Amtrak lets railcar owners hitch a ride to its trains â for a price
![](https://i3.wp.com/nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/Private-Rail-Cars-24.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024&w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
Looking to reroute your lifestyle? Amtrak has just the ticket.
This month, many internet denizens learned a fun fact about the passenger-rail provider: For a small fee, the company will let railfans attach their private cars to Amtrak trains.
“[Today I learned] you can own your own private rail car & attach it to an Amtrak train,” investor Sheel Mohnot wrote in a viral tweet. “Only ~100 private cars in operation in the US, they are extremely expensive (~$300k+) + Amtrak charges ~$5/mile. But there are 100 rich train lovers out there!”
The program has existed for years, and it’s not a lack of marketing that keeps it lesser known: The prohibitive cost of acquiring a private rail car, as well as a 2018 policy change impacting private owner-run charter services, makes those who utilize their ability to attach to an Amtrak train an extremely select bunch.
“Our membership has dropped by a third from 2018,” Tony Marchiando, a 1948 Pullman sleeper car owner and president of the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, told CityLab in 2019.
![amtrak private railcar](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/Private-Rail-Cars-26.jpg?w=1024)
![Very few utilize the program due to cost restraints.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/Private-Rail-Cars-28.jpg?w=1024)
Despite the numerous obstacles to making the grade for this mobile club, Amtrak continues to publicly advertise it on its website.
“Amtrak provides the ability for rail/train car owners to have their privately-owned rail/train cars attached to our trains between specified locations to see North America in an extraordinary way,” begins a page on the company’s website explaining specifics for joining the well-wheeled club.
For collectors and train aficionados who do make it work, the experience is wildly rewarding.
“It’s almost like riding in a time capsule,” Bob Lowe described to CityLab of hitching his cars — he owns a Salisbury Beach sleeper and a Colonial Crafts — to one of Amtrak’s. “There’s people who want to do that and watch the U.S. go by, and that’s why I do it.”
Not looking to sink hundreds of thousands into being your own personal passenger service? Perhaps considering chartering a private Amtrak train.
“We can arrange a charter train for any kind of group, including corporate meetings, incentive trips, sports teams or rail fan excursions,” the company advertises online.
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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.