The Floridian on the Penn Central's I&F Branch

[David914]

 Does anyone recall the Floridian running via Logansport to Indianapolis in the 1970's?

[Modelcar]

David914

 Does anyone recall the Floridian running via Logansport to Indianapolis in the 1970's?

 

Can't say I knew, at the time the exact route of the Floridian down thru Indiana, but certainly remember it running and believe that was removed about 1979.

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[CG-Rider]

Hi,

I beleive this routing was the original FLORIDIAN routing from Chicago....and lasted until the PennCentral road bed became so unuseable ( mostly 10mph ) that tiehy moved it on alternate routing. It even became a bit of a joke in the mid-late 70s...FLORIDIAN would be ''reasonably'' on time at Indy....and show up 3-4- hours late in Chicago due to almost continuous slow orders...

Cheers

 

[nanaimo73]

Trains put together a pretty good summary of Amtrak route changes in the June 1991 issue, updated in 1996, 2001 and 2006. The train started out as the South Wind, and was renamed the Floridian in Nov 1971. It ran on the former NYC route through Kankakee and Lafayette until Jan 23, 1972, when it started running through Logansport. That lasted until July 31, 1974.

[Mike O]

Amtrak had to change the route of the Floridian several times because the Penn Central tracks were in such bad shape. The slow movement of the Floridian across Indiana was one of the reasons the train no longer exists. Even today, the Cardinal takes way too long to lumber from Cincinnati to Chicago. Entering Chicago from Dyer takes the train on the tracks of CSX, CN, UP, Metra, NS and Amtrak. The Cincinnati-Indianapolis section runs at an extremely low rate of speed.

[blue streak 1]

Mike O

The Cincinnati-Indianapolis section runs at an extremely low rate of speed.

Speed average 34 - 37 MPH. Ugh not speedy at all. CSX track Class 3?

[Victrola1]

 I believe 60 Minutes did a segment back in the '70s on Amtrak. Penn Central tracks in Indiana were shown with Amtrak creeping across the broken ties and mud. 

[Modelcar]

Victrola1

Penn Central tracks in Indiana were shown with Amtrak creeping across the broken ties and mud. 

 

.....Isn't that awful....Compare that to some European or Asian routes of the same time frame.