The "Southern Crescent" was one of the two last privately operated long-distance passenger services in the United States, the other being the "Rio Grande Zephyr". However, mounting revenue losses and equipment-replacement expenses forced Southern Railway to leave the passenger business and turn over full operation of the train to Amtrak on February 1, 1979. Amtrak simplified the name to the "Crescent", renumbering it 19 southbound and 20 northbound, although for several years the Southern assigned it operating numbers 819 and 820.