The Floridian approximately used the former South Wind route and did not serve Atlanta either. However, it did serve Louisville and Nashville, which the City of Miami route missed.
Auto Train attempted a Louisville-Sanford service. It started out running as a separate train but was later combined with but kept separate from the Floridian. In any case, it was not particularly successful and was discontinued some time before Auto Train's collapse.
I knwo a lot has been written. Will try to not be too redundant.
They were all coach trains at first, every third day. When the wintertime pullman trains (Florida Arrow, Dixieland, etc) were discontinued about 1949 the streamliners picked up heavyweight pullmans from them. The South WInd and the City got consistently streamlined sleeprs more quickly than did the Dixie Flagler.
Not too well known is that at times some of these trains operated every other day and 2 days out of 3. Especially the SW and the City. I think Flagler did that only one winter. It's ridership was not as strong. .
In 1954 the Flagler was re-equipped with new coaches and sleepers and renamed, the Dixieland.
It was discontinued Nov. 1957.Also the Southland 's west coast cars were dropped then.
Thus both the City and the SW got through west coast equipment. The SW's cars were straight off the Dixieland. Some of the Dixieland's three-years old cars also went to the Georgian from Chicago to Atlanta.
Just a couple of more thoughts.
Deluxe asked why the NP domes were used in the winter on these trains. Why was so unscenic on the NP? It was about NP being less busy in the winter, their peak season going from CHI to West Coast was in the summer--- the CHI-FLA peak was winter. Just switching around between the seasons as needed, something the pullman company was very good at.
The Floridian was discontinued as part of sweeping budget cuts by Amtrak in 1979.
My apologies to passenger trainfran--I see the question about NP cars had been answered.
One thing to point out (and my apolgies if somebody has already said this) is that originally the trains had identical departure and arrival times in Chicago and also everywere betweeen Waycross and Miami
This was to give passengers a "memory pattern'--that every day at the same time A traini was either leaving Miami for Chicago or leaving Chicago to Miami, etc.(even though it was from different stations, in Chicago).
This accounts for the South Wiind having the fastest mph and the Dixie Flagler the slowest. It was not a differnce in quality as such between the trains but the fact that each had a different route. The Flagler's route was the shortest, the SW's the longest, thus the speed difference, maintaining that same arrival and departure for each train.
Needless to say that did not last, but most of the time they continued othave similar schedules, esp. southbound.
As to places which each train served on the inermediate routes, there was no attempt to have a matching schdedule For example, the SW and CofM did not arrive and leave Birmingham at the same time. Nor did the SW and the Flagler arrive and leave Nashville at the same time. It was just Chicago itself, and everywhere from Wacyross to Miami which had the same schedule the first few years.
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