Until the 1960s, the route carried Southern Railway passenger trains, such as the Crescent and the Piedmont Limited on New York to New Orleans service.[3] By the latter 1960s, the Crescent was the only remaining passenger train. In 1970, the Crescent was rerouted on its present-day more northwestern route, through Birmingham.
Major station stops, southwest from Atlanta's Terminal Station were in Georgia: Newman, LaGrange, West Point, in Alabama: Opelika, Auburn, Chehaw and Montgomery. Coach-only trains made additional station stops.[4] Passenger trains continued west beyond Montgomery to Mobile and New Orleans on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.[5]
