Amtrak initiated operations with a fleet of Es and Fs bought or leased from the member roads. Most of them were quite old, while the rest were very old. In spite of the fleet's age, scenes like this of host road freight power helping out ailing Amtrak power were pretty rare, at least in my neck of the woods. In this scene, the southbound Floridian is pretty close to schedule, something that happened less and less as track conditions north of Louisville worsened. The ground crew has just finished washing windshields and headlights, and their overspray has made the black paint on 1823's nose and cab front appear even darker on my Kodachrome.
