The train began on Pennsylvania Railroad territory from Chicago to Cincinnati as train 200 southbound (and train 201 northbound); the Louisville and Nashville Railroad operated the Southland as train 33 (and train 32 northbound) from Cincinnati to eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and then to Atlanta.[3] Wabash Railroad trains carried passengers from Detroit to Fort Wayne, where passengers would switch to a Grand Rapids to Richmond, Indiana PRR train segment of the Pennsylvania Railroad train heading to Cincinnati and Florida.[4] By the mid-1950s the Baltimore & Ohio replaced the Wabash for the Detroit-to-Cincinnati segment made the connection (#57 south, and #58 north), with through sleepers to St. Petersburg.[5][6]
South of Macon ran the main western route, to Americus and Albany, Camilla, Pelham, Thomasville; Monticello, FL, Perry, Cross City, Dunnellon, Inverness and Trilby. After Trilby the route split and there were two different western Florida destinations: train 33 (train 32 northbound) via Atlantic Coast Line tracks to Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, Clearwater, St. Petersburg; and train 37 (train 38 northbound) splitting off the route at Trilby to Tampa and then to Bradenton and Sarasota.[9] In later years, the south of Tampa segment would be replaced by a coordinated time departure bus for Bradenton, Sarasota and Fort Myers.[10][11]
Eastern route
A secondary eastern section joined at Atlanta with the L&N's Dixie Flyer (train 95 southbound/train 94 northbound) via Atlantic Coast Line Railroad tracks to Jacksonville, and then along Florida East Coast Railway tracks to St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Cocoa-Rockledge, Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Miami.[12]
Notes
^Pennsylvania Railroad timetable, January 2, 1938, Table M
