This collection is dedicated to the passenger trains and railroads to, from and within Florida. It includes photos, artwork, timetables, consists, history and more, with special emphasis on the colorful streamliner era.
Click the locomotive below for the full-size image, consists, timetables, color post cards and interesting historical facts about Florida's passenger trains:
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Amtrak P40 #815 Sunset Limited, Auto-Train |
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Atlantic Coast Line Railroad E7A #538 The Champions, Florida Special, City of Miami, South Wind |
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Florida East Coast Railway E3A #1001 Henry M. Flagler, East Coast Champion, Dixie Flagler |
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Seaboard Air Line Railroad E4 #3011 Silver Meteor, Silver Star |
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Southern Railway E7A #2919 New Royal Palm, Ponce de Leon |
JACKSONVILLE UNION TERMINAL
Nearly all Florida-bound passenger trains passed through this landmark station complex completed in 1919. There occurred a great shuffling of cars from the Northeast and Midwest bound to various points in Florida. During the land boom of the 1920's it was the busiest station in the world. At its peak in 1944, nearly 10 million passengers passed through. In this view (from left to right), Illinois Central, Florida East Coast, Southern, Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line share the trackage.
Thanks to our sources for facts used in the Florida Rails Online Museum:
Books:
"By Streamliner New York to Florida", Joseph M. Welsh, Andover Junction, 1994
| "Atlantic Coast Line Passenger Service : The Postwar Years", Larry Goolsby, TLC, 1999
| "Night Trains", Peter T. Maiken, Lakme Press, 1989
| "Rails 'Neath The Palms", Robert W. Mann, Darwin, 1983
| "Seaboard Coast Line Railroad", Douglas B. Nuckles, TLC, 1995.
Periodicals:
"An Exposition of E's" Parts 1-3, Scott Hartley, Passenger Train Journal, Jun - Sep 1986
| "Powering Amtrak into the 21st Century", David C. Warner, Passenger Train Journal, Jun 1993
| "Silver Meteor", Joe Welsh, Passenger Train Journal, Oct 1989
| "The Champion", Samuel Augustus Jennings, Mike Schafer, Passenger Train Journal, Nov 1987.
About color schemes: The colors on this page show Atlantic Coast Line's purple, yellow and aluminum, used from 1939 to 1957.