The ''Southerner'' 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 Southern Railway in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

via

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

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 ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. It operated from 1941 to 1970.

History

The ''Southerner'' was one of two new streamliners put into operation by the Southern Railway in 1941, the other being the ''

Tennessean Tennessean refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the state of Tennessee, including: * ''The Tennessean'' newspaper * Tennessean (train) See also * List of people from Tennessee * Tennessine Tennessine is a synthetic chemic ...

''. The new train made its first run on March 31, 1941, using new equipment delivered by Pullman-Standard. The Pennsylvania Railroad handled the train between New York and Washington, D.C. The ''Southerner'' shared much of the same route as the ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

,'' the Southern's other major New York-New Orleans sleeper, but diverged between

and New Orleans. While the ''Crescent'' took a more direct route via Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama, the ''Southerner'' stayed inland to serve

. The ''Southerner'' also traveled exclusively on Southern trackage south of Washington, while the ''Crescent'' used

Atlanta and West Point Railroad The Atlanta and West Point Rail Road was a railroad in the U.S. state of Georgia, forming the east portion of the Atlanta- Selma West Point Route. The company was chartered in 1847 as the Atlanta and LaGrange Rail Road and renamed in 1857; constr ...

Western Railway of Alabama The Western Railway of Alabama (WRA) also seen as "WofA" was created as the Western Railroad of Alabama by the owners of the Montgomery & West Point Railroad (M&WP) in 1860. It was built to further the M&WP's development West from Montgomery, Ala ...

and Louisville and Nashville Railroad trackage south of Atlanta. In 1970, the Southern Railway combined the ''Crescent'' with the ''Southerner'' to form the ''Southern Crescent''. The merged train moved to the Birmingham route, allowing the train to run solely on Southern's right-of-way between New Orleans and Washington. This train became Amtrak's ''Crescent'' on February 1, 1979.

Equipment

Pullman-Standard built three

consist In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

s in 1941 for the new ''Southerner'' streamliner. Each consist included the following: baggage- dormitory-coach (22 seats), 52-seat coach (partitioned because of segregationist policies in 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 ...

), 56-seat coach, a dining car, two more 56-seat coaches, 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 ...

. The front half of the observation car contained a tavern area with booths and tables. A bar area with a small buffet followed, then a rounded-off observation area. The Pennsylvania Railroad owned three of the 56-seat coaches. Motive power south of

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, ...

was provided by an

EMD E6 The EMD E6 was a , A1A-A1A, streamlined passenger train locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation, and its corporate successor, General Motors Electro-Motive Division, of La Grange, Illinois. The cab version, E6A, was manufacture ...

diesel locomotive.

References

External links

Terminal Station, at 1125 Canal Street, New OrleansSoutherner 1948 at Tuscaloosa, Alabama

July, 1952 Southern Railway timetable
Named passenger trains of the United States Night trains of the United States Passenger trains of the Southern Railway (U.S.) Transportation in New Orleans Railway services introduced in 1941 Railway services discontinued in 1970 Passenger rail transportation in Alabama Passenger rail transportation in Georgia (U.S. state) Passenger rail transportation in Louisiana Passenger rail transportation in Mississippi Passenger rail transportation in North Carolina Passenger rail transportation in South Carolina Passenger rail transportation in Virginia {{US-train-stub