| It's about 4:45 P.M. on a Friday afternoon as New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal SW8 No. 3 pulls Southern E8A's 6912 and 2923 out of the station. The two units had arrived at 3:25 on a 13-car ORANGE BELT TOUCHDOWN CLUB special, en route from Florida to Baton Rouge. The train moved from Florida to Birmingham over the SCL, and then into New Orleans over the Southern. It headed into NOUPT, then a few minutes later Illinois Central E-units 4027 and 2021 backed onto the opposite end of the train, and it left for Baton Rouge at 4:30. This was the last football special to LSU! The train left Baton Rouge the next evening, after LSU beat Florida 48-7, arrived in NOUPT at midnight, and left for Florida at 1:30 Sunday morning.The train was made up entirely of former Seaboard Coast Line cars, all owned by Amtrak: 4-section/4-roomette/1-compartment/5-bedroom 6406 PINEHURST as a dormitory (still lettered SEABOARD), diners 5916 and 5922, 10-roomette/6-bedroom cars 6636 DARLINGTON COUNTY, 6627 WEST PALM BEACH and 6637 DUVAL COUNTY, 11-bedroom car 6108 NATURAL BRIDGE, blunt-end lounge 5831, diner 5905, 11-bedroom car 6111 MOUNT VERNON, and 10-6 sleepers 6628 WINTER HAVEN, 6623 ST. PETERSBURG and 6638 EDGECOMBE COUNTY. |