The Palmetto was a night train between New York, New York and two different Georgia destinations, Augusta and Savannah. It was 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 ...

, with the cooperation of 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 ...

and the Pennsylvania Railroad. During its final year it was operated by the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad 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 li ...

(the post-merger successor of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad).

Train origins

The train began in 1944. It had its origins in the ACL's ''Palmetto Limited'' (initiated in 1910). In addition to its main terminal points in Augusta and Savannah, the ''Palmetto'' had a branch that went to

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

. At Augusta Union Station the train had a connection to

Georgia Railroad Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

's train from Augusta to

Atlanta 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 ...

Decline

In the 1960s the ACL and SCL cut some of the ''Palmettos services. By 1963 the ACL trimmed its south of Richmond meal services to a cafe-lounge between

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

and Augusta, leaving the Savannah and Wilmington branches without food catering. By 1965, the Savannah branch was dropped and Wilmington-bound riders had to change to another train at Rocky Mount. Between December 1967 and 1968, the train was dropped from the SCL's timetables. Its Wilmington branch was the last train to serve Wilmington and its Union Station.Seaboard Coast Line timetable, December 13, 1968 In 1976,

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 ...

resurrected the name for a New York-Florida train; that train's route was shortened to end at Savannah in 2004.

References

{{SCL named trains Named passenger trains of the United States Night trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Delaware Passenger rail transportation in Georgia (U.S. state) Passenger rail transportation in Maryland Passenger rail transportation in New Jersey Passenger rail transportation in New York (state) Passenger rail transportation in North Carolina Passenger rail transportation in South Carolina Passenger trains of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Passenger trains of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Railway services introduced in 1944 Railway services discontinued in 1968