Queen and Crescent Route

The Queen and Crescent Route was a cooperative railroad route in the

Shreveport. Inaugurated in the 1880s, the name was retained by Southern Railway when they consolidated ownership of the entire route in 1926, and given to their named passenger train

for the route through 1949.

Layout

As of 1909,[1] the line consisted of five segments:

Chattanooga (controlled by the Alabama Great Southern Railroad
operating company and two other companies)

the Alabama Great Southern Railroad between Chattanooga and Meridian, Mississippi
the
Alabama, New Orleans, Texas and Pacific Junction Railways Company
)
the Alabama & Vicksburg Railway, 143 miles of line from Meridian westward to Vicksburg (also controlled by Erlanger)
and the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railway, west from Vicksburg to Shreveport, Louisiana (controlled by Erlanger)

History

The route included the High Bridge of Kentucky

Investor Emile Erlanger & Co. gained control of the newly-constructed New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad in 1881. Vintage marketing advertises the Queen & Crescent Route as "Established Nov. 18, 1883",^[2] which refers to the date of first scheduled passenger service on the NO&NE.^[3] Erlanger then expanded the lines under his control to encompass the entire route, held through a complex corporate structure of two English corporations.

In 1895 the Q&C route, along with the entire Erlanger consortium, was acquired by

Samuel Spencer

.

Eventually the main line to New Orleans was retained by the

Meridian to Shreveport through its subsidiary Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. This line was later sold to MidSouth Rail Corporation, which was acquired Kansas City Southern in 1993. In 2005, KCS formed a joint venture with Norfolk Southern to create the Meridian Speedway

, an upgraded freight route between Meridian and Shreveport.

Queen and Crescent Limited

Pullman

sleepers and a dining car. The train was discontinued in 1949.

Notes

^ Moody, John (1909). Moody's Analyses of Railroad Investments. New York: Analyses Publishing Company. p. 213.
^ Storey, Steve. "Queen & Crescent Route". Rail Georgia. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
ISBN 978-0253005922
. Retrieved 4 April 2016.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Queen_and_Crescent_Route&oldid=1210753975"

[moodys-1] Moody, John (1909). Moody's Analyses of Railroad Investments. New York: Analyses Publishing Company. p. 213.

[2] Storey, Steve. "Queen & Crescent Route". Rail Georgia. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.

[3] ISBN 978-0253005922
. Retrieved 4 April 2016.

[2]

[3]