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Error -- Gladys Presley was 46 when she died, not 42 as Jackson Bain said in the video "Elvis Presley - Boston News from August 1977" (23:36).

I saw the Crescent coming into Gastonia, NC in a cloud of brake dust - one fall midnight in 1963 - long station stops were a "no" anywhere on the system - a couple of horn blasts from up front , and the train was gone toward Spartanburg in little more than a heartbeat.

There was 250K by the final count on Easter Sunday April 10th, 1977...It was for us, a Roots Music "Woodstock". 1980 was the latest "BIG YEAR". A victim of its own success some say.

I didn't know that a engineer for Southern railway's crescent blows the horn before leaving the station

This Is Great Seeing The Southern Cresent On NBC 1978 Which This Is A Time Machine With The Historic Southern Cresent snd Piedmont 😊😊😊🚂🚂🚂

Man this brings back a lot of memories from my summers in Meridian, MS. My granddad used to take me down to Key Field on Sundays after church to watch the Delta arrival and departure and the Crescent headed down to Laurel along US11.

We used to run freight trains in to Pot Yard and I can still here that southern draw asking ….Who’s on the motor, over. RF&P B&O CR D&H and the Southern. Trains we had where 685 / 682. 84 / 85. FLTT / 682. Latter came things like 403 / 402 or red train blue train. CP power and GATX power. And the Orange Blossom and WLTT. Elsmere put the skids on that one.

I rode the Southern Crescent in the 1970s, and it never carried any ... unclaimed freight. ;)

This kind of journalism we need today. It has the professionalism that is sadly lacking in most modern news media. Excellent work, Mr. Bain.

I went in '76. It was a blast...my "Woodstock". We camped in the woods and met people from all over. There were alot of drugs there but I don't remember it being out of hand...

Maybe back then it was good but, We just took this train ride from New Orleans to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and it SUCKED!!! The train was always violently shaking, rocking back-and-forth and at times felt like it was going to roll over! It sucked so bad that the first day we got off the train we couldn’t even walk. We felt like we were beat up by a professional boxer. We were told there was a dinner cart and there wasn’t one, the only thing they had was a microwave hotdog or hamburger with very little of anything else. We didn’t even ride the train back we booked a flight as bad as I hate to fly I couldn’t take a beating like that again for 30 hours again. Not only what was mentioned above but the water stopped working so we were limited to one restroom for the entire train and they only let us off 2 times in 30 hours to stretch and get fresh air!! Never again. Don’t believe these videos saying how good these train rides are going to be because they suck!! Especially the Crescent 20 route!

Amtrak still runs the crescent, but they run it with the run-of-the-mill amfleet and viewliner coaches, although 4 locomotives that hauled the crescent, Southern 6900, 6901, 6910, and 6914 are all preserved with engines 6900 and 6901 operational and restoration of 6914 nearing completion and several of the coaches that ran the train are preserved in museums all across the southeast such as the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and the Southeastern Railroad Museum.

I was born in 1976 so I was 2 when this aired. I vaguely recall seeing this on our tv, but I was a toddler playing with my pop and his Lionel Southern Set. Damn has the time flied, today we call passenger service “Amtrak” and it’s a fucking shame to call it “America’s Railroad” when it’s not.

What’s the song they play at 2:03?

My grandfather Tommie Creamer was a longtime resident of Cinco Bayou. He lived right next door to the old city hall building on Kelly Avenue.

Rode one of last runs in '78, 1/2 price because I was a trackman on the also-fabled D&H. Ended up mentioned in an article in Time Mag. Glorious trip. Food was some of the best I have ever had, before or since- and cooked on a wood stove, if my ol' man memory is intact chancey!).

I was a Fireman on #1 and #2, from Meridian, Ms to New Orleans, La., during this time. You could set your watch by the train, it was always on time. Freight trains did not delay “The Silver Slipper”. My engineer smoked cigars and one time the rope on the train horn broke while he was blowing for a crossing and he nearly swallowed his cigar.

They fired David Brinkley for criticizing Bill Clinton.

As an Iranian, I feel ashamed of what my people did. I don't know what percentage of the Iranians would have approved of this barbaric act but I want Americans to know that the Iranian people have very different views now. We have become more politically mature. We were brainwashed by Khomeini and the revolutionaries 43 years ago but but since then those who use to believe otherwise have realized that the US is not the enemey. The enemey is the ruling regime inside Iran.

Shame on Iranians

@JacksonBain, it may interest you to know that one of the engines that pulled the Southern Crescent in its final days of operation has been preserved - in operating condition - by Norfolk Southern, the descendent, by way of merger, of the Southern Railway!

For a train that is 99% from the 1950s, this is pretty eerie and nostalgic to watch something filmed in 1978.

Do you have the footage of the plane your government shoot down killing 200 something innocent civilians? Oopsy i forget only american lives matter!

You looked like Ron Burgundy.

I wish I had been a few decades earlier. Maybe I could have experienced this gem of a train then.

This is one beautiful piece of History love the paint scheme

Im out there somewhere in the eighth grade.

Kind of sad looking at this because back when this train was running with original equipment it had class now it's just another amtrak train with nothing special about it at all.

My parents met in college at UNC Chapel Hill in the late 1970’s and my Dad’s parents were living in Atlanta at the time, therefore he would drive down to see them. To this day, of his biggest regrets is knowing about the Southern Crescent because if he had, he definitely would’ve ridden it instead of driving.

My father was a SR conductor out of WS, NC. Saw the Crescent come through Greensboro. The passenger train from Greensboro to North Wilkesboro stopped in the late 1960’s.

Floyd Ray Roseberry almost did a replay of this incident ten days ago. He never moved his truck from the front of the Library of Congress and lived to tell the tale.

After 1 1/4 years of Captivity, they very much deserved a Heroes' Welcome Home.

Passenger rail travel after WWII became useless. Faster modes of transit came into being. Even an Amtrak today doesnt make a profit. In fact Amtrak can sell out 90% of long distance trains and STILL wont make a profit. The only part of Amtrak that makes any profit is the NEC.

Excellent video. My grandfather was an engineer on the southern railway. He lived in alexandria va. He ran the crescent in the 1960s. Back then sou. Engines were painted black and white. He gave southern railway 47 years dedicated service.

2021 still the southern party train

Rode this train as a 9 year old in 1977. It was one of the most exciting trips of my childhood.

Grâce à l.algerie

Thank you so much for posting this. Absolutely phenomenal.

I was 11 years old when this happened and still remember this so well.

Rode the Crescent many times as a kid Alexandria to Atlanta. My Dad worked for Southern so got to ride free. Oct '79 I was 13 first time riding by myself when it derailed in Spencer Yard. Dad retired in '84 after the merger.

I rode this train as a kid in 1976, in an open section car. Amtrak never took any of those cars (that I know of) from Southern or any other railroad, so that was the first and only time I got to experience that and I still remember it. Have photos from the dome car of the train stretching out forward and back, with those green and white E8 locomotives clearly visible.

Down in Spencer NC, they have one of the Southern Crescent locomotives #6900

The best part of this is anchor cowering behind the typewriter paper gate...sooo steeeeely.... oooooohhhhh.

I wish I could’ve rode this train. It’s hard to believe someone of the people on this train have passed away, it’s sad to think about.

It was great fun until about 1974. By then a lot of people would go to just get drunk and raise hell and destroy things. A lot of hell's angels and jerks destroyed it. They started it back up years later.

great look!! thanks

The news set WAGA had used at that time until 1976 looked similar or the same as KGO in San Francisco when they also had used the Newscene branding in which the anchors were Van Amberg & Jerry Jensen!

i was 15 then i remember watching the whole thing when i lived is silver spring

Now Amtrak, not only on the Crescent, but all overnight trains in the eastern half of the U.S. no longer offer fresh cooked food in the diner, instead it's airline style box food only, thanks to budget cuts and their latest CEO Anderson. Waiting for the western long distance trains to get hit with that crap at some point.

Very cool. Thank you for sharing