As far as long-distance passengers go, the Louisville & Nashville was primarily a bridge railroad, carrying trains over a part of their journey that also went on several other railroads. Between New York and New Orleans, for example, L&N covered the Montgomery-New Orleans segment of the Crescent and Piedmont.

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Between Chicago and Florida, L&N carried trains on portions of several routes. The Southland and Flamingo went over the L&N between Cincinnati and Atlanta. The South Wind and Florida Arrow went over the L&N between Louisville and Montgomery. Four Dixie trains — the Dixieland, Dixie Limited, Dixie Flyer, and Dixie Flagler — used L&N’s route between Evansville and Nashville.

The only trains that L&N could really call its own were the Cincinnati-New Orleans trains, which in 1946 numbered three: the heavyweight Pan-American, the Azalean, and the streamlined, all-coach Humming Bird. Even on this route, the timetable makes it appear that the Pan-American and Azalean continued on to New York over the Pennsylvania Railroad, but these were actually just a few through cars that went on PRR trains called the Cincinnati Limited, Golden Arrow, Manhattan Limited, and St. Louisian.

The Humming Bird wasn’t L&N’s only all-coach long-distance train in 1946. The South Wind and Dixie Flagler were also coach-only trains (with dining and lounge cars). Another was the St. Louis-Atlanta Georgian. This was due more to a post-war shortage of sleeping cars than to a deliberate decision to run these as “economy” trains.