The Southerner, Southern Railway's Posh Train Connecting the Northeast and Deep South

The Southern Railway’s passenger fleet is perhaps best remembered by the fabled Crescent. However, the Southerner was the railroad’s other flagship train as it was regarded by the Southern as just as luxurious as the Crescent. The Southerner, clad in the Southern’s striking royal green and gold passenger livery, operated on a virtual identical routing of the Crescent (Boston/New York – New Orleans). The train, like its sister, proved to be a very successful operation for most of its life. After the traveling public began leaving the rails in droves during the 1960s the Southern combined the Southerner with the Crescent in 1970 renaming the train the Southern Crescent and the railroad operated the train until 1979, eight years after Amtrak began operations.

The Southern Railway, forever remembered by its famous slogan, “The Southern Serves the South – Look Ahead, Look South,” was created from a number of smaller railroads, which merged over the years to form the Southern Railway. Perhaps the railroad’s famous green paint scheme was fitting for the railroad as it became the most respected and arguably the best managed railroad of its day before it disappeared into a merger with the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) in 1982 to form today’s Norfolk Southern.

A major reason why the Southern became so successful was because its innovative nature and sound business practices (and the company very much lived up to another slogan it used, “The Southern Gives A Green Light To Innovation”), especially in the railroad's later years. The Southern was quick to adopt new technologies that improved efficiencies such as Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) and began double-tracking lines to improve operations (it would eventually finish double-tracking its entire main line between Atlanta and Washington, D.C.). Because of its innovative nature it probably comes as no surprise that the Southern was quick to make the switch from steam to diesel as well, completely dieselizing its motive power fleet by 1953.

The Southerner was actually started by the Southern much later than the Crescent, debuting in 1941 as an all-streamlined operation between New York/Boston and New Orleans. Like the Crescent the train featured things like coaches, diners, sleeper-lounges, full sleeping cars, and a sleeper-observation. Of particular note with the new equipment was the sleeper-observation, which featured extra-large windows with elevated seats that faced the outward so passengers could watch the scenery pass by. The other feature of interest was master bedrooms, large enough to sleep three and include a private shower! Master bedrooms onboard passenger trains were extremely rare after World War II with the Pennsylvania Railroad’s flagship, the Broadway Limited, the only other train to include such a treat.

The exterior of the Southerner was constructed of a material meant to resemble stainless steel streamlining called Cor-Ten steel although it was clad in a thin sheathing of stainless-steel over the exterior of the carbody to give the look of all stainless steel (which at the time only the Budd Company held the patent on such a design). Up front, the train was pulled by striking EMD E6s, streamlined themselves and bedecked in Southern’s classic green, white, and gold passenger livery. For the next twenty years Southern's two flagship trains renamed a top-notch operation (although they were downgraded in the 1960s), vaunted for their on-time and splendid service.

Interestingly, as passenger railroading waned just prior to Amtrak taking over all intercity operations, the train actually expanded operations, albeit by combining operations in the case of expanding service to the Northeast. In 1970 the railroad combined the Southerner, which operated as far north as Boston with the Crescent to form the Southern Crescent. The new train, in conjunction with the Penn Central, operated between Boston/New York and New Orleans.

For an excellent pictorial history of the Southern and a general history of the railroad consider the book, Southern Railway, from Tom Murray. If you have any kind of interest in the Southern this book is a must have (all of MBI's "Railroad Color History" series which featur many fallen flags do an excellent job giving a general history and featuring tons of colored pictures to enjoy).

Also, for a superb general history of passenger trains like the Southerner consider the book American Passenger Train from Mike Schafer. Using plenty of colored photographs complemented with lots of good information, if you are interested in passenger trains or would like to learn more about them this book will get you started.