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Catching the Gulf Wind
I put my uncle Frank on the last run of the combined Gulf Wind/Pan American at the end of his visit with us in New Orleans. Frank had a lower berth on the single sleeper to Jacksonville. He caught another train in Jacksonville and went to Clearwater to visit with my parents. The Tallahassee newspaper had a picture of Frank and identified him as “the last passenger.” That day was the last that the Gulf Wind, the Pan American, the Panama and the Sunset were in New Orleans as representatives of their original operators. The Crescent hung on for a few years as an operation independent of Amtrak. Now the railroad companies are themselves only memories. The Sunset and Crescent names live on. I got to ride on the pre-Amtrak Crescent and the Sunset, but none of the others. Time flies.