Southern E7A 2910 with Train 33, The Piedmont Limited, near Berryhill Road in Charlotte, NC on September 2, 1962.
The last car is Dining Car 4141 of the Alabama Great Southern, part of the Southern Railway System.
(Photo by Roger Puta, courtesy Marty Bernard from U.S.A., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
PIEDMONT LIMITED
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.
Another view of Southern E7A 2910 with Train 33, The Piedmont Limited, near Berryhill Road in Charlotte,
NC on September 2, 1962. The last car is Dining Car 4141 of the Alabama Great Southern.
(Photo by Roger Puta, courtesy Marty Bernard from U.S.A., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
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.
A spur branch served Birmingham, but this was eliminated by 1964. 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. By late 1966, the train was running from Washington, D.C. to Salisbury, North Carolina in both directions. Amid the postwar decline in passenger rail service, the train was eliminated in 1967.
Piedmont
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. 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.
Route details
In its prime the Piedmont Limited operated over the following roads:
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.
Overview
Service type: Inter-city rail
Status: Discontinued
Locale: Southeastern United States
First service: March 12, 1899
Last service: 1967
Former operator: Southern Railway
Route Termini: New York, New York / New Orleans, Louisiana
Service frequency: Daily
Train numbers: 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