When Amtrak took over the Crescent...what happened to the coaches, diner, sleepers immediately afterwards? Do any still exist with original interiors?
Did Southern run any other passenger trains after 1970?
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I did indeed enjoy that spot! Thanks for posting!
The Southern had style - high style
The Piedmont ran south of Washington, DC. A local between Greensboro, NC, and Asheville had a magnificent heavyweight consist.
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Originally Posted by Mike W.:
When Amtrak took over the Crescent...what happened to the coaches, diner, sleepers immediately afterwards? Do any still exist with original interiors?
Did Southern run any other passenger trains after 1970?
There is a minor error in the report: the train operated daily New York - Atlanta, and tri-weekly Atlanta - New Orleans. When Amtrak began operating the route, the entire route became a daily operation.
Some of Southern's equipment continued to be used on the Crescent. The expansion of daily service required more equipment, so Amtrak cars began to be mixed into the consist.
Southern's E units were off the train by March or April 1979. For the next year or so, power was either all Amtrak Es, or an F40 leading steam-heat-capable Es. One E8 was donated to the Atlanta NRHS, one to NCTM in Spencer. Several went to MARC. TVRM later acquired one of the MARC units.
In July 1980 Amtrak replaced the steam-heat cars with all-HEP consists, and returned the remaining Southern equipment to the railroad. Several coaches were assigned to the steam excursion consist, some equipment may have been retained for company use, the rest of the equipment was sold off piecemeal. Several of the coaches and sleeping cars are still around today, I'm not sure about other equipment.
Very nice clip on the Crescent! Too bad it is gone. Thanks for sharing.
Amtrak used to do some wierd stuff with the crescent below Atlanta...like remove the sleepers. But now its the same train all the way through.
