Going on vacation usually requires a form of transportation
whether its the car, train, boat or plane. But only one
type of accomadation allows you to transport your car and your
family from one destination to another.

The Auto Train that runs from Lorton, Virginia to Sanford,
Florida featured a fun step in the evolution of car
transport services.

Founded on the idea that families would be more relaxed
vacationing in their own cars rather than rentals combined
with the fact that many everybody do not enjoy long car trips
down interstates, but would rather relax and let someone
else get them where they are going.

Auto trains can be found in many countries, but the
successful one in the United States runs from Lorton to
Sanford connecting Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida.

The car transport is facilitated by auto racks, which we are
created for the Canadian National railroad. The features of
these huge railroad cars with end doors and contained bi-
level racks that cars could be driven onto and parked.

These 75 foot cars were huge for their time and could carry
8 cars in each. The cars would be parked and secured for
transport while the families made their way to their seats
or private compartments on the train. These auto-racks are
the forerunners of the modern enclosed auto racks.

Auto-trains popularity with older travelers as it ferried
they and their cars from D.C. to Florida never quite caught
on in other parts of the country. Amtrak gained the
Auto-Train Corporation in 1983 and continues operations of
the Auto-Train on its daily routes from D.C. to Florida.

From the traveling senior to the traveling teen to the
traveling family, the auto-train offers a very unique
service in that it is the only one that will transport a
family and their car.

The cost is not prohibitive and the Auto-Train carries
about 200,000 passengers AND their cars yearly. The
convenience of being able to take your own car on vacation
without having to add thousands of more mileage to the
odometer makes the Auto-Train a vacationers auto
transportation dream answer.