Champion (passenger train)
Encyclopedia
The Champion was a passenger train operated on a 1314 miles (2,114.7 km) route by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
between New York City
and Miami or St. Petersburg, Florida
, beginning in 1939. Inherited by Amtrak
as part of its inaugural system in 1971, the train was discontinued in 1979.
(ACL) in 1939, competing with the Silver Star and Silver Meteor
of the Seaboard Air Line (SAL) on the lucrative New York–Florida route. Initially just a New York-Miami service, the ACL added a St. Petersburg train in 1941 once enough streamlined equipment was available. The two trains were called the Tamiami Champion (West Coast), which ran from New York to St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay
area, and the Tamiami Champion (East Coast), which ran from New York to Miami, Florida
. In 1943, the names were simplified to the East Coast Champion and West Coast Champion.
Southbound trains originated in New York's Pennsylvania Station
, and traveled south over the Pennsylvania Railroad
-owned Northeast Corridor
through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
to Washington, D.C.
There, a radio-equipped lounge car was added to the train. Leaving Washington, trains traveled over the tracks of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
to Richmond, Virginia
, the northern tip of the ACL's main line. From Richmond, trains continued south along the Atlantic coast
through Charleston, South Carolina
and Savannah, Georgia
to Jacksonville, Florida
. Here, the trains split, with the West Coast trains moving south then west through DeLand
and Sanford
to the Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg area, while East Coast trains turned south south-east to run along Florida's east coast to Miami via the Florida East Coast Railway
. Northbound trains retraced these routes.
In the pre-civil rights era, black passengers on the Champion and other trains in the South
were restricted to the "colored" coach, a combination baggage/coach behind the diesel. African-Americans ate behind a curtain at two designated tables next to the kitchen of the dining car, but were barred from the observation-tavern-lounge on the rear of the train. Segregation on trains serving the South persisted even though the Interstate Commerce Commission
, U. S. courts, and President Harry S. Truman
's 1948 mandate (banning segregation in railroad dining cars) had ordered interstate carriers to desegregrate. Dining car stewards still refused to seat blacks and whites at the same table for many years afterwards.
In 1957 the West Coast Champion began hauling thru-cars for the City of Miami
and South Wind
streamliners
to and from Chicago on its Jacksonville-Tampa/Sarasota leg via Orlando and its Jacksonville-St. Petersburg section via Gainesville and Ocala. During its long successful career the Champion network reached virtually every major city and resort in the Sunshine State except Florida Panhandle
cities like Pensacola and Tallahassee, which were served by Seaboard's Jacksonville-New Orleans overnight Gulf Wind
. The East Coast Champion ran up and down the Florida East Coast Railway stopping at popular east coast resorts while Gulf coast branch lines carried West Coast Champion thru-cars to Bradenton, Sarasota, Naples, Ft. Myers, and Venice.
From the outset, the Champion was an all-coach streamliner pulled by a diesel electric locomotive. Pullman
sleeping cars were added a few years later.
One Champion A-unit resides at the North Carolina Transportation Museum.
and Seaboard Air Line into the Seaboard Coast Line, the Champion remained as a New York–St. Petersburg service, numbered #91 southbound and #92 northbound.
, with the Champion section continuing to St. Petersburg and the renamed Meteor section passing west of Jacksonville (via Thalmann) to Miami. These combinations occurred again in 1975, 1976, and 1977, but with two changes: the split occurred at Jacksonville, and the Meteor again became the Silver Meteor. In 1979, budget cuts forced Amtrak to eliminate the Champion, which was consolidated with its old rival the Silver Meteor, this time for good.
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
between New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Miami or St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, beginning in 1939. Inherited by Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
as part of its inaugural system in 1971, the train was discontinued in 1979.
Atlantic Coast Line
The Champion started as a daily service of the Atlantic Coast Line RailroadAtlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
(ACL) in 1939, competing with the Silver Star and Silver Meteor
Silver Meteor
The Silver Meteor is a 1389-mile passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Silver Service brand, running from New York City, New York, south to Miami, Florida, via the Northeast Corridor to Washington, D.C., thence via Richmond, Virginia; Fayetteville, North Carolina; North Charleston, South...
of the Seaboard Air Line (SAL) on the lucrative New York–Florida route. Initially just a New York-Miami service, the ACL added a St. Petersburg train in 1941 once enough streamlined equipment was available. The two trains were called the Tamiami Champion (West Coast), which ran from New York to St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay."Tampa Bay" is not the name of any municipality...
area, and the Tamiami Champion (East Coast), which ran from New York to Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. In 1943, the names were simplified to the East Coast Champion and West Coast Champion.
Southbound trains originated in New York's Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station (New York City)
Pennsylvania Station—commonly known as Penn Station—is the major intercity train station and a major commuter rail hub in New York City. It is one of the busiest rail stations in the world, and a hub for inbound and outbound railroad traffic in New York City. The New York City Subway system also...
, and traveled south over the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
-owned Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...
through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
There, a radio-equipped lounge car was added to the train. Leaving Washington, trains traveled over the tracks of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. It is now a portion of the CSX Transportation system....
to Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, the northern tip of the ACL's main line. From Richmond, trains continued south along the Atlantic coast
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
through Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
to Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
. Here, the trains split, with the West Coast trains moving south then west through DeLand
DeLand, Florida
DeLand is the county seat of Volusia County, Florida. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 24,375. It is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 436,575 in 2006...
and Sanford
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
to the Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg area, while East Coast trains turned south south-east to run along Florida's east coast to Miami via the Florida East Coast Railway
Florida East Coast Railway
The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida; in the past, it has been a Class I railroad.Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a project of Standard Oil principal Henry Morrison...
. Northbound trains retraced these routes.
In the pre-civil rights era, black passengers on the Champion and other trains in the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
were restricted to the "colored" coach, a combination baggage/coach behind the diesel. African-Americans ate behind a curtain at two designated tables next to the kitchen of the dining car, but were barred from the observation-tavern-lounge on the rear of the train. Segregation on trains serving the South persisted even though the Interstate Commerce Commission
Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...
, U. S. courts, and President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
's 1948 mandate (banning segregation in railroad dining cars) had ordered interstate carriers to desegregrate. Dining car stewards still refused to seat blacks and whites at the same table for many years afterwards.
In 1957 the West Coast Champion began hauling thru-cars for the City of Miami
City of Miami
This article is about the streamliner. For the city in Florida, see Miami.The City of Miami was a seven-car coach streamliner inaugurated by Illinois Central Railroad on December 18, 1940. Its route was from Chicago to Miami a total distance of ....
and South Wind
South Wind (passenger train)
The South Wind was a named passenger train equipped and operated jointly by the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , and the Florida East Coast Railway. The South Wind began operations in December 1940, providing streamliner service...
streamliners
Streamliner cars (rail)
The streamliners are a class of streamlined railway cars built in the forties and fifties of the twentieth century for long distance passenger railservices in North America.-Predecessors:...
to and from Chicago on its Jacksonville-Tampa/Sarasota leg via Orlando and its Jacksonville-St. Petersburg section via Gainesville and Ocala. During its long successful career the Champion network reached virtually every major city and resort in the Sunshine State except Florida Panhandle
Florida Panhandle
The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...
cities like Pensacola and Tallahassee, which were served by Seaboard's Jacksonville-New Orleans overnight Gulf Wind
Gulf Wind
The Gulf Wind was a streamlined passenger train inaugurated on July 31, 1949 as a joint operation by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad...
. The East Coast Champion ran up and down the Florida East Coast Railway stopping at popular east coast resorts while Gulf coast branch lines carried West Coast Champion thru-cars to Bradenton, Sarasota, Naples, Ft. Myers, and Venice.
From the outset, the Champion was an all-coach streamliner pulled by a diesel electric locomotive. Pullman
Pullman (car or coach)
In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars which were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company from 1867 to December 31, 1968....
sleeping cars were added a few years later.
One Champion A-unit resides at the North Carolina Transportation Museum.
Seaboard Coast Line
After the merger of the Atlantic Coast LineAtlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
and Seaboard Air Line into the Seaboard Coast Line, the Champion remained as a New York–St. Petersburg service, numbered #91 southbound and #92 northbound.
Amtrak
When Amtrak assumed control of most of the passenger rail service in the United States in 1971, the Champion was retained as a New York–St. Petersburg service (#85/87) operating over the same line it had for the past thirty-two years. On several occasions throughout the 1970s Amtrak would combine the Champion with its old rival the Silver Meteor. The first of these instances came in the summer of 1972: the train split in Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, with the Champion section continuing to St. Petersburg and the renamed Meteor section passing west of Jacksonville (via Thalmann) to Miami. These combinations occurred again in 1975, 1976, and 1977, but with two changes: the split occurred at Jacksonville, and the Meteor again became the Silver Meteor. In 1979, budget cuts forced Amtrak to eliminate the Champion, which was consolidated with its old rival the Silver Meteor, this time for good.