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Flamingo (train)

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Flamingo
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued
LocaleMidwestern United States/Southeastern United States
First serviceSeptember 27, 1925
Last serviceMarch 7, 1968
Former operator(s)Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Route
TerminiCincinnati, Ohio
Jacksonville, Florida;
Atlanta, Georgia, beginning in 1962
Stops17, including:
Winchester, KY; Knoxville, TN; Cartersville, GA; Marietta, GA; Atlanta, GA; Albany, GA
Distance travelled886 miles (1,426 km)
Average journey timeSouthbound: 25 hrs 30 min
Northbound: 24 hrs 5 min
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)17 (southbound), 18 (northbound)
On-board services
Seating arrangementsReclining seat coaches
Sleeping arrangementsSections, roomettes, and double bedrooms (1955)
Catering facilitiesDiner

The Flamingo was a passenger train operated by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Jacksonville, Florida, from the 1920s to the 1960s. It carried coaches and sleeping cars.

History

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Inaugurated on September 27, 1925, it operated between Cincinnati and Atlanta, Georgia, with sleeper service between Cincinnati Union Terminal and Atlanta Union Station. It was operated in conjunction with the Central of Georgia Railway and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.[1] From Albany to Jacksonville the Flamingo[2] ran in tandem with the Illinois Central's Seminole, departing stations with an identical schedule for that final segment.[3] In Jacksonville riders could continue their trips to elsewhere in Florida on various ACL branch lines that served different parts of the state, such as St. Petersburg, Sarasota (via Orlando and Tampa), Ft. Myers and Miami. Travellers to Miami would transfer in Jacksonville to the FEC's Havana Special.[4][5] The Southland operated on similar route from Cincinnati to Albany portion, however, the Southland ran overnight through Georgia.

An empty oil tanker that had been attached to a north-bound freight train came loose and hit and wrecked the Flamingo near Falmouth, Kentucky in 1957. The injured received care at a local hospital.[6]

Service was truncated to Atlanta in 1962; by September 8, 1965, the name was removed from the train. It was discontinued on March 7, 1968.[1]

The dining car, originally built in 1948, was restored and returned to service by the Kentucky-Indiana Rail Advocates in 1998, serving up food on the dinner train from original recipes like seafood gumbo, lamb, plum pudding, and ham with red eye gravy.[7]

Major stations served

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References

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  1. ^ a b "The Flamingo". American Rails. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  2. ^ Atlantic Coast Line Timetable, June 12, 1955, Table L
  3. ^ Atlantic Coast Line Timetable, June 12, 1955, Table I
  4. ^ Atlantic Coast Line Timetable, June 12, 1955, Tables C, L
  5. ^ 'Official Guide of the Railways,' June 1961, Florida East Coast section, Table 1
  6. ^ Penny Tuemler Conrad (2010). Pendleton County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-7385-8621-2.
  7. ^ "Recipes from L&N Revived". November 22, 1998. p. 4. Retrieved August 3, 2017 – via newspapers.com.

Further reading

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