Piedmont Limited

Not to be confused with Amtrak Piedmont Service.

The Piedmont Limited was a named passenger train operated by the Southern Railway in the southern United States. For most of its life it was a New York—New Orleans train, operating over the same route as the more famous Crescent Limited. The Southern Railway discontinued the Piedmont Limited in 1967, though reused the name Piedmont a few years later for an Atlanta–Washington service.

Piedmont Limited

The Piedmont Limited in Charlotte in 1962
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Southeastern United States
First service	March 12, 1899
Last service	1967
Former operator(s)	Southern Railway
Route
Termini	New York, New York New Orleans, Louisiana
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	33 (southbound), 34 (northbound)
On-board services
Seating arrangements	Reclining seat coaches
Sleeping arrangements	Pullman open sections, roomettes and other closed rooms
Catering facilities	Dining car
Entertainment facilities	Lounge-coach with radio
Route map v t e Legend New York New York   New Jersey   Pennsylvania Philadelphia Pennsylvania   Delaware   Maryland Baltimore Maryland District of Columbia Washington PRR SOU District of Columbia Virginia Alexandria Charlottesville Sweet Briar Monroe Lynchburg Altavista Chatham Danville Virginia North Carolina Reidsville Greensboro High Point Lexington Salisbury Kannapolis Concord Charlotte Gastonia North Carolina South Carolina Spartansburg Greenville Clemson Seneca South Carolina Georgia Toccoa Cornelia Gainesville Atlanta–Peachtree Atlanta–Terminal SOU WPR branch to Birmingham branch to Birmingham Austell Lithia Springs Douglasville Winston Villa Rica Temple Morgan Brenan Waco Tallapoosa Georgia Alabama Georgia Alabama Muscardine Edwardsville Heflin Iron City Choccolocco De Armanville Anniston Eastaboga Lincoln Riverside Pell City Cook Springs Brompton Leeds Birmingham Montgomery WPR L&N Greenville Georgiana Evergreen Brewton Flomaton Atmore Bay Minette Mobile Alabama Mississippi Pascagoula Ocean Springs Biloxi Edgewater Park Gulfport Pass Christian Bay St. Louis Mississippi Louisiana Carrollton Avenue New Orleans

History

The Southern Railway introduced the train on March 12, 1899, and it was known as the crack train of the route until the introduction of the Crescent in 1925.^[1][2]

A spur branch served Birmingham, but this was eliminated by 1964.^[3] By the end of that year, the southbound itinerary of the route was cut from running from New York to New Orleans to having Kings Mountain, North Carolina, south of Charlotte, North Carolina as the southern terminus of the route.^[4] By late 1966, the train was running from Washington, D.C. to Salisbury, North Carolina in both directions.^[5][6] Amid the postwar decline in passenger rail service, the train was eliminated in 1967.^[7]

Piedmont

Piedmont
v t e Legend
Washington District of Columbia Virginia Alexandria Cullpepper Charlottesville Monroe Lynchburg Altavista Danville Virginia North Carolina Reidsville Greensboro High Point Thomasville Lexington Salisbury Terminus after 1976 Concord Charlotte Terminus 1975–1976 Gastonia North Carolina South Carolina Spartansburg Greenville Clemson South Carolina Georgia Toccoa Gainesville Atlanta–Peachtree

Beginning in 1970 the Piedmont name was revived for an Atlanta–Washington daytime service, supplementing the then-Southern Crescent along its middle leg. Southern did not join Amtrak in 1971, leaving the service as one of the few intercity rail routes in America which was not operated by the new quasi-government agency.^[8][9] In 1975, its southern terminus was truncated to Charlotte. This train was discontinued in 1976; by then its southern terminus had been cut back to Salisbury, North Carolina.^[7]

Route details

In its prime the Piedmont Limited operated over the following roads:^[2]

• Pennsylvania Railroad: New York—Washington, D.C.
• Southern Railway: Washington—Atlanta, Georgia
• West Point Route: Atlanta—Montgomery, Alabama
• Louisville and Nashville Railroad: Montgomery—New Orleans

Major cities served

Aside from the above cited cities, the train served Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Greensboro, Charlotte, Spartanburg, Greenville, Gainesville, Mobile and Gulfport.^[10]