Serving New York, Washington, D.C., Fayetteville, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Tampa, and intermediate points

Amtrak train numbers: 89 and 90

Predecessor railroad train numbers: Atlantic Coast Line 77 and 78

In service on the Atlantic Coast Line, the Palmetto was an overnight train from New York to Savannah, with better arrival times in Charleston and Savannah than on the two Champion trains that went to Miami and Tampa.

Amtrak revived the Palmetto name in 1979, now operating it as a day train, on the opposite schedule from the Silver Service trains, the Silver Meteor and the Silver Star, that went to Florida.

In 1990, the Palmetto was extended to Jacksonville, and in 1993, it was extended to Tampa as the replacement for the Tampa section of the Silver Meteor, gaining sleeping car service in the process.

Amtrak's 1995 budget cuts resulted in the discontinuance of the Palmetto. Its train numbers and schedule were later revived as the Silver Palm. Then, on April 29, 2002, when the Silver Palm lost its sleeping car in favor of a business class coach, it was renamed the Palmetto to distinguish it from the other two Silver Service trains that still featured sleping car service.

Condensed historical timetables:


               READ DOWN                                                   READ UP
(1956)  (1980)  (1990)  (1994)  (2002)                     (2002)  (1994)  (1990)  (1980)  (1956)
 1:15P   8:00A   7:15A   9:25A   7:45A Dp New York      Ar  9:08P   9:24P  11:10P  11:45P   9:55A
 6:25P   1:05P  11:20A   1:55P  12:40P    Washington        4:45P   4:55P   7:40P   7:10P   6:00A
 1:37A   6:30P   4:43P   7:38P   6:21P    Fayetteville     10:27A  10:36A   1:19P  12:30P   9:46P
 7:30A   9:10P   7:43P  10:47P   9:38P    Charleston        7:11A   7:21A  10:19A   9:30A   5:40P
 9:30A  11:35P   9:40P  12:43A  11:19P    Savannah          5:31A   5:45A   8:50A   8:00A   3:30P
 -----   -----  11:55P   3:05A   1:58A    Jacksonville      3:08A   2:21A   6:30A   -----   -----
 -----   -----   -----   8:40A   6:51A    Tampa            10:25P   9:25P   -----   -----   -----
 -----   -----   -----   -----  12:10P Ar Miami         Dp  5:00P   -----   -----   -----   -----

The Amtrak Train Names Project

Pal*met"to (?), n. [Dim. of palm the tree: cf. Sp. palmito.] Bot.

A name given to palms of several genera and species growing in the West Indies and the Southern United States. In the United States, the name is applied especially to the Chamaerops, ∨ Sabal, Palmetto, the cabbage tree of Florida and the Carolinas. See Cabbage tree, under Cabbage.

Royal palmetto, the West Indian Sabal umbraculifera, the trunk of which, when hollowed, is used for water pipes, etc. The leaves are used for thatching, and for making hats, ropes, etc. -- Saw palmetto, Sabal serrulata, a native of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. The nearly impassable jungle which it forms is called palmetto scrub.

 

© Webster 1913.

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