The Amtrak Historical Society™ (AHS) has been inactive for over twenty years. The information and photos posted here are for archival interest.
Click each of the below links to view photographs and slide shows of some of the events from the Amtrak Historical Society™ plus other photos of historical Amtrak equipment. Most of these photos were taken using a digital camera at the advent of digital photography. Because of this, these photos were captured at a much lower resolution than what is available with today's digital cameras and mobile phones.
Click here to view Amtrak related photos that were placed into the care of the Amtrak Historical Society™. Some of the photos are of historic interest, but some are also dark and of poor quality. This could be due to the poor scanning technology that was available more than twenty years ago.
The mission of the Amtrak Historical Society was to be a venue of education and research concentrating on the preservation of the history of Amtrak.
Amtrak (am' trak)...
The railroad which began operating intercity passenger trains on May 1, 1971
Historical (hi-stor' i-kel)...
Having importance or influence in history
Society (se-si' i-te)...
A group distinguished from other groups by mutual interests
The Amtrak Historical Society was founded in 1991 as a not-for-profit corporation under the law of the state of Illinois. The primary purpose of the Society was to preserve the history of Amtrak and to establish its place in the archives of U.S. railroading.
Although formed with the approval of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), the Amtrak Historical Society™ was a separate entity and was not affiliated with, nor funded by Amtrak.
Jeff Kocar was the founder and president of the Amtrak Historical Society™. He was a devoted Amtrak fan and historian and contributed much to the society while it was active. Jeff passed away in 2022. For more information about Jeff Kocar, click here.
Amtrak and other memorabilia that had been collect by both the Amtrak Historical Society™ and TrainWeb over several years was placed into the care of the American Rail Passenger Heritage Foundation (APRHF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, in 2006. For more information, click here to visit the website of the American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF). For hundreds of Amtrak rail travelogues and thousands of Amtrak rail travel photographs click here to visit TrainWeb.com.
If you attended any of the Amtrak Historical Society™ conventions and have any photos not posted here, or any other information about any Amtrak Historical Society™ events not posted here, please contact steve @ trainweb.com . I would be very happy to obtain additional photos or information related to the Amtrak Historical Society™ to post here.