Passenger Trains > National Limited, Spirit of St. Louis, or Both?

In early August of 1971, I took the Texas Chief from Oklahoma City to Chicago to sightsee, staying at the YMCA Hotel on Wabash Avenue. Coming back on August 14, 1971, I had to detour because a derailment had blocked the line between Chicago and KC. So I took the City of New Orleans to Effingham, Illinois, where I transferred to a train that took me to KC, where I stayed with my sister for a day before returning to OKC on the Texas Chief the next day.

When traveling from Effingham to St. Louis to KC, was I on the National Limited or the Spirit of St. Louis or both? I had to scamble to transfer at Effingham, so my only photo of the train was a shot with deep shadows just of some of the cars at St. Louis Union Station. I wrote on that slide said "changing trains," but I am wondering if that was a mistake. One Amtrak schedule from that period said the train the entire way was The Spirit of St. Louis, while a TRAINS Magazine article called it the National Limited. What was it?

Carl Graves, Lawrence, KS

I think Amtrak only called it the Spirit for the first few months - maybe until July 1971?  After that it became the National Limited, so if you rode in August it was most likely called the National by then.

I just remember the train as the Nation Limited as I was all of 9 when Amtrak started.  I saw it many times growing up back east.  I remember my uncle used to refer to it as the "National Disgrace" due to this train frequently running with the rattiest power (beaten down E's west of Harrisburg before the SDP40F's) and a run down rag tag collection of passenger equipment.  Time keeping was also abysmal mainly due to Penn Central's deteriorating track west of Pittsburgh.

The July 12 1971 timetable calls it Spirit of St. Louis while the November 14 1971 timetable calls it National Limited. The November timetable also lists trains with Amtrak numbers rather than predecessor numbers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/20 17:46 by railfan400.

railfan400 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The July 12 1971 timetable calls it Spirit of St.
> Louis while the November 14 1971 timetable calls
> it National Limited. The November timetable also
> lists trains with Amtrak numbers rather than
> predecessor numbers.

Why not use the name that some Amtrak employees used? By at least 1973, with a nod to its abysmal timekeeping noted in another post, station employees in Columbus, Dayton, and Indianapolis (and possibly others) affectionately referred to it as the "Nightcrawler."

OregonHoosier Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> railfan400 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The July 12 1971 timetable calls it Spirit of
> St.
> > Louis while the November 14 1971 timetable
> calls
> > it National Limited. The November timetable
> also
> > lists trains with Amtrak numbers rather than
> > predecessor numbers.
>
> Why not use the name that some Amtrak employees
> used? By at least 1973, with a nod to its abysmal
> timekeeping noted in another post, station
> employees in Columbus, Dayton, and Indianapolis
> (and possibly others) affectionately referred to
> it as the "Nightcrawler."

This was a big mistake to get this train off in 1979.  One being the section of track between Dayton and Indy that was only used by the National was abandoned...thus severing that direct link between those two cities.....

This train served five state capitals-Trenton, Harrisburg, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Jefferson City. Way to go, Jimmy Carter!  I've seen Carter apologists on this board saying Carter didn't cut the train; the congress did. Well, guess what-Carter signed the bill! Very shortsighted decision.
 

Carter loved trains, , was it under his watch the Natl LTD was studied going to Denver?  Think he endorsed it then.