Description
There are trains that take you to a destination, and then there are trains that become part of the destination. The Illinois Central's City of Miami was one of those trains. Launched in 1940, the City of Miami featured a beautiful decoration scheme of palm green, scarlet and golden yellow designed to entice the people of Chicago to head south! It was a 7-car rolling billboard for train travel and Florida tourism! The operation of the train was as seamless and integrated as it's matched flowing paint scheme. The City of Miami operated over the Illinois Central, Central of Georgia, Atlantic Coast Line and Florida East Coast. IC's E6 stayed on as far as Jacksonville, where a power change was made for a similar unit from the FEC. Even more impressive, the train ran once every 3 days, part of a collaboration of competing roads to offer daily service between Chicago and Miami. Passengers could depart Chicago on the City of Miami, Dixie-Flagler or South Wind. All three left at the same time and arrived in Miami at the same time 29.5 hours later and all offered similar accommodations. The effort required the cooperation of no less than nine separate railroads! Even more impressive, as a passenger if you missed your trip on one day, you could reschedule without issue or refund on any other train any day of the week! On its inauguration, the IC's streamliner would be the only one pulled by diesel the entire trip. It was certainly the most unique train of the group and arguably the most beautiful. The allcoach train featured spacious reclining coach seats, a full dining and lounge car and even an on-board nurse in the lead coach which was reserved for women and children. Decor was suitably tropical, with different murals and warm color schemes in each of the cars. An illuminated map in the dining car tracked the train's progress between major cities. Lionel has recently offered the partnering South Wind train as well as E6's for the FEC and some other partnering roads. Now with some additional newly-tooled coaches and combine, we're able to bring a credible model of yet another magnificent Florida train to your layout! The 4 car City of Miami set includes a Legacy E6 and 21" combine, two coaches and observation. The locomotive features a new optional fixed front pilot to start the train off right! Modeling the full seven car train is easy with another 2 pack of coaches and a StationSounds diner available separately. This train is an absolute must-have addition for anyone who loves the glory days of America's streamliners!
