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City of Miami Consists

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Posted by KCSfan on Saturday, May 17, 2008 11:42 AM

Both the City of Miami and the Southwind also carried through Chicago - Tampa, Chi - St. Petersburg and Chi - Sarasota coaches and sleepers. I made the Chi - Sarasota trip (actually Bradenton was my stop) trip several times as late as about 1953. These cars were carried on the ACL's West Coast Champion south of Jacksonville. I don't know when the through service to the west coast ended and had assumed it ran up to the time these trains were discontinued.

The Seminole may at one time have carried through cars to Miami and the west coast cities but these had been discontinued by the date of my '54 OG which shows thru coaches and sleepers only operating to Jacksonville and not beyond.

Mark 

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Posted by passengerfan on Saturday, May 17, 2008 7:09 AM

Al

I own just about every publication available on streamliners I can get my hands on and looking through several this early AM I don't see how it would be possible to combine any of the winter streamliners below Jacksonville. This was especially true of those SAL trains that did not even split West and East Coast sections at Jacksonville. It may have been possible with some of the older heavyweight trains to and from Florida at that time. The IC Seminole may have been combined south of Jacksonville but I would have to rely on someone with more knowledge of the heavyweight trains than I have in my resources.

Al - in - Stockton  

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Saturday, May 17, 2008 12:20 AM
 passengerfan wrote:

Typical winter consist of CITY OF MIAMI in winter months 1960's

3 E units

Baggage Dormitory sometimes a baggage car ahead of this car

6-6-4 Sleeper Chicago - Miami

10-6 Sleeper Chicago - Miami

3 -1-1 Sleeper Lounge Car Chicago - Miami

Dome Sleeper Chicago - Miami

6-6-4 Sleeper Chicago - Jacksonville

10 - 6 Sleeper St. Louis - Miami

6-6-4 Sleeper St. Louis - Miami

Dining Car

Coach Chicago - Miami

Coach Chicago - Jacksonville

Diner

Coach Chicago - Miami

Coach Chicago - Miami

Coach Chicago - Miami

Coach St. Louis - Miami

Lounge Observation Chicago - Miami

Hope this helps

Al - in - Stockton

Passengerfan (aka Al - in - Stockton) is right on the money. 

If you want to see color photos (both head end and back showing tapered observation car in classic IC livery), take a look at pp. 140 - 141 of Larry Goolsby's book ATLANTIC COAST LINE PASSENGER SERVICE: The Postwar Years.  If you follow lines in the South post-WWII pre-Amtak, the book might be worth your while (I got mine cheapish used-in-new condition.  Publisher TLC of Lynchburg, Va., (c) 1999.) 

The photos are from summer of 1965, and taken south of Jacksonville. I couldn't make out the number of cars from either photo, there are so many.  Caption:  "In what photographer David Salter called a 'Champion sandwich,' the City of Miami's two E-units and cars bracket the East Coast Champion's three diesels and consist."  I can make out one lightweight fluted car but most of the consist is in classic IC livery, brown and orange w/yellow stripe.  And this was in summer;  I don't know if a combined train were possible in the Winter of 1965, but I tend to doubt it. 

Al in Stockton, would it even have been possible in Florida earlier in the sixties (and esp. in Winter)  to combine two different Miami-bound ACL trains below Jacksonville, or would the combined consist be too much for train platforms?  al-in-chgo. 

 

al-in-chgo
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Posted by passengerfan on Friday, May 16, 2008 5:46 PM

Typical winter consist of CITY OF MIAMI in winter months 1960's

3 E units

Baggage Dormitory sometimes a baggage car ahead of this car

6-6-4 Sleeper Chicago - Miami

10-6 Sleeper Chicago - Miami

3 -1-1 Sleeper Lounge Car Chicago - Miami

Dome Sleeper Chicago - Miami

6-6-4 Sleeper Chicago - Jacksonville

10 - 6 Sleeper St. Louis - Miami

6-6-4 Sleeper St. Louis - Miami

Dining Car

Coach Chicago - Miami

Coach Chicago - Jacksonville

Diner

Coach Chicago - Miami

Coach Chicago - Miami

Coach Chicago - Miami

Coach St. Louis - Miami

Lounge Observation Chicago - Miami

Hope this helps

Al - in - Stockton

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Posted by overall on Friday, May 16, 2008 2:18 PM

 

I would like to know what the winter one would be since it is the longer of the two.

Thanks,

George

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  • From: Central Valley California
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Posted by passengerfan on Friday, May 16, 2008 1:48 PM

Winter or summer as their was a very big difference between those periods? The winter consists were almost double the summer consists.

Al - in - Stockton

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City of Miami Consists
Posted by overall on Friday, May 16, 2008 12:26 PM

What would have been a typical consist on the Illinois Central's City of Miami during the early sixties? This train used to pass my Grandmother's home back then, usually in the night time.

Thanks,

 

George

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