Did the Atlantic Coast Line have a train named the "Cyclone Special" and if so, what was it and when?

-- Richard Kearns (kearnsrh@aol.com), March 13, 2003

Answers

A friend of mine who grew up in Wilson confirms that the Fike High School team was known as the "Cyclones".

-- Robert Johnson (rcjohnson@nc.rr.com), March 23, 2003.

Dick sent me a copy of the ticket coupon with the "Cyclone Special" name on it. It appears to be a souvenir ticket for what I imagine was a football special. It's from Wilson to Wilmington, NC, Oct. 29, 1954, marked "Leaving 4:00 p.m." Oct. 29 was a Friday, and the train could have been in Wilmingon in early evening in time for a game. Now -- if anyone can verify that there was a football team in Wilson called the "Cyclones," then that will confirm my theory.

-- Larry Goolsby (clgoolsby@worldnet.att.net), March 22, 2003.

There is an early SAL train named the Atlanta Special which was nicknamed the "Cyclone". It predated the Norlina to Richmond extension and ran South of Richmond over the Wilmington & Weldon to Weldon, where it reached SAL track.

-- Richard Lasater (Richard.Lasater@ncmail.net), March 20, 2003.

I dont think so-for the general philosophy was to play on a region's strengths and never on the so called weaknesses. Tropical storms were like frosts-considered bad publicity and bad for business. You wanted to down play any possible tropical storms as they could cause tourists and new settlers to not want to visit the south, especially Florida. The 1926 hurricane that devastated Miami was a direct cause of the collapse of the 1920's Florida real estate boom.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak@mnr.org), March 18, 2003.

Dick, I've never heard of that one. Could it have been a subsidiary road of the ACL? Fran

-- Frank Brubaker (fnbrubaker@aol.com), March 17, 2003.