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The Southern Flyer is a high-speed limited express inter-city passenger train which runs between Citrus and Southville. The service was founded in 1928 as a twice-daily (each way) limited express service between the two cities, and apart from during World War II, has run ever since. Today's service is at least seven daily each way, and runs two routes, either via the Southern Main Trunk along the Citrus River Valley, or detours via the city of Northville.

The Southern Flyer is operated by National Rail InterCity, the long-distance passenger division of state rail service operator National Rail.

Pre World War
The Southern Flyer service was founded as a fast limited-express service as an alternative to the regular express trains running the Southern Main Trunk. The inaugural service left Citrus City Railway Station at 7:30pm on Saturday 1 September 1928, behind locomotives 55002 and 55032. An hour later, the inaugural northbound service departed Southville Railway Station behind locomotives 55013 and 55023.

Fleet
The Southern Flyer's fleet consist of locomotives and carriages built to National Rail InterCity's standard designs. Coach and sleeping carriages are of both NDR class P93 and class P83 designs, while the remaining carriages (dining, lounge, baggage, etc.) are of NDR class P88 design. Locomotives hauling the Southern Flyer are of NDR class E86 for head-end power, and NDR class E18 for inter-train power.

Carriages
The current carriage fleet is of NDR Series 3 design, and were built between 1983 and 1996. All carriages used on the Southern Flyer are painted blue, yellow and white, and have the Southern Flyer and the National Rail InterCity logos on the sides. Regardless of the class of the carriage, they are all fitted with automatic doors operated hydraulically, air conditioning, waste storage tanks, water tanks, and are fitted with emergency stop systems that vent the train's brake pipe out a small pipe in the top of the carriage.

Coach carriages for the Southern Flyer accomodate 44 passengers (P93) or 48 passengers (P83), aranged in fours around a small fixed table. Both classes of carriage contain overhead baggage racks, air conditioning, an accessible toilet at one end and a male and a female toilet at the other end, have call buttons and reading lights fitted above the seats, and the seats have power points and on-board audio fitted in them. Seats in the Class P93 carriages come with retractable footrests; Class P83 carriage seats do not have this feature.

Sleeping carriages again are of both class P93 and P83. Each carriage contains 10 twin-berth bedrooms, two twin-berth ensuite bedrooms that can be converted into a single quad-berth ensuite bedroom in class P93 carriages, and one twin-berth accessible ensuite bedroom. The sleeping carriages are also fitted with two toilets and two showers each for non-ensuite bedroom passengers.

The Southern Flyer is usually fitted with two dining carriages - one a class P885 dining/kitchen carriage and the other a P886 dining-only carriage. Class P885 carriages have a small kitchen on one side of the carriage, with a buffet-style servery area next to the kitchen on the same side, while the other side of the carriage contains twin-seater tables. Class P886 carriages contain only dining tables: two twin-seater tables and the remainder four-seater tables. The P885 carriges contain one toilet beside the kitchen, while the P886 carriages contain two toilets - one at each end of the carriage.

Lounge carriages also are usually fitted in pairs of one P887 carriage and one P888 carriage. Both carriages contain rotatable single or double lounger seating, seamless windows, a large screen television, and at least one toilet. Class P887 carriages contain a café and bar on one side of the carriage, while P888 has an additional toilet.

Baggage carriages are of classes P880 and P881. Class P880 carriages are full checked baggage carriages, while Class P881 are half checked baggage, with the other half a baggage storage room that is accesible from the train.

Locomotives
All Southern Flyer services, regardless of length, are haulled by two members of the NDR class E86 electric locomotives in a push-pull configuration. These 2250 kW Co-Co locomotives were introduced in 1986, and like the carriages, are painted blue, yellow and white, with both the Southern Flyer and National Rail InterCity logos on the side.

On longer trains, a class E18 1500 kW Co-Co locomotive are placed within the train to provide extra power. The E18 locomotives have a passage through them to allow passengers to access carriages on each side of it. These locomotive are currently being phased out due to their unreliability and the fact that most trains can be handled by the two E86 locomotives alone.

The Southern Flyer fleet includes four NDR class D50 Mark II and two NDR class D50 Mark III diesel-electric locomotives. The D50 locomotives were used to haul the Southern Flyer via Northville before electrification on that section was completed in 1999. Today, they are used to haul the Southern Flyer when overhead line maintainence prevents electric locomotives being used, and also are used to assist Southern Flyer services that have broken down or require extra banking. They are painted blue and yellow, and only contain the National Rail InterCity logo on their sides, as they are sometimes used to rescue other National Rail InterCity or National Rail RegionRail services.

The Souther Flyer also have four steam locomotives in their fleet for their steam-haulled weekend services. The steam locomotives, all built in the late 1940's used actually haulled the Southern Flyer before they were withdrawn in the 1960's. NDR class A552 4-6-2 tender locomotives A55252 Southbridge and A55253 Rochester lead the trains, with NDR class A547 4-6-4 tank locomotives A54794 Caperby and A54778 Haning assisting each A552 locomotive respectively. A class X15 water canteen is put between the two locomotives to supply water to both locomotives. The steam locomotives replace the front electric locomotive, with the rear electric locomotive still attached to provide extra power to the train, and to continue haulling the train in the event of the steam locomotives breaking down.