View source for Gulf Wind

{{Short description|Former Seaboard Air Line Railroad service between Jacksonville, FL, and New Orleans, LA}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox rail service
|name        = ''Gulf Wind''
|color       =
|logo        = 
|logo_width  = 
|image       = 
|image_width = 
|caption     = 
|type        = [[Inter-city rail]]
|status      = Discontinued
|locale      = [[United States Gulf Coast]]
|predecessor = ''New Orleans-Florida Express''
|first       = July 31, 1949
|last        = April 30, 1971
|operator    = 
|formeroperator = [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]]/[[Seaboard Air Line Railroad]]<br />[[Seaboard Coast Line Railroad]] (1967-1971)
|start       = [[Jacksonville, Florida]]
|end         = [[New Orleans, Louisiana]]
|stations    = 
|routes      =
|owner       = 
|character   = 
|stock       = 
|journeytime = 
|frequency   = Daily
|trainnumber = 38 (SAL), 98 (L&N) eastbound, 39 (SAL), 99 (L&N) westbound
|class       = 
|access      = 
|seating     = Reclining seat coach
|sleeping    = [[Sleeping car#Open-section accommodation|section]]s, and [[Sleeping_car#Compartments_and_Double_Bedrooms|double bedrooms]]
|autorack    = 
|catering    = [[dining car]]s
|observation = 
|entertainment = 
|baggage     = 
|otherfacilities = 
|tracklength =
|gauge       = {{track gauge|ussg}}
|speed       = 
|elevation   = 
|map         = {{Gulf Wind}}
|map_state   = show
}}

The '''''Gulf Wind''''' was a [[streamliner|streamlined]] [[passenger train]] inaugurated on July 31, 1949, as a joint operation by the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]] and the [[Seaboard Air Line Railroad]] ([[Seaboard Coast Line]] after merger with the [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad|Atlantic Coast Line]] on July 1, 1967).<ref name="Gulf Wind">{{cite web| url=http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000aet| title=Gulf Wind<!-- Bot generated title -->| website=Greenspun.com}} {{unreliable source|date=January 2019}}</ref> The ''Gulf Wind'' replaced the [[Passenger car (rail)#Heavyweight vs. lightweight|heavyweight]] ''New Orleans - Florida Express'' on this routing. The ''Gulf Wind'' was a limited stops train and offered amenities such as [[dining car]]s and [[Sleeping car#History|Pullman]] service. The train left Jacksonville in late afternoon, arriving in New Orleans the next morning, and likewise in the other direction. 

Prior to the establishment of the ''Gulf Wind'' the ''New Orleans-Florida Express'' had a counterpart train, the ''New Orleans-Florida Limited,'' which left Jacksonville in the morning.<ref>Seaboard Air Line, June 15, 1948 timetable, Table 8</ref> For much of the twentieth century, one or two other passenger trains, numbered but unnamed, also plied this route daily; these were much-slower local trains, stopping at each small town along the route, and were labeled simply as "passenger, mail, and [[Railway Express Agency|express]]" in timetables. The ''Express,'' contrary to its name, made stops at small towns; while the ''Gulf Wind'' made fewer stops, mainly in larger towns and cities.<ref>Seaboard Air Line, June 15, 1948 timetable, Table 8</ref><ref>'Official Guide of the Railways,' August 1949, Seaboard Air Line section, Condensed Tables and Table 11</ref>

==Route==
The train's 617-mile route ran from [[Jacksonville, Florida]] via [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]], [[Chattahoochee, Florida|Chattahoochee]], [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]], [[Flomaton, Alabama|Flomaton]], [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], and [[Biloxi, Mississippi|Biloxi]] to [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]].  Locomotives were changed at Chattahoochee, where the SAL rails met those of the L&N.

With a schedule designed for passengers changing to or from the Seaboard's ''[[Silver Meteor]]'' at Jacksonville, the ''Gulf Wind'' originally departed both endpoints at 5 p.m. daily for the overnight run across the [[Florida Panhandle]] and along the [[Gulf Coast]], arriving in the morning at the other end of the line.<ref name="Gulf Wind"/> The name was likely inspired by the success of another train carried partly over L&N rails, the Chicago-Miami ''[[South Wind (passenger train)|South Wind]].''

[[File:Southern one-third L&N main line.png|thumb|left|300px|[[Louisville & Nashville]] 1954 timetable, showing ''Gulf Wind'' running in tandem with the ''[[Pan-American (train)|Pan-American]],'' as one of five trains traveling daily west from Mobile to New Orleans]]
Heading westbound, the ''Gulf Wind'' joined onto Louisville & Nashville's ''[[Pan-American (train)|Pan-American]]'' at [[Flomaton, Alabama]]. On the eastbound trip, the ''Gulf Wind'' ran from New Orleans to Flomaton along with the [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]]'s ''[[Piedmont Limited]],'' and at Flomaton departed as its own train.<ref>Louisville & Nashville Railroad timetable, 1954, Tables 1, 2</ref> After the Southern Railway discontinued the ''Piedmont Limited,'' the ''Pan-American'' carried the ''Gulf Wind'' in both directions from New Orleans to Flomaton.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Table 3 |journal=Official Guide of the Railways |publisher=National Railway Publication Company |volume=101 |issue=1 |date=June 1968}}</ref>

==Equipment==
The [[consist]] of the ''Gulf Wind'' included [[baggage car]]s, [[Coach (rail)|coaches]], and [[Pullman (car or coach)|Pullman]] sleepers with a mix of rooms and traditional open sections, as well as an L&N [[Dining car|diner]] between New Orleans and Mobile, and an SAL diner between Chattahoochee and Jacksonville. By 1955, modern [[roomette]]s were added to the consist.<ref>Seaboard Air Line Railroad timetable, September 24, 1950, Table 8</ref><ref>Seaboard Air Line Railroad condensed timetable, April 24, 1955, 9</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/ORVILLEI/seaboard59.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025065058/http://geocities.com/orvillei/seaboard59.html |archive-date=2009-10-25 |url-status=dead |title=Seaboard schedule for October 25, 1959 |website=geocities}}{{rs|date=March 2021}}</ref> A round-ended [[observation car]] was also a regular part of the ''Gulf Wind'' consist.

In December 1967, the first winter season of the merged [[Seaboard Coast Line Railroad]], the train was the last, along with the company's ''[[Silver Star (Amtrak train)|Silver Star]],'' to have open section sleepers, along with roomettes and other rooms.<ref>Seaboard Coast Line Railroad timetable, December 15, 1967, Tables 5, 18</ref> By the December 1968 schedule, the L&N and the SCL had dropped sleepers from the ''Gulf Wind'' altogether.<ref>Seaboard Coast Line Railroad timetable, December 13, 1968, Table 11</ref>

==History==
Passenger service existed on this route from its construction in 1882 by the [[Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad]], at times with three or four daily trains in each direction. In 1949, the L&N and the SAL had a [[local train]] that arrived at its destinations in the early evening.<ref>'Official Guide of the Railways,' August 1949, Seaboard Air Line section, Condensed Tables and Table 11</ref> This local train had no diner or lounge; besides coaches, it carried just baggage and mail cars. (The local train's predecessor, the ''New Orleans-Florida Express,'' had a dining car and sleeping cars.)<ref>Seaboard Air Line Railroad timetable, June 15, 1948, Table 8</ref> The local was eliminated in 1966.<ref>'Official Guide of the Railways,' January 1966, Seaboard Air Line section, Table 8</ref><ref>'Official Guide of the Railways,' December 1966, Seaboard Air Line section, eliminated from Table 8</ref> In the train's final year, from December 1970 to April 1971, the ''Gulf Wind'' ran only three days a week.<ref>''Official Guide of the Railways'' May 1970, Seaboard Coast Line section, indicated as daily train</ref><ref>Seaboard Coast Line timetable, December 11, 1970, Table 11, indicated as tri-weekly</ref>

The last run of the ''Gulf Wind'' occurred on April 30, 1971. [[Amtrak]], which took over nearly all passenger train operations in the United States on the following day, elected not to continue running the ''Gulf Wind'', which despite good equipment and service was not a profitable train at that point in time.<ref name="Gulf Wind"/>

The western portion of the ''Gulf Wind'' route from Mobile to New Orleans was briefly served by Amtrak's ''[[Gulf Coast Limited]]'' from 1984 to 1985, and again from 1996 to 1997.

The ''Gulf Wind'' route had no scheduled passenger train service between Jacksonville and Flomaton until the revived and extended tri-weekly ''[[Sunset Limited]]'' was inaugurated by Amtrak in 1993. The service was again suspended in 2005 when [[Hurricane Katrina]] did extensive damage to the Gulf Coast. Passenger service had not resumed {{as of|2016|lc=y|url=http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer/AM_Route_C/1241245650939/1237405732511}}.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/267101-amtrak-to-test-restoration-of-rail-service-lost-since-katrina/| title=Amtrak to test restoration of rail service lost since Katrina| website=The Hill| date=January 26, 2016| first=Keith| last=Laing}}</ref> In 2016 and 2017, Gulf Coast regional officials agitated for restoration of daily train service between New Orleans and Florida.<ref>{{cite news| first=Paul| last=Hampton| newspaper=The New Orleans Advocate| date=July 19, 2017| url=http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/business/article_c4156654-6c7f-11e7-a8ae-9b949731c5f0.html| title=Gulf Coast leaders push to restore passenger train service with two New Orleans routes}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad]] - predecessor of the L&N

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.american-rails.com/gulf-wind.html Running The Coast, The Joint Seaboard/L&N, Gulf Wind]
*[http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track2/gulfwind194912.html The ''Gulf Wind''{{'}}s timetable and consist, November, 1949]
*[http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track2/gulfwind197104.html The ''Gulf Wind''{{'}}s final timetable and consist, January - April, 1971]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080415165105/http://wfrm.org/wfrmhist.html West Florida Railroad Museum, Milton, Fla.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080521110945/http://heritage-museum.org/exhibits.htm Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida, Valparaiso, Fla.]
*[http://www.privaterailcars.net/royalstreet.html Pictures of the restored L&N observation car Royal Street, used on the Gulf Wind until 1970] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516114956/http://www.privaterailcars.net/royalstreet.html |date=2008-05-16 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080512153334/http://www.americanrail.com/Royal_Street.htm More pictures of the Royal Street, now in private hands]

{{LN named trains}}
{{SAL named trains}}
{{SCL named trains}}

[[Category:Named passenger trains of the United States]]
[[Category:Passenger trains of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad]]
[[Category:Passenger trains of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad]]
[[Category:Passenger trains of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad]]
[[Category:Night trains of the United States]]
[[Category:Passenger rail transportation in Alabama]]
[[Category:Passenger rail transportation in Florida]]
[[Category:Passenger rail transportation in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Passenger rail transportation in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Railway services introduced in 1949]]
[[Category:Railway services discontinued in 1971]]