The ''Champion'' was a
streamlined
Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow.
They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady.
Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...
passenger train operated by the
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...
and
Florida East Coast Railway between
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
or
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...
. It operated from 1939 until 1979, continuing under the
Seaboard Coast Line
The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...
and
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
. It was a direct competitor to the
Seaboard Air Line Railway
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...
's ''
Silver Meteor
The ''Silver Meteor'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line R ...
'', the first New York-Florida streamliner.
History
Atlantic Coast Line
![Miami FL Gold Coast RR Museum ACL 254-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Miami_FL_Gold_Coast_RR_Museum_ACL_254-01.jpg)
The ''Champion'' started as a daily service of the
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...
(ACL) in 1939, competing with the ''
Silver Meteor
The ''Silver Meteor'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line R ...
'' of the
Seaboard Air Line
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...
(SAL) on the New York–Florida route. Initially just a New York-Miami service, the ACL added a section serving St. Petersburg and the
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...
area in 1941 once enough streamlined equipment was available. The train was rebranded as the ''Tamiami Champion,'' with the St. Petersburg section called the ''Tamiami Champion (West Coast)'' (91 northbound/92 southbound), and the Miami section called the ''Tamiami Champion (East Coast)'' (1 northbound/2 southbound). In 1943 the names became ''East Coast Champion'' and ''West Coast Champion.''
Southbound trains originated in New York's
Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
, and traveled south over the
Pennsylvania Railroad-owned
Northeast Corridor through
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
There, a radio-equipped lounge car was added to the train. Leaving Washington, trains used the
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad comp ...
to
Richmond, Virginia, the north end of the ACL's main line. From Richmond, trains followed the Atlantic coast through
Charleston, South Carolina and
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...
to
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
. Here the train split, with the ''West Coast'' section moving south then west through
DeLand and
Sanford on ACL rails to St. Petersburg, while the ''East Coast'' section turned south south-east to run along Florida's east coast to Miami via the
Florida East Coast Railway.
Prior to the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
, black passengers on the ''Champion'' and other trains running through the
southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
were restricted to the "colored" coach, a combination baggage/coach behind the diesel. African Americans ate behind a curtain at two designated tables next to the kitchen of the dining car, but were barred from the observation-tavern-lounge on the rear of the train.
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
on trains serving the South persisted even though the
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), U. S. courts, and President
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
's 1948 mandate (banning segregation in railroad dining cars) had ordered interstate carriers to desegregrate.
By 1955 the ''West Coast Champion'' began hauling thru-cars for the ''
City of Miami'' and ''
South Wind
A south wind is a wind that originates in the south and blows in a northward direction.
Words used in English to describe the south wind are auster, buster (a violent south gale), föhn/foehn (alps), ghibli (Libya with various spellings), friage ...
''
streamliners to and from Chicago on its Jacksonville–
Tampa/
Sarasota
Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...
leg via
Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
and its Jacksonville–St. Petersburg section via
Gainesville,
Ocala
Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida.
Home to ...
and
Clearwater. During its long successful career the ''Champion'' network reached virtually every major city and resort in the Sunshine State except
Florida Panhandle cities like Pensacola and Tallahassee, which were served by Seaboard's Jacksonville–New Orleans overnight ''
Gulf Wind
The ''Gulf Wind'' was a streamlined passenger train inaugurated on July 31, 1949, as a joint operation by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (Seaboard Coast Line after merger with the Atlantic Coast Line ...
''. By the early 1960s the ''West Coast Champion'' also had sections had different sections north of Florida: in Wilson, North Carolina a section branched southeast to Wilmington, North Carolina and in Florence, South Carolina a branch left bound for Augusta, Georgia. However, these through services were only offered southbound. By 1966 these Augusta service was offered northbound also. In 1967 these sections to Wilmington and Augusta shifted over the ''East Coast Champion.'' The Gulf coast branch lines carried ''West Coast Champion'' thru-cars to three different Florida branches, one to St. Petersburg, a second to Tampa, Bradenton and Sarasota, and a third to
Fort Myers
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
and
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. By April 1967 the Augusta branch was switched over to the ''Everglades'' and ''Palmetto'' trains.
The ''East Coast Champion'' ran up and down the Florida East Coast Railway stopping at popular east coast resorts. In 1963 the ACL rerouted the ''East Coast Champion'' from the coastal FEC tracks to an interior ACL route through
Sanford and
Auburndale, a town adjacent to
Winter Haven, and then on SAL tracks from Auburndale to
West Palm Beach
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
and then to Miami.
At the outset, the ''Champion'' was an all-coach streamliner pulled by a
diesel electric locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...
.
Pullman sleeping cars were added by 1941.
One Champion A-unit resides at the
North Carolina Transportation Museum in
Spencer, North Carolina
Spencer is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States, incorporated in 1905. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 3,267.
History
The town was named for Samuel Spencer, first president of the Southern Railway, who is credi ...
.
Seaboard Coast Line
In 1967, the Atlantic Coast Line merged with the Seaboard Air Line to form the
Seaboard Coast Line
The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...
, making the ''Champion'' a sister train to its longtime rivals, the ''Silver Meteor'' and ''
Silver Star.'' Additionally, a few months after the merger, on September 4 northbound, and September 5 southbound, the East and West trains were consolidated into one. By December 1967, the name was simplified to the ''Champion,'' with the Miami and southeast Florida destinations eliminated, as the formerly SAL trains, the ''Silver Meteor'' and ''Silver Star'' had those responsibilities. Nonetheless, the ''Champion'' continued to have three different sections south of Jacksonville, simultaneously bound for different aforementioned Gulf Coast destinations from the ACL years. The Sarasota section was extended the next year to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
. The ''Champion'' remained as a New York–St. Petersburg service, numbered #91 southbound and #92 northbound.
Amtrak
![Amtrak Champion at Lake Alfred postcard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Amtrak_Champion_at_Lake_Alfred_postcard.jpg)
When Amtrak assumed control of most of the passenger rail service in the United States in 1971, the ''Champion'' was retained as a New York–St. Petersburg service (#85/87) operating over the same line it had for the past thirty-two years. On several occasions throughout the 1970s Amtrak would combine the ''Champion'' with its old rival the ''Silver Meteor''. The first of these instances came in the summer of 1972: the train split in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...
, with the ''Champion'' section continuing to St. Petersburg and the renamed ''Meteor'' section passing west of Jacksonville via Thalmann, Georgia, and
Callahan, Florida
Callahan is a town in Nassau County, Florida, United States, adjacent to Duval County. The population was 1,123 at the 2010 census. It is one location of the Northeast Florida Fair.
The Battle of Alligator Bridge took place around Callahan on J ...
, on former Seaboard tracks to Miami. These combinations occurred again in 1975, 1976, and 1977, but with two changes: the split occurred at Jacksonville, and the ''Meteor'' again became the ''Silver Meteor''.
In 1979, budget cuts forced Amtrak to consolidate the ''Champion'' with the ''Silver Meteor'', this time for good. Although there were indications that the ''Champion'' name would be preserved, it was dropped altogether with the October 1, 1979 timetable. However, the ''Silver Meteor'' continued to operate a Tampa Bay section until 1994, though the western terminus was cut back to Tampa in 1984.
Equipment
The
Budd Company delivered three identical equipment sets for the ''Champion''; the ACL owned two and the FEC the third (the FEC received an additional matching set which became the ''
Henry M. Flagler
Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founde ...
''). Each equipment set consisted of a
baggage-dormitory-coach, four coaches, a
dining car, and a tavern-lounge-
observation car
An observation car/carriage/coach (in US English, often abbreviated to simply observation or obs) is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the rearmost carriage, with windows or a platform on the rear of ...
. In 1940–1941 Budd delivered additional equipment: three baggage-dorm-coaches, eight coaches, three dining cars, and three observation cars.
The new equipment permitted the operation of an additional section between New York and St. Petersburg.
Legacy
Throughout its 40 years of service (1939–79) the ''Champion'' was always a big money maker and remained a fast, reliable, full service operation until Amtrak took over in 1971. ACL, SAL and SCL had maintained exceptionally high standards on its popular Florida streamliners while other railroads gave up on passenger service. According to former ACL/SCL/Amtrak train attendant James Longmire (now retired in Jacksonville, Florida), "The Champ was always packed and we didn't stop serving dinner until everyone got fed... no matter how long it took. We called the Champ "Big Bertha" because tips were so good we didn't have to cash our paychecks."
[Interview for "Keeping Track" by Samuel Augustus Jennings, 1992]
See also
*''
Silver Meteor
The ''Silver Meteor'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line R ...
''
*
Rennert railroad accident (in 1943)
References
External links
ACL ''Tamiami Champion'' timetable from 1941ACL ''Champion'' timetable from 1966-1967Amtrak ''Champion'' timetable from 1971
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Champion (Train)
Passenger trains of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Passenger trains of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
Former Amtrak routes
Named passenger trains of the United States
Night trains of the United States
Railway services introduced in 1939
Railway services discontinued in 1979
Passenger rail transportation in Georgia (U.S. state)
Former long distance Amtrak routes