Amtrak football special at Madison, Wis., 1975.

On October 25, 1975, a special train chartered by the Milwaukee Athletic Club carried football fans from Milwaukee to Camp Randall Stadium on the campus of the University of Wisconsin—Madison for a game between that school and Northwestern.

EMD E9A locomotive #408 leads the train and wears the first Amtrak paint scheme introduced in 1972. Built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division, this locomotive was originally owned by the Milwaukee Road and sold to Amtrak when it took over the nation's intercity passenger rail services. Behind it are a variety of Dome, Lounge and Coach cars that Amtrak purchased or leased from the predecessor railroads. As evidenced by this image, Amtrak had managed to repaint most of these cars in its Phase II livery by the mid-1970s. Until this painting project was completed, the cars bore the various color schemes of their previous owners and were therefore referred to as the "Rainbow Fleet."

Photo by, and courtesy of, Don Crimmin.