The ''Dixie Flagler'' was a streamlined

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

operated by the

Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a pr ...

(FEC) between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. It began in 1939 as the ''Henry M. Flagler'', a regional service between Miami and

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 largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

; the FEC renamed it and extended it to Chicago a year later. It was one of the few Chicago to Florida trains that passed through Atlanta. As an overnight streamliner it was part of the every-third-day pool shared by the ''

City of 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 t ...

'' 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), friagem ...

''. It was renamed ''Dixieland'' in 1954 and discontinued altogether in 1957.

History

The train began as the ''Henry M. Flagler'', a daily streamliner between Jacksonville and Miami, named for industrialist

Henry 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 ...

. This service began on December 3, 1939, using a set of equipment built by the

Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...

. With the introduction of two new overnight all-coach streamliners on cooperating railroads, the ''Henry M. Flagler'' equipment was placed in service on a rotating once every three days overnight schedule between Chicago and Miami as the ''Dixie Flagler'' beginning December 17, 1940. Together with its counterparts the ''

'' and ''

'', the trains offered daily service between Chicago and the east coast of Florida. Originally intended as a winter-season-only service, the public response was strong enough that the trains were placed into permanent year-round service by the summer of 1941. The FEC dropped the ''Dixie Flagler'' name in 1954 in favor of ''Dixieland''; it discontinued the service altogether in 1957. However, the '' Dixie Flyer,'' operating over the same route, with a night departure from Chicago, endured until 1965, and carried on 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 the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad until 1969.

Route

As a daytime streamliner, the ''Henry M. Flagler'' operated entirely over the Florida East Coast Railway, however, this particular train ended in 1940. To travel from Chicago to Florida, the ''Dixie Flagler'' used six separate railroads. The train left Chicago's Dearborn Station on the

Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago to southern Illinois, St. Louis, and Evansville. Founded in 1877, it grew aggressively and stayed relatively strong throughout the Great Depression and two Worl ...

(C&EI). Between

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, and

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, it used the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...

(L&N). From Nashville south to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

's Union Station, via Chattanooga, TN, it used the

Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, ...

(NC), a subsidiary of the L&N. From Atlanta southeast to Waycross, Georgia, it travelled over the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad (AB&C), a subsidiary of the

(ACL). At Waycross it joined the ACL itself, and stayed on it until reaching Jacksonville, the northern terminus of the FEC. From there, the train proceeded over the FEC to Miami. At Jacksonville it had sections that split and joined with the ACL's ''

West Coast Champion The ''Champion'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Florida East Coast Railway between New York City and Miami or St. Petersburg, Florida. It operated from 1939 until 1979, continuing under the Seab ...

'' and went to Sarasota via Orlando and Tampa, and St. Petersburg via Gainesville.Atlantic Coast Line timetable, June 12, 1955, Tables B and F

Major stops

*Chicago ( Dearborn Station) *St. Louis ( Union Station)

he Chicago and St. Louis branches converged in Evansville He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

*Terre Haute ( Union Station) *Evansville ( L&N station) *Nashville ( Union Station) *Chattanooga ( Union Station) *Atlanta ( Union Station) *Jacksonville ( Union Station) *Daytona Beach *West Palm Beach *Fort Lauderdale *Miami ( FEC station) Separate connecting Atlantic Coast Line branches from Jacksonville served Gainesville, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Ft. Myers.

Equipment

The

delivered the original equipment set for the ''Henry M. Flagler'' in November 1939. The consist matched three sets delivered for the new ''

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, an ...

''. Each equipment set consisted of a baggage-dormitory-coach, four coaches, a

dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that ...

, 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 th ...

. Originally a coach-only train, the ''Dixie Flagler'' later received

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. ...

s. In 1950 the train departed Chicago with six sleeping cars, five for Miami and one for Jacksonville. These cars had the following configuration: * 3 compartments, 1 double bedroom, buffet-lounge * 6 sections, 6 double bedrooms * 8 sections, 2 compartments, 1 drawing room * 12 roomettes, 2 single bedrooms, 3 double bedrooms * 6 compartments, 3 double bedrooms * 8 sections, 2 compartments, 1 double bedroom The train carried a full dining car for the entire trip: a C&EI dining car operated between Chicago and Jacksonville, after which an FEC dining car replaced it. The FEC's tavern-lounge-observation car made the entire trip.

References

External links

1941 timetable at Streamliner Schedules
{{NC named trains Named passenger trains of the United States Night trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Florida Passenger rail transportation in Georgia (U.S. state) Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Passenger rail transportation in Indiana Passenger rail transportation in Missouri Passenger rail transportation in Tennessee Passenger trains of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Passenger trains of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Passenger trains of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway Passenger trains of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Passenger trains of the Florida East Coast Railway Railway services introduced in 1939 Railway services discontinued in 1957