The Panama Limited was a passenger train operated from 1911 to 1971 between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The flagship train of the Illinois Central Railroad, it took its name from the Panama Canal, which in 1911 was three years from completion. The train epitomized Streamliner passenger service beginning in 1942 with the first diesel/electric-powered run on an 18-hour schedule. The train shaved nearly two hours off this schedule by the late Forties. The Panama Limited carried a new orange and brown paint scheme that later became standard on Illinois Central passenger trains. The earlier units included two, upper-level yellow stripes on the lead engine. The Illinois Central Railroad last ran the Panama Limited in 1971, one day before Amtrak took over, dropping the Panama Limited in favor of its former daytime counterpart, the City of New Orleans.
The Panama LImted is shown above leaving Chicago around 1960.
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