The West Point Route: modeling the Western Rwy. of Alabama’s Alabama River sleeper Researching and detailing/Justin May
T
he Southern Railway’s Crescent was one of the premier passen- ger trains in the southeastern
United States. Traversing a 1,362-mile route from New York City to New Or-
gia, to Montgomery, Alabama, route was favored over the longer Southern Railway’s Atlanta to Birmingham, Ala- bama, right-of-way.
In 1946 the participating railroads,
cent as an all-stainless steel, light- weight consist from stem to stern. The five roads contributed to the Crescent in approximate proportion to their route miles and each road provided
MODEL PHOTOS BY JUSTIN MAY
Of the five participating railroads that con- tributed stainless steel cars to the Cres- cent, the Western Railway of Alabama had the Alabama River10-6 sleeper in the con- sist. The car (right) was built by Pullman- Standard and delivered in 1949.
leans, it was a product of the post- World War II streamliner era and uti- lized five railroads to create a direct link between the Northeast and the Gulf Coast. You might be wondering how the Crescent, a Southern Railway staple, relates to the roads of the Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line families. It turns out that both the Atlanta & West Point Railroad and the Western Railway of Alabama were principal participants in the success of this streamliner. These roads featured criti- cal segments which shortened the route considerably. The Atlanta, Geor-
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
the Pennsylvania Railroad, the South- ern Railway, the Atlanta & West Point Railroad, the Western Railway of Ala- bama, and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, all agreed to equip the Cres-
various cars to the overall consist. The Southern Railway, the host of the train, mandated the Crescent’s ap- pearance be such that the cars were constructed of an all silver, natural
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