The Louisville & Nashville's Georgian

The Louisville & Nashville was never a railroad that was widely regarded for its fleet of streamliners and also did not heavily promote its fleet. However, the line did offer a number of well known trains such as the Azalean, Humming Bird, Pan American, and Flamingo. One of its first streamliners was the Georgian, a train that initially served St. Louis and Atlanta although later ran all of the way to Chicago thanks to a partnership with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois. The L&N's early streamliners were not opulent and offered very limited luxuries. However, the trains were relatively successful and allowed the railroad to finally enter the new era of passenger rail travel in the late 1940s. Because of its southern location and connections to several notable cities in the South (such as Atlanta and New Orleans), in the succeeding years the L&N would host numerous streamliners some of which were its own while others run-throughs by other lines.

Both the Georgian and Humming Bird received their streamlined equipment from American Car & Foundry. For power the trains used EMD E7s featuring a beautiful livery of blue and cream. The cars themselves featured a sleek stainless-steel sheathing with matching blue trim. Overall, this original passenger paint scheme the L&N featured on its streamliners was very elegant although, unfortunately it would not last as the railroad elected to switch to a more traditional grey and yellow livery by the early 1960s. In any event, neither train offered much in the way of luxurious services as both were, initially quite simple featuring only coaches, a diner, and a tavern lounge.

Typically, the Georgian completed its run in 17 hours flat, departing Chicago at 3:45 P.M. as part of the C&EI and being handed off to the L&N at Evansville by 9:05 P.M. that same evening. From that point the L&N finished the journey to Atlanta arriving there by 9:45 A.M. the following morning. It should be noted that along with the ability for passengers to also still reach St. Louis the L&N offered connecting through sleeper service to Cincinnati, Ohio as well. By the 1960s the train's consist had changed somewhat with up to six sleepers to or from connections to the cities already mentioned (as well as Montgomery, Alabama), reclining seat coaches, a diner, and club lounge.

As patronge declined in 1958 the L&N combined the Georgian and Humming Bird during the C&EI's run between Chicago and Evansville. Perhaps most interesting is that even during the 1960s when interest in rail travel was waning with the public the Georgian still remained most folks' top choice when traveling between Chicago and Atlanta. By 1968 the train was truncated to serving its original route between St. Louis and Atlanta. This lasted for another three years until Amtrak took over intercity rail services on May 1, 1971, and did not retain the Georgian within its new system. By that point the L&N was more than happy to rid itself of passenger operations, as it had long since lost interest in such. For consist and timetable information of the Georgian during the early 1960s please click here.

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