Wilmington

My wife has never been to Delaware. In the fall, we're taking the train from DC to Philly for the day. I know the train stops in Wilmington. Does it stop long enough to get off for a minute? Are you allowed to get off if you don't leave the platform?

Thanks in advance.

There is no layover time in Wilmington. It's stop, unload, load, go.

creddick said:

My wife has never been to Delaware. In the fall, we're taking the train from DC to Philly for the day. I know the train stops in Wilmington. Does it stop long enough to get off for a minute? Are you allowed to get off if you don't leave the platform?
Thanks in advance.

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Usually it will stop for just a minute or two, so no you won;t have time to get off for a stroll on the platform.

Regionals are usually an hour apart, so you could consider booking WAS-WIL-PHL as a multi-city booking then check out the river front between trains. I posted a link in the "Day Trip from NYC" thread to the riverfront s webpage.

Alternatively you could take a Regional to Wilmington and then continue on SEPTA to Philadelphia. SEPTA trains leave every two hours on the weekend, so if you time it right it could save you a few bucks. A SEPTA ticket from that distance is only $5 from what I'm seeing on SEPTA's website.

Sit on the right side of the train going to Philly, or the left side going south to DC, for a nice view of the riverfront when entering Wilmington. Sit on the opposite side for a view of the downtown business district.

Thanks. Some good suggestions and I appreciate it. We will be going on a weekday so maybe we'll get off for an hour or so. Thanks again.

Just use the multi-city option and you'll pay only the through (if one train is higher bucket, the higher fare) WAS-PHL to plan an hour stopover (you can stop for up to 23.5 hours and pay just the through fare). I make stopovers all the time (and Wilmington is high on my list), and its how I've photographed so many Amtrak Stations for my website.

Also your stopover will earn an extra 100 AGR points.

Not sure what day we're going. Do I need to purchase tickets in advance or can I just go to a ticket counter and get them? What time would be a good time to go so we miss most of the rush? Leaving from DC and returning the same day.

Thank you.

If you can buy 14+ days in advance you'll most likely get the 25% discount.

You can buy that day at the ticket counter but the price will most likely be high bucket IF there are still seats available.

If you're going to do same day SEPTA is probably the way to go if you're watching the budget.

i grew up in Wilmington and many interesting places to see along route 52 and into Chester county PA.( Winterthur Museum, Hagley Museum (duPont's original black powder building), Longwood Gardens, River Museum (Wyeth paintings). You could easily spend a long weekend on that scenic road and not see it all. Suggest you rent a car in Philadelphia (most all rental companies have a rental office in 30th St. station, Philly. It's a short drive back to Wilmington. Downtown Wilmington itself, though, has little to offer except corporate offices.

If you do stop for an hour or so, a quick tour of both the Amtrak station and the nearby small office for ING direct. The latter was the freight station for the B&O railroad and has been beautifully restored. It was used by CSX into the 80's as a freight office for the Wilmington area. The building is across the parking lot from the Amtrak station. Both buildings were designed by noted architect Frank Furness: http://www.friendsoffurness.org/pastfuture.html