The Louisville & Nashville Railroad was a solid part of the American railroading foundation and served the South and Southeast continuously from when it was chartered in 1850 in Kentucky until finally becoming a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line in 1971. The service area included Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Trackage also extended to New Orleans, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Passenger operations consisted of over fifteen long-distance "name trains" and the line's own sleeping cars, as well as those of other roads, were forwarded through a network covering New York, Chicago, Miami, and Washington DC. These name trains not only provided terminal-to-terminal service with sleepers, dining car, and lounge car, but were also equipped with reclining chair cars for passenger service between cities located on these routes.

Originally begun in 1946, The Humming Bird ran between Cincinnati and New Orleans with sleeping cars forwarded to Chicago via the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. A section of cars on the southbound run was cut from the train at Bowling Green, KY for separate routing to Memphis. Sleepers were of the 6/6/4 arrangement. All equipment was lightweight stainless steel and built by ACF. In this circa 1950 postcard, an EMD E7 pulls The Humming Bird across Biloxi Bay on its way to the final destination of New Orleans. New to my collection.



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