Crescent (Amtrak)

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Crescent
Amtrak Crescent Train 19.jpg
Overview
Service type Inter-city rail
Status Operating
Locale Eastern United States
First service February 1, 1979
Current operator(s) Amtrak
Former operator(s) Southern Railway as Southern Crescent
Route
Start New York City, NY
End New Orleans, LA
Distance travelled 1,377 mi (2,216 km)
Average journey time 30 hours
Service frequency Daily each way
Train number(s) 19, 20
On-board services
Class(es) Standard and business class
Seating arrangements Reserved Coach Seat
Sleeping arrangements Viewliner Roomette (2 beds)
Viewliner Bedroom (2 beds)
Viewliner Bedroom Suite (4 beds)
Viewliner Accessible Bedroom (2 beds)
Catering facilities Fully-licensed dining car
On-board café
Baggage facilities Checked baggage available at selected stations
Technical
Rolling stock See consist description below
Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification Only between New York City and Washington DC
Track owner(s) AMTRK
NS
CSX
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The Crescent is a passenger train operated by Amtrak in the eastern part of the United States. It runs 1,377 miles (2,216 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. The Crescent passes through more states (including the District of Columbia) than any other Amtrak route.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Heyday

A decade after the Civil War, the predecessor of the 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 and Lynchburg, Virginia. 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 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, Alabama, 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.

[edit] Late Southern Era

As Southern's railway partners sought to discontinue passenger services, Southern Railway rerouted the train to an all-Southern route and operated the train as the Southern Crescent between Washington, DC's Union Station and New Orleans. The Southern Crescent inaugurated service 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 had previously used Atlanta and West Point Railroad, Western Railway of Alabama and Louisville and Nashville Railroad trackage between New Orleans and Atlanta via Mobile. For the combined Southern Crescent, Southern moved the train to the Birmingham route instead of the Mobile route.

Meanwhile, the A&WP, Western of Alabama, and L&N continued to run the "Crescent" between Atlanta and New Orleans. Each morning, the "Crescent" and the "Southern Crescent" departed Atlanta for New Orleans over different routes. By then, the "Crescent" was a coach-only train sustained by two storage mail cars. Eventually, it was run combined with the "Pan American" south of Montgomery. In 1970, with the mail contract cancelled, the "Crescent" was discontinued.

[edit] Amtrak Era

Southern Railway, a predecessor of Norfolk Southern, initially opted out of Amtrak in 1971, although after May 1, 1971, Amtrak, assuming the services of the Penn Central, carried the Southern Crescent between New York and Washington.

The Southern Crescent was one of the two last privately operated long-distance passenger services in the United States. The other being the Rio Grande Zephyr, which operated until 1983. However, revenue losses forced Southern Railway to leave the passenger business and turn over operation of the train to Amtrak, on February 1, 1979, which again simplified the name to the Crescent.

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 7:05 AM departure; the first southbound arrival occurred later in the day.[1]

[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:

[edit] Consist

A usual consist on the Crescent is as follows:

[edit] Station stops

State/Province Town/City Station Connections
New York New York City Penn Station Amtrak: Acela Express, Adirondack, Cardinal, Carolinian, Empire Service, Ethan Allen Express, Keystone Service, Lake Shore Limited, Maple Leaf, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Pennsylvanian, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter
LIRR: Main Line, Port Washington Branch
NJ Transit: North Jersey Coast Line, Northeast Corridor Line, Gladstone Branch, Montclair-Boonton Line, Morristown Line
NYC Subway: 1, 2, 3, A, C, E
MTA Regional Bus (NYC Bus/MTA Bus): M10, M16, M20, M34, Q32, QM24
New Jersey Newark Newark Penn Station Amtrak: Acela Express, Cardinal, Carolinian, Keystone Service, Northeast Regional, Pennsylvanian, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter
NJ Transit: Newark City Subway, Newark Light Rail, North Jersey Coast Line, Northeast Corridor Line, Raritan Valley Line, 5, 21, 62, 67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 308, 978
PATH: NWK-WTC
Trenton Trenton Rail Station Amtrak: Acela Express, Cardinal, Carolinian, Keystone Service, Northeast Regional, Pennsylvanian, Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Vermonter
NJ Transit: Northeast Corridor Line, River Line, 409, 600, 604
SEPTA Regional Rail: R7
Pennsylvania Philadelphia 30th Street Station Amtrak: Acela Express, Cardinal, Carolinian, Keystone Service, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Pennsylvanian, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter
NJ Transit: Atlantic City Line
SEPTA City Transit Division: Market-Frankford Line, Route 10, Route 11, Route 13, Route 34, Route 36, 9, 10, 11, 13, 30, 31, 34, 36, 44, 62, 121, 124, 125, 316
SEPTA Regional Rail: R1, R2, R3, R5, R6, R7, R8
Delaware Wilmington Wilmington Station Amtrak: Acela Express, Cardinal, Carolinian, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter
DART First State: 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 28, 32, 301
SEPTA Regional Rail: R2
Maryland Baltimore Baltimore Penn Station Amtrak: Acela Express, Cardinal, Carolinian, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter
MARC Train: Penn Line
MTA Maryland: Light Rail, 3, 11, 61, 64
District of Columbia Washington Washington Union Station Amtrak: Acela Express, Capitol Limited, Cardinal, Carolinian, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter, Thruway Motorcoach to Charlottesville, Virginia
MARC Train: Brunswick Line, Camden Line, Penn Line
Metro: Red Line
Metrobus: Loudoun, OmniRid
VRE: Manassas Line, Fredericksburg Line
Virginia Alexandria Alexandria Union Station Amtrak: Cardinal, Carolinian, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star
VRE: Fredericksburg Line, Manassas Line
Manassas Manassas Amtrak: Cardinal
VRE: Manassas Line
Culpeper Culpeper Amtrak: Cardinal
Charlottesville Charlottesville Amtrak: Cardinal, Thruway Motorcoach to Richmond, Virginia and Washington, D.C., Northeast Regional
Lynchburg Lynchburg Amtrak: Northeast Regional
Danville Danville none
North Carolina Greensboro Greensboro Amtrak: Carolinian and Piedmont
High Point High Point Amtrak: Carolinian and Piedmont, Thruway Motorcoach to Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Salisbury Salisbury Amtrak: Carolinian and Piedmont
Charlotte Charlotte Amtrak: Carolinian and Piedmont
CATS Bus Lines: 11
Gastonia Gastonia none
South Carolina Spartanburg Spartanburg
Greenville Greenville
Clemson Clemson CAT: Red
Georgia Toccoa Toccoa none
Gainesville Gainesville
Atlanta Atlanta MARTA Bus: 23, 110 "The Peach"
Alabama Anniston Anniston none
Birmingham Birmingham
Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa
Mississippi Meridian Meridian
Laurel Laurel
Hattiesburg Hattiesburg
Picayune Picayune
Louisiana Slidell Slidell
New Orleans New Orleans Amtrak: City of New Orleans, Sunset Limited

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Amtrak - Inside Amtrak - News & Media - News Releases - Latest News Releases

Referenced in REM's song Driver 8[1]

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Named trains of the Southern Railway
v • d • e
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