Discontinued Train Routes

[OlympianHiawatha]

Some of the most interesting passenger cars ran on the various Hiawathas and you can always tell a Milwukee Road car by its unique round and oval windows and the great leaping Indian herald. The Olympian Hi offered Touralux Sleepers, an in house built car that offered a fare between Coach and Pullman. They were configured much like the traditional upper and lower berth, but Touralux passengers did not access to the Skytop Lounge. But between the Super Dome, Diner and Tap Lounge, there were plenty of places to relax.

The Olympian Hiawatha carried the Creek Series Skytop Lounges which offered 8 bedrooms and an extended rear solarium lounge area, while the Twin City Hi's carried the Rapids Series Sktops which offered 24 Parlor seats, a drawing room and the smaller solarium.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

what about the desert wind. what numbers were that there was also a train what went to PHX arizona

 

[the_traveler]

what about the desert wind. what numbers were that there was also a train what went to PHX arizona

The Desert Wind was 35/36. The train that went to PHX was the Sunset Limited (1/2).

 

[George Harris]

Didn't realize the Auto Train had the Floridians old numbers. :huh: :unsure: :blink:

That would make sense since the Auto Train Corp. Took over the Midwest-Florida and Northeast-Florida route for its service. Somewhere along the line the Lorton-Sanford auto train probably ended up with numbers 52 and 53. Maybe after the Midwest-Florida route was annulled.

The Amtrak train number was not necessarily the railroad's train number for the same train. The Floridian was a prime example of this. On the Louisville and Nashville, the train was still numbers 15 and 16 as far as they were concerned, the old South Wind numbers. That can be found in an NTSB accident report, I forget the date, but sometime in the 1970's, where it is discussed by the L&N number.

There was also the even stranger pre-Amtrak situation where there might be more than one train carrying the same number on a large railroad System. Southern Railway had a few of these. For example, 3 & 4 may have been famous as the Royal Plam, but these numbers were also carried by a Norfolk VA to Danville VA train. 17 & 18 wee the numbers of the Birmingham Special, but were also carried by Asheville to Murphy NC train AND a Columbia to Greenville SC train.

Then there were the multi-number trains: Another example involving Southern. My home town train, the Kansas City to Jacksonville Kansas City-Florida Special:

Southbound:

105, Frisco Railroad, Kansas City to Birmingham

8, Southern, Birmingham to Atlanta

7, Southern, Atlanta to Jacskonville

Northbound:

8, Southern, Jacksonville to Atlanta

7, Southern, Atlanta to Birmingham

106, Frisco, Birmingham to Kansas City

So:.... If you rode this train between Birminham and Jacksonvill, you would be getting on train 8 and getting off train 7 regardless of which way you were going.

 

[Guest_Yerry_*]

GML, thanks for doing all that work to come up with the train list. IA, IN, whatever-- it was the old C&O line that's been abandoned for quite some time. I'm lucky to have ridden in back in '80.

Anyone out there who REALLY knows their 2-letter zip state codes know where AS and GU are?

 

[Hamhock]

GML, thanks for doing all that work to come up with the train list. IA, IN, whatever-- it was the old C&O line that's been abandoned for quite some time. I'm lucky to have ridden in back in '80.
Anyone out there who REALLY knows their 2-letter zip state codes know where AS and GU are?

American Samoa and Guam, perhaps?

 

[the_traveler]

Anyone out there who REALLY knows their 2-letter zip state codes know where AS and GU are?

AS = American Samoa (sp?)

GU = Guam

(I need a life - or another train ride! :lol: Does Amtrak run between the 2? :huh: )

 

[GG-1]

Anyone out there who REALLY knows their 2-letter zip state codes know where AS and GU are?

AS = American Samoa (sp?)

GU = Guam

(I need a life - or another train ride! :lol: Does Amtrak run between the 2? :huh: )

Aloha

They need a bridge also, and to get there Amtrak would have to deal with the Date Line. Boy would they need padding. Just think of the confusion. :lol:

 

[Chris J.]

Anyone out there who REALLY knows their 2-letter zip state codes know where AS and GU are?

AS = American Samoa (sp?)

GU = Guam

(I need a life - or another train ride! :lol: Does Amtrak run between the 2? :huh: )

Aloha

They need a bridge also, and to get there Amtrak would have to deal with the Date Line. Boy would they need padding. Just think of the confusion. :lol:

Confusion like this? http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fFnmsjECtac