What Early Amtrak Train Had Destinations Of Indianapolis, Montgomery, Jacksonville, & West Palm Beach?

Chas,

The train was the South Wind (1971) followed by the Floridian until discontinued in 1979.

Thank you for your replies IC EC.  What kind of consist might this train been comprised of?

My memories are vague since I rode it when I was very young, but here are some pictures.  Amtrak apparently replaced the E units with SDP40Fs early on this route.

I rode the Floridian twice.  Once from Decatur, AL to Valdosta, GA and then from Decatur, AL to Jacksonville, FL.  On the return trip from Jacksonville I got to ride in the dome car.

Neal Jeter

The South Wind / Floridian was Amtrak's worst managed train ever. When the real railroads (PRR, L&N, ACL, FEC) ran it it was a fine train with sleepers, coaches, diner and lounge car - even a dome car in winter. The original SW had a one night out schedule with a 7 car all coach + diner and obs car. Later, sleepers were added and I once saw a parlor car for sleeper passengers on it.

Amtrak never seemed to get their act together on this train. They re-named it Floridian, flip-flopped the schedule at least twice, changed routing several times and ran junk cars on it. In 1972, I rode it and went to the diner which had no air conditioning and must have been over 100 degrees in there. The menu had three choices- steak, chicken and a fish entree. I ordered the steak and was told, "You can't have that. I asked why and was told, "We only had three steaks when we left Chicago and the crew ate them."

Amtrak ran dome coaches, dome sleepers, and occasionally, an observation car, all good except that most of the time the equipment was shabby or not working as with the diner mentioned above. They didn't market the train very well, either and the consist gradually grew smaller until at the end it usually only had 5-6 cars. For some reason, Amtrak refused to promote the Chicago - Florida market, a market that once supported at least three trains on different routes (City of Miami, South Wind, New Dixieland). 

I recall seeing the South Wind in pre-Amtrak days with as many as 22 cars on it. Even in 1970 it still offered a big consist and alternated every other day with the City of Miami. The pre-Amtrak train split at Jacksonville with the main section going to Miami and west coast section going to Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota/Venice. There were through sleepers from Chicago to all of these points before Amtrak got ahold of it.

To this day, Amtrak refuses to consider the Chicago - Florida market as viable. There really should be a train in this market that runs via Atlanta. 

JH