USA by Rail #2 - Washinton D.C. to Atlanta, Georgia on The Crescent (17/2/09)

After almost two weeks in the USA I was pretty excited about our first Amtrak journey. We had visited New York City, Philadelphia and after a few days in Washington D.C and from there we were due to travel to Atlanta, Georgia on The Crescent (which originates in New York and terminates in New Orleans). We had had a brilliant couple of days in Washington, spending most of our time in the truly excellent Smithsonian museums, the zoo and the other touristy stuff that the capital has to offer. Washington D.C. is also notable for our first visit to Chipotle Mexican Grill, but that’s another story for another blog…

I feel like I should also mention Washington’s excellent Metro system which is by far the most impressive underground railway I’ve ever been on. The platforms area are really large, the trains are clean and tidy and they have even have carpeted floors. Carpet! It has by far the most ‘futuristic’ feel of any similar system I have been on, although apparently the network only opened in 1976 so I suppose it is relatively new.

We arrived at Union Station mid-afternoon to ensure we had plenty of time to make our 6.30 p.m. departure. My excitement about the trip was soon to be tempered however. Firstly, I realised that I had booked a motel room in Atlanta for that evening, when we would in fact be on the train, thus wasting $60. I’m pleased to say that I didn’t make that mistake again.

Secondly, we didn’t board the train until 6.45p.m. (correct, that is after we were due to depart). Fortunately I had done a fair bit of research about Amtrak, I thought it was a good idea given that we were about to spend a couple of weeks of our lives on their trains. I knew of course that Amtrak doesn’t have the greatest record for punctuality, when we finally left Union Station at 8.50 p.m. I had experienced it first hand. Apparently a motor was short-circuiting and had to be replaced.

By the time we left darkness had descended, so views were rather limited. I was fairly impressed with the train and the space we were afforded. The amount of legroom is far greater than any train I had ever been on and the seats recline to a generous degree, so I was able to get pretty comfortable as I settled in for the 12 hour journey, managing to get a full 8 hours (almost). We arrived into Atlanta just after 8 a.m. to grey skies and light rain, the first we had had on the trip. After a fairly lengthy wait to retrieve our luggage we crossed the road outside the station into our handily-located motel, which by a slice of luck was pretty much opposite the station.

A slightly ominous start to our Amtrak travels given the delay, but I was already looking forward to the next leg when, hopefully, I’d be able to see something out of the window! Unfortunately it seems I was a bit slack with the photographs at this point so I didn’t manage to take any pictures of this leg of the journey, poor form.

USA by Rail #1 - Intro

Earlier this year my friend Greg & I spent 3 months travelling around the the United States and Canada. We travelled primarily by train, mostly Amtrak and also by VIA Rail when in Canada The Amtrak system was formed in 1971 and is owned by the US government. Whilst recent years haves seen an increase in passenger numbers, Amtrak use pales in comparison to those choosing airlines or car travel for inter-city journeys. Nevertheless Amtrak serves over 500 destinations across the US, providing vital transport links for many small communities.

Our plan was to fly into New York, head South from there to New Orleans East to California, from there North to Vancouver, Canada and then back East through to New York, navigating the country in a clockwise direction.

We arrived in New York on the 5th February and were spending 6 nights there before moving on. Our first couple of journeys, from New York to Philadelphia and then on to Washington D.C. were to be by coach as the journeys were only short and it was much cheaper. This didn't stop us (or me, a least) checking out some train-related in New York stuff before our first Amtrak journey a couple of weeks later.

We had a look around Penn Station, which is pretty uninspiring, but also popped into Grand Central Terminal. It certainly lives up to it's name, it has to be the most stunning station I have ever seen, this photo shows the remarkable main concourse.


I also headed over to Ellis Island to visit the museum there. Inside there was an exhibit based on railways, remarking on how people reached their final destinations after arriving in New York. I was particularly taken by this map. It isn't that easy to make out from the picture, but the US was once covered by passenger railway lines. In the same way that the Beeching Axe so radically altered the UK rail landscape, the Amtrak system today is a shadow of what railways in the US once were.


There was also a large collection of old timetables from the period. I was to come across similar collections in various places as we travelled around, but this was undoubtedly the largest.


With our first journey a couple of weeks away it was interesting to take in some of the history of the railway were about to travel.