Knoxville to Chicago

[VentureForth]

So... Obviously, this can't happen today by rail, but in the day, how would one have travelled to Chicago from Knoxville? If Amtrak were to re-establish service through TN, could it be a SE to NW route?

 

[railiner]

Before Amtrak, there were trains from Cincinnati to Knoxville. I believe on both Southern Railway and Louisville and Nashville. There were through cars on various routes through from Chicago. And these continued on towards Atlanta and Florida.

I also believe there was Tennessee Central service from Knoxville to Nashville, also with various connections to Chicago.

I wish I could easily find my old timetables to give you more details, these are just from memory...

 

[jphjaxfl]

The last passenger train from Cincinnati via Knoxille to Atlanta was the L&N's Flamingo which was discontinued in the early part of 1968. It was an overnight coach train and connected with PRR trains from Chicago to Cincinnati. At one time it carried through cars from Chicago and Detroit to Florida. Another train that at onetime carried through Chicago-Knoxville cars was the Carolina Special operated by the Southern Railway from Cincinnati through Knoxville to Asheville where the train split with one section operating to Columbia and Charleston and the other section operating to Winston-Salem and Greensboro. It carried through cars from New York Central Big Four Division trains between Chicago and Cincinnati to Charleston. This train was combined with the Ponce De Leon from Cincinnati in later years. It was discontinued somewhere in 1966/67. The L&N's Southland was another train with through cars from Chicago to Knoxville that was discontinued in the late 1950s. The last train through Knoxville was the Birmingham Special from Washington to Birmingham which was discontinued in 1969.