Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in an Amcafe, 1978.

On Sunday, April 16, 1978, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (center) and more than 400 advocates for the preservation of Grand Central Terminal chartered a special Amtrak train to transport the group from New York City to Washington. Organized by the Committee To Save Grand Central Terminal, the train, dubbed the "Landmark Express," included four Amcoaches, three Amcafes and the Pennsylvania, a private car that only ten years earlier had carried the body of Robert F. Kennedy from New York to Washington for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

The group traveled to Washington on the day before the United States Supreme Court was to hear arguments in a case between the Penn Central Transportation Company and New York City over the designation of the train station as a city historic landmark. According to an article in Amtrak NEWS, Onassis made an effort to thank everyone on the train. In Washington, Second Lady Joan Mondale, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and a jazz band welcomed the group. Following a press conference, attendees enjoyed a cake baked in the shape of Grand Central Terminal. 

Photographer: Helen Hayes for Amtrak.