Historical trains of the Atlantic Coast

[NE933]

Everytime I read about the Era where Florida trains were split / joined at Jacksonville and Auburndale I get homesick. That was a time when there was lots of operable equipment so that consists of up to 18 cars were done, and these bulked up Silver Stars and Meteors often ran full during summer and winter.

 

[AFriendly]

For sure! And so exotic compared to today...I remember a brief time when the Auto Train buffet cars did duty on the Silver Star, and ex-PRR Budd lounges occasionally filled in for the Amfleet II lounges- I believe those cars were permanently assigned to the Tampa section for most of the 1980s. Slumbercoaches and 10-6's were always the sleepers to Miami. North of Jacksonville those trains were always teeming with people in the summer.

 

[west point]

SAL split their trains at various locations
1. Wildwood = Orlando tracks removed west of Tavers. Fairly busy east of Tavers. Some talk of Sun Rail to Tavers.
2. Waldo = Connecting doodle bug thru Gainesville to Cedar Key abandoned
3.Tamps= None aware of
4. St Pete Avoided the long TPA - St Pete route. That station actually had some maintenance facilities and at least 4 station tracks how that routing was unable to find out. Maybe track rights over ACL?
5, Auburndale = Actual Amtrak route to MIA After FEC strike ACL joined SAL at Avon Park to MIA
6. Lakeland certainly appears close enough that a DMU could travel there 31 miles for its daily and regular servicing.

BTW is Ft Meyers open yet on the SGLR? Much less toward Naples.