The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-01-19
FINE TOURIST TRAINS.
History Of Early Days Of Florida Travel very
Marked Contrast
(The Columbia State.)

THE Columbia State.)
The passenger service on all the lines
of roads that pass through this section
of the country and end at Jacksonville,
Fla, the great distributing point OF the
winter tourist business for points III
Florida. is now in full blast, the fuli
complement of trains being put on during
the month of January. On all the INES
the limited vestibuled trains are SAID 10
be doing good business going south, TINS
being the season of the year that the
health and pleasure seeker, as well rs
the invalid leaves the chilly winds OF
the North and comes to the oalmy sun
shine of the South.
Thirty wears ago the only route that
handled any winter tourist business OF
any consequence in this section was the
old washington and Manchester road,
running from Wilmington N. c., to Man
chester, S. c., near Kingville, on the
South Carolina road, at which place a
connection was made with the South
Carolina road. The traveller would then
be taken to Charleston and turned over
to the Charleston and Savannah rail-
road and sent on his way to Florida.
There were no vestibuled trains in those
days. nor even through cars; each little
road simply hauled it's passengers to the
junction of the other fellows road, so
to speak, and at these functions pas
sengerN might make a connection or he
might not. That depended in a great
measure on whether your train was on
time or not. for the other roads did not
hold trains for connections as rule.
Some of them would hold thirty minutes
or probably an hour. Some would not
hold their trains at all
Under these circumstances the traveller
made his way as best he could; IL he
missed his train he just waited till the
mex train came along; that might be me
next day. There was some little Kicking
done in those days, so the old timers say,
but it was of a mild form as compared
to the kicks of the present day that are
usually made by some when anything
goes wrong on our up-to-date railroads.
COAST LINE WAS THE FIRST.
! A few years after the close of the war
the Wilmington, Columbia and Aug ista
railroad was built into Columbia from
Sumter. On the completion of this road
Etc this city the line between Sumter and
| Manchester was abandoned. This ended
! the connection at Kingville for Florida
points. few years later the formation
| Of the Atlantic Coast Line system CONF
menced by taking in the Wilmington, CO.
lumba and Augusta, and North Eastern
| from Florencee to Charleston, with other
/ roads north of Wilmington. A few years
later vestibuled trains commenced run
ming over the Atlantic Coast Line. This
system was the first to inauguratc this
class of service from the North to The
| South, the main line over which these
trains ran, being from Richmond. Va,
via Weldon, n. c., and Florence, this
State, to connection with the Plant
System at Ashley junction, near Charles
ton For more then ten years the At
lantic Coast Line had the Florida travel
| to ITSELF the break coming with the
building of the South Bound and the line
| between Savannah and Jacksonville, hy
| the Florida Central and Peninsula, thus
forming another through line by connec-
| ton with the Southern at this point fol
the North.
Soon thereafter the Southern and the
Florida Central and Peninsular COM
II enced the running of the second vesti-
buled train from the North to the South
Quickly thereafter came the building O
the Seaboard Air Line into this city, hav-
ing acquired the Florida Central ant
Peninsular in the mean time. So the
public find the third vestibuled train OF
its way from the North to the South.