Built in 1926 by the Atlantic Coast Line railroad, this is Orlando’s historic Amtrak station located about a mile south of downtown. And we were here today for some excitement. Excitement, apparently, if you’re a rail geek.We were awaiting the arrival of the southbound “Floridian” aka Amtrak 41. But we weren’t here for that lead locomotive 338, we were here for that second “trailing” locomotive.Storied locomotive 301. Decked out in Amtrak‘s original livery (logo) from when Amtrak was created in 1971, rail geeks follow this particular locomotive around the country and communicate with each other about where it’s traveling. We heard a rumor last night that it was headed to Florida!Closeup. Last week this locomotive operated on the Seattle-Los Angeles-Seattle “Coast Starlight” run followed by the Seattle-Chicago “Empire Builder” train. Amtrak then put her on this new train the “Floridian” which runs Chicago-Pittsburgh-Washington DC-Orlando-Miami. Not sure why this is exciting but somehow this locomotive makes rail geeks giddy.After about fifteen minutes at Orlando Station, 301 headed off towards Kissimmee followed by Tampa and ending tonight in Miami. SunRailalso uses this station and their northbound locomotive 101 came through during our visit. A good time was had by Orlando-area rail geeks!
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