The photograph shown represents the Queen & Crescent Limited with five cars running up a
52-foot grade at a speed of 61 miles per hour, as indicated by the speed recorder on the engine.
(Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons)
QUEEN AND CRESCENT LIMITED
The Queen and Crescent Limited was a named passenger train operated by the Southern Railway in the United States of America. It was operated over a historic route that had been established in the late 1800s called the Queen and Crescent Route, which referred to Cincinnati as the "Queen City" and New Orleans as the "Crescent City".
The train began service in 1926 and it was never a financial success. The Southern Railway operated the Queen and Crescent Limited from Cincinnati, Ohio to New Orleans, Louisiana via Lexington, Kentucky, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Birmingham, Alabama and Meridian, Mississippi. The new train carried both coaches and Pullman sleepers and a dining car. Its road numbers on the Southern Railway were No. 43 (southbound) and No. 44 (northbound).
Accidents
On the first year of operation, the train derailed on October 15, 1926, one half mile south of Williamstown, Kentucky. Sadly, one engineer died and another was seriously injured, but no passengers died.
On February 4, 1947, the Queen and Crescent struck a car and unfortunately, killed three persons near New Orleans.
End of service
The Queen and Crescent was removed from the timetable by 1949 and only a remnant remained: Southern operated Train numbers 43 and 44 between Birmingham, Alabama and Meridian, Mississippi as a local.
The Queen and Crescent Route.
(Poor's Manual, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Queen and Crescent Limited Overview
Service type: Inter-city rail
First service: 1926
Last service: 1949
Former operator: Southern Railway
Route Termini: Cincinnati, Ohio / New Orleans, Louisiana
Train numbers: 43 and 44