One of the currently posted answers for ACL Passenger Trains indicates the South Wind's consist included PRR and ACL lightweight cars. Can someone either tell me or lead me to a resource for a more exact description or listing of the typical make-up of the South Wind?

-- Jimmy R. Loyless (jloyless@sprynet.com), June 23, 1998

Answers

I remember seeing the SW in Orlando come through with PRR units on it in the years after the FEC strike. Solid tuscan train

-- Larry Brennan (lpbrennan@aol.com), March 27, 2001.

I had the good fortune to ride all three of the Chicago - Florida streamliners; South Wind, City of Miami and Dixie Flagler; several times in both directions from about 1946 thru 1958. My Florida destination was Bradenton and in the earlier years we had to change trains at Jacksonville as there were no through Chicago to Fla. West Coast cars. In the later years all of the streamliners from Chicago carried both a through coach and Pullman via the West Coast Champion from Jacksonville to Sarasota.

One of my fondest memories is of riding in the observation car on the Southbound South Wind over the ACL through South Georgia enroute to Jacksonville. It was early in the morning, just shortly after sunup and I and a young Brakeman in a shiny new uniform were the only occupants of the car. I remember cutting through the fog among the turpentine pines as we sped along a seemingly endless stretch of straight track. Semaphores raising to green as the speeding train passed into the next block.

On a later north bound trip I recall getting on the train at Bradenton and immediately after leaving the station the train crept onto the Manatee River trestle and stopped at the drawbridge. The bridge tender handed up a newspaper wrapped bundle of fresh caught fish to the Pullman porter and the train proceeded on to Palmetto and northward. Some family in Chicago or New York had a sumptous meal of fresh Gulf seafood the next night.

It's a shame that travelers today will never have an opportunity to experience such priceless memories of rail travel in those golden years of the streamliners.

-- Mark S. Foster (bethlwv@yahoo.com), November 18, 2000.

I saw and rode SW many times from '65-'69 in south Fla. Typically a mix of PRR stainless, PRR tuscan, ACL, and occasional L&N Blue. In winter it ran alone to Miami. In summer it was tacked on to the end of the Champion between Jax. and Miami. A full service train with bagage, diner (sometimes a two-car full-width diaphram combo diner), coaches and sleepers. Sometimes an obs. but I remember it usually running without one. On a trip home from Nashville we had a blunt-end PRR obs.(which I spent every waking minute in!). PRR power often went to Miami on the ACL/SAL route after FEC strike. A couple of neat shots are in the viedo: Passenger Trains of The South Vol.3 by Green Frog Productons. The Obs. is seen in these shots along with the variety of cars. Those PRR chefs made a great hamburger!

-- Jim Coviello (jcovi60516@aol.com), August 31, 1998.

According to Lyle Key's "Midwest Florida Sunliners", the South Wind was all coach (corrugated streamliners, PRR, at first) from 12/1940-4/1949, at which point sleepers were added. This was a great train, and I hope to model it in n-scale myself. In the steam era it was pulled by locos this way: Chicago-PRR (streamlined K4s, mainly)- Louisville-L&N (streamlined K7, K5, carrying high grade coal just for this run in order to make it all the way from Louisville to Mtgy without recoaling)-Montgomery-ACL (P5A Pacifics)-Jacksonville-FEC (I don't know the locos)-Miami. In the diesel era, power was Pennsy or ACL Es all the way. For Montgomerians, my home town, this was a fine sight, even though I never saw it!! :(

I've seen a Herron Rail video with a couple of SW shots that include an L&N sleeper ("Kentucky River", I think) painted and lettered in Pennsy colors and lettering for the SW. It was a pretty colorful train.

Hope this helps at least a little. I'm hoping to find more detail, too, so I hope others will also respond to your request.

Andrew Waldo

-- Andrew Waldo (Virgiliano@msn.com), July 26, 1998.