Seminole Limited

Seminole

CG #811, an EMD E8, leads the Seminole into Kankakee, Illinois in 1964.
Overview
First service	November 15, 1909
Last service	June 3, 1969
Successor	Shawnee
Former operator(s)	Illinois Central Railroad Central of Georgia Railway Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

The Seminole, also known as the Seminole Limited, was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Illinois Central Railroad, Central of Georgia Railway, and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad between Chicago, Illinois and Jacksonville, Florida. It operated from 1909 to 1969 and was the first year-round service between the two cities.

The Illinois Central Railroad, Central of Georgia Railway, and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad introduced the Seminole Limited on November 15, 1909, in time for the winter tourist season. The new train carried coaches, sleeping cars, and a full dining car. Through services included a St. Louis, Missouri–Jacksonville sleeper and a Chicago–Savannah, Georgia sleeper. The train operated on a "two night out" schedule, departing Chicago at 9:00 PM in the evening and arriving in Jacksonville at 7:05 AM on the second morning out. This permitted a late afternoon arrival in Birmingham, Alabama. The travel time was 35 hours from Chicago, three hours faster than existing services. The train operated on a daily schedule. The Illinois Central billed it as a "solid, fast through train." From Jacksonville passengers could make connections to other locations in Florida. It was the first year-round service between the two cities.

The African-American dramatist and playwright T. Montgomery Gregory, then a professor at Howard University, rode the Seminole Limited in Georgia in 1915 as part of his investigation into "Jim Crow" (segregated) cars on Southern trains. Gregory noted that even though the segregated cars on the Central of Georgia were "superior" to other railroads and that the Seminole Limited in particular was "one of the most favorable trains in the South", the train's conductor forced him from his coach at three in the morning to make room for whites who wanted to smoke. He was placed in an ostensibly white car which he characterized as "filthy" and the "nastiest...[he] had ever ridden in."