The Crescent

The Crescent was an exclusive train operated by Southern Railway and the Alabama affiliates Western Railway of Alabama, Atlanta & West Point Railway, and Louisville & Nashville Railway. Except for Southern Railway, these lines provided passenger service to Auburn and its college. In 1925, the trains collectively known as the Crescent Limited ran between Washington, DC, and New Orleans, with Southern Railway covering Washington to Atlanta, Atlanta & West Point Railway and Western Railway of Alabama serving Atlanta to Montgomery, and Louisville & Nashville Railway running from Montgomery to New Orleans. The locomotives hauled 12 to 15 passenger cars weighing about 700 to 1000 tons at 80 mph, with averages of 50 to 60 mph, and used 14,000 gallons of water and 16 tons of coal during the 150 miles between stops. The Atlanta & West Point Railway engine No. 290, a 4-6-2 heavy Pacific engine that traveled from Atlanta to Montgomery, is housed in the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, GA, and its Southern Railway sister engine No. 1401 is in the Smithsonian. In 1938 the train was renamed the Crescent and remained so for 40 years. By 1941, steam engines had been replaced by diesel engines on the flagship train. The last Atlanta & West Point Railway and Western Railway of Alabama trains stopped in Auburn in January 1970, and by then the luxurious features of the Crescent had been discontinued for lack of patrons, leaving only day coaches in use on the rail line.

Auburn, Alabama · United States