IC No. 4017, an EMD E7, leads the City of New Orleans at Kankakee, Illinois in August 1964. Click to enlarge.
(Lawrence and David Barera, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
See also City of New Orleans (Amtrak).
The City of New Orleans began in 1947 as a train of the Illinois Central Railroad, and was the longest daylight passenger run in the United States. The daylight train ran through 1971 and is the subject of the bittersweet 1971 song "City of New Orleans", written by Steve Goodman and performed by Arlo Guthrie and others later.
The train operated along a route that has been served in one form or another for over a century. The Panama Limited originally ran from 1911 to 1971, though the IC ran Chicago-New Orleans trains since the turn of the century.
IC E9A 4036 with Train 1, The City of New Orleans at Grand Crossing overpass, Chicago, IL on March 31, 1964. Click to enlarge.
(Photo by Roger Puta, railfan 44, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
History
Illinois Central
See also: Panama Limited
The Illinois Central Railroad introduced the original City of New Orleans on April 27, 1947. It was a daytime, all-coach companion to the overnight Panama Limited, which had been all-Pullman for most of its run. EMD E7 diesel locomotives pulled new lightweight Pullman Company coaches. The 921-mile (1,482 km) route, which the City of New Orleans covered in 15 hours 55 minutes, was the longest daytime schedule in the United States. The City of New Orleans exchanged St. Louis—New Orleans through cars at Carbondale, Illinois and Louisville—New Orleans cars at Fulton, Kentucky. The average speed of the new train was nearly 60 mph (97 km/h) with a maximum of 100 mph (160 km/h); a result of the largely flat route of the Illinois Central along the Mississippi River. By October 25, 1959, the timetable had lengthened to 16 hours 30 minutes. The train remained popular throughout the 1960s and gained ex-Missouri Pacific Railroad dome coaches in 1967.
Amtrak
When Amtrak assumed operation of U.S. passenger train service on May 1, 1971, it dropped the Panama Limited in favor of retaining the City of New Orleans on the traditional daytime schedule.
Train 1, The City of New Orleans, awaiting departure at Champaign, IL station on October 27, 1962. Click to enlarge.
(Roger Puta, via Marty Bernard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Route
The tracks used belonged to the Illinois Central Railroad system, and are now owned by the Canadian National Railway (CN).
The Illinois Central's City of New Orleans at Kankakee, Illinois. The train is led by EMD E8 No. 4021, August 1964. Click to enlarge. (Lawrence and David Barera, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
This Illinois Central System Map shows the route the train took from Chicago to New Orleans. (This media file is in the public domain in the United States. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1892_IC.jpg)
City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie
A music video tribute with amazing images...
See also:
(City of New Orleans drumhead: The original uploader was Lordkinbote at English Wikipedia., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
