No matter which route you took from New York City to Florida, you would ride on the Pennsylvania as far as Washington, DC. The Pennsylvania also competed with the Southern in Midwest-Florida service.

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The Flamingo connected Chicago with Florida via the PRR from Chicago to Cincinnati, the Louisville & Nashville to Albany, Georgia, the Atlantic Coast Line from there to Jacksonville. The train then continued to Fort Meyers four days a week and Miami (via the Florida East Coast) the other three. There were also through cars from Jacksonville to Orlando, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota.

On the Southland, PRR offered through sleeping cars from Chicago, Detroit (over the Wabash to Fort Wayne), and Cleveland to Cincinnati, then L&N to Albany and Atlantic Coast Line to St. Petersburg, with a through car to Sarasota. Note that from Albany south the two trains took different routes over the ACL, one to the West Coast and the other through the Central Lake region.

The two trains gave Chicago/Cincinnati-St. Petersburg travelers a choice. The Southland left Chicago at a quarter to midnight and Cincinnati at 8:45 am, arriving in St. Petersburg shortly after noon the next day. The Flamingo left Chicago at 1 pm and Cincinnati at 8:40 pm, arriving in St. Petersburg at 7:15 in the morning. These trains weren’t as exclusive as the Orange Blossom Special as they carried coaches and probably did not have such amenities as a barber, ladies maid, or shower baths.