The City of New Orleans
The City of New Orleans was a named train initially created by the Illinois Central Railroad in 1947 to cover the 921-mile route between Chicago and New Orleans as a daytime companion to the overnight Panama Limited. With the incorporation of this route into Amtrak, only overnight service was kept, although the City of New Orleans name (with overnight service) was revived in 1981 to capitalize on the popularity of the eponymously named 1972 song by Arlo Guthrie (written by Steve Goodman).
I took this train a number of times during my years in New York and at the University of Illinois, although the overnight schedule and comparatively boring topography made it difficult to take many interesting photographs. Although these photos are from a variety of northbound and southbound trips over the years, they are organized from north to south (CHI to NOL).
Next: The Coast Starlight - South (Los Angeles to Emeryville)