Crescent (Amtrak)
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The Crescent is a passenger train operated by Amtrak in the eastern part of the United States. It runs 1377 miles (2216 km) daily from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, Louisiana as train 19 and returns on the same route as train 20. Most of the route of the Crescent is on the Norfolk Southern Railway.
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[edit] History
A decade after the Civil War, the predecessor of Southern Railway, the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company, established the "Piedmont Air Line Route." This connected the Northeastern US with Atlanta and New Orleans both via Richmond and via Southern's present route through Charlottesville, Va., and Lynchburg, Va. The "Southern Express" and the "Southern Mail" operated over these routes, on an advertised time of 57 hours and 40 minutes, including a change at Atlanta.
Today's Southern Crescent is the lineal descendant of the "Washington and Southwestern Vestibuled Limited," inaugurated in January, 1891, by the Richmond and Danville Railroad along the "Piedmont Air Line Route." This Washington-Atlanta train was soon nicknamed the "Vestibule" because it was the first all-year train with vestibuled equipment operating in the South.
The brochure announcing the train hailed it as "a service second to none in completeness and elegance of detail ...providing all the latest and best facilities for the comfort and enjoyment of its patrons." And the "Vestibule" lived up to its billing. Drawing room and stateroom sleeping cars, dining cars, smoking and library cars and observation cars embodied the latest, most luxurious designs. They were gas lighted throughout and equipped with hot and cold running water. The vestibuled platforms proved an interesting novelty. Many passengers spent considerable time walking from one car to another just to enjoy the unusual experience of being able to do so without having their hats blown away.
Soon the Washington-Atlanta schedule expanded to include a through Pullman to New Orleans via Montgomery and Mobile, Ala., over the rails of the Atlanta & West Point, the Western Railway of Alabama, and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. New York was brought into the schedule, via a connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad's "Congressional Limited." Scheduled time for the New York-New Orleans run was advertised as a "40-hour, unprecedented" trip. Because of the popularity of this through service, the "Washington and Southwestern Vestibuled Limited" became a solid train of through cars between New York and New Orleans. It carried the first dining cars to operate between those two cities.
The Southern Crescent was operated by the Southern Railway, a predecessor of Norfolk Southern, between Washington, DC's Union Station and New Orleans. Amtrak's predecessor in the northeast, Penn Central, carried the Southern Crescent between New York and Washington. The Southern Crescent was created in 1970 by combining two trains that had run separately between New York and New Orleans for decades: the Southerner, which ran over the Southern Railway between New Orleans and Atlanta via Birmingham; and the original Crescent, which used Atlanta and West Point Railroad, Western Railway of Alabama and Louisville and Nashville Railroad trackage between New Orleans and Atlanta via Mobile, Alabama. [1] For the combined Southern Crescent, Southern chose the Birmingham route instead of the Mobile route.
The Southern Railway did not join Amtrak when it was created in 1971, but continued to operate the Southern Crescent independently. The Southern Crescent became one of the two last privately operated long-distance passenger services in the United States. On February 1, 1979, Southern left the passenger business and turned over operation of the train to Amtrak, which simplified the name to the Crescent. The Southern Crescent in 1978 had a wonderful dining car with linen tablecloths, a real kitchen and excellent fried chicken. When the Crescent was converted to Amtrak, the chef of the dining car observed that they would have to "learn how to talk like a Yankee and run a microwave oven."
When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in August 2005, the Crescent was temporarily truncated to Atlanta. Service was restored first as far as Meridian, Mississippi as an interim measure as Norfolk Southern crews worked to repair the damage to their lines serving the Gulf Coast. Amtrak restored service to New Orleans on October 9, 2005 with the northbound Crescent's 7:20 AM departure; the first southbound arrival occurred later in the day. [2]
[edit] Tracks
The tracks used were once part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and Southern Railway systems, and are now owned by Amtrak, CSX Transportation, and Norfolk Southern Railway, respectively. The following lines are used:
- See Northeast Corridor for the ex-PRR lines north of Washington, DC, now owned by Amtrak
- Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, Washington to Alexandria, Virginia, now CSX
- Virginia Midland Railway (ex-Southern Railway), Alexandria to Danville, Virginia, now NS
- Piedmont Air-Line Railway (ex-Southern Railway), Danville to Greensboro, North Carolina, now NS
- North Carolina Railroad (ex-Southern Railway), Greensboro to Charlotte, North Carolina, now NS
- Atlanta and Charlotte Air-Line Railway (ex-Southern Railway), Charlotte to Atlanta, Georgia, now NS
- Georgia Pacific Railway (ex-Southern Railway), Atlanta to Birmingham, Alabama, now NS
- Alabama Great Southern Railroad (ex-Southern Railway), Birmingham to Meridian, Mississippi, now NS
- New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad (ex-Southern Railway), Meridian to New Orleans, Louisiana, now NS
[edit] Consist
A usual consist on the Crescent includes: 2 P42's, 1 baggage/mail car, 2 Viewliners, 1 Heritage dining car, 1 Amfleet II lounge, and 4 Amfleet II coaches.
[edit] Station stops
The Crescent runs as train #19 southbound and #20 northbound, making the following station stops:
| Amtrak routes |
|---|
| Northeast
Acela Express - Adirondack - Auto Train - Capitol Limited - Cardinal - Carolinian - Crescent - Downeaster - Empire Service - Ethan Allen Express - Keystone Service - Lake Shore Limited - Maple Leaf - Metroliner - Palmetto - Pennsylvanian - Regional - Silver Meteor - Silver Star - Vermonter |
| South
Auto Train - Carolinian - City of New Orleans - Crescent - Palmetto - Piedmont - Heartland Flyer - Silver Meteor - Silver Star - Sunset Limited - Texas Eagle |
