Nostalgia & History > Saturday sojourn on the Southern Ry.

In the pantheon of passenger train names, this one ranks high for its distinctive regional character.
It's also a relatively unknown train.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/20 06:07 by PVSfan.

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The stylized drawing of the train somehow reminds me of the stylized 1967 green/silver SOU passenger timetable to come.

Likely a name that will never be reprised.

TJY

In 1939 Southern bought railcars from the St Louis Car Company for the Cracker, the Goldenrod, the Joe Wheeler, and the Vulcan. 

Passenger service to Brunswick finally stopped in the mid-1960s. 

One variant of high-speed rail planning uses the Cracker route as far as Jesup, where trains would either turn north to Savannah or south to Jacksonville. But it's all dreamland. Macon-Brunswick is one of the rare freight lines that's in better condition today than 50 years ago. The port of Brunswick has really grown. 

I 'd never heard of that train. A late friend used to mention the term Georgia Cracker , but I don't know what he  meant. 

Atlanta's minor league baseball team was the Crackers. The Ponce de Leon Park stadium was adjacent to the original Southern main line, later to become a belt line after Southern built track between Armour and Howell Tower. When the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta in 1965, the Crackers were displaced. The team moved to Richmond, minus the name, and PDL Park was torn down. The magnolia tree that was in center field still stands.