak began operations in 1971, its inherited fleet was old and so they immediately began searching for replacements. The Turboliner was a French designed turbine-power train, a predecessor to the TGV, and Amtrak hoped it could be what they needed. The first 6 Turboliners, RTG's, were built by ANF in France. Put in service in the Midwest, mainly Chicago area, in 1973. They were capable of higher speeds than much of Amtrak's other equipment and were well received by the public.

However their time was short-lived, they faced reliability issues and needed a great deal of fuel for its turbine engines. It also was limited in passenger capacity as they were only 5 fixed cars in length and couldn't meet demand. The RTG trainsets were either retired in 1981 or rebuilt to newer RTL Turbo liner specifications. Unfortunately none were preserved and the only one to not be scrapped is rusting away in a junkyard in rural Indiana. (Edit. NOOOO, they ******* scrapped that one too!)

Stats
Pax: 296 (332 by replacing cafe with additional coach)
Speed: 201 km/h (125 mph)
Power: 1700 kW
Length: 129 m
Cost: 3,000,000