KAN <-> SAL

[VentureForth]

Took the kids on a quick ride to Salisbury from Kannapolis this morning. The staff on both trains was quite cordial, and fun to deal with. No complaints whatsoever. Train 74 coming back was about 20 minutes late into SAL and an additional 10 minutes or so late getting into KAN. Still, for $14 RT for the three of us, it was well worth it. Spent the hour and a half in SAL drinking hot cocoas and a latte from up the street.

Interesting observations:

Lot of folks riding. I'd say my coach on 80 was 75%-80% full. Was a very nice refurbished 'blue' coach. That's the one that I'm going to take when I go to Savannah next week. Attendant said that Business Class is well worth it. They have a full-length coach that I wish the Palmetto would run. Train 74 was a nice Piedmont trainset. Etched glass was reminicient of Coast Starlight lore... Cafe car was nice, but could use a rehab on the outside. Only other person in the cafe car was a train host grabbing a snack. Heh heh. I could do that kind of volunteering.

The Piedmont has grown since I first rode it back in '04. If I recall correctly, that train used to only have two coaches, and snacks were brought to you by the attendant. Today I think there were four coaches plus the full length cafe car. My coach was about 95% full. Rumor is that they will add an earlier Piedmont so that people could actually use it to commute to Charlotte.

Overall, a very fun morning.

 

[BobWeaver]

Took the kids on a quick ride to Salisbury from Kannapolis this morning. The staff on both trains was quite cordial, and fun to deal with. No complaints whatsoever. Train 74 coming back was about 20 minutes late into SAL and an additional 10 minutes or so late getting into KAN. Still, for $14 RT for the three of us, it was well worth it. Spent the hour and a half in SAL drinking hot cocoas and a latte from up the street.
Interesting observations:

Lot of folks riding. I'd say my coach on 80 was 75%-80% full. Was a very nice refurbished 'blue' coach. That's the one that I'm going to take when I go to Savannah next week. Attendant said that Business Class is well worth it. They have a full-length coach that I wish the Palmetto would run. Train 74 was a nice Piedmont trainset. Etched glass was reminicient of Coast Starlight lore... Cafe car was nice, but could use a rehab on the outside. Only other person in the cafe car was a train host grabbing a snack. Heh heh. I could do that kind of volunteering.

The Piedmont has grown since I first rode it back in '04. If I recall correctly, that train used to only have two coaches, and snacks were brought to you by the attendant. Today I think there were four coaches plus the full length cafe car. My coach was about 95% full. Rumor is that they will add an earlier Piedmont so that people could actually use it to commute to Charlotte.

Overall, a very fun morning.

Since I've done a similar excursion 3 times, I'll go ahead and write a trip report for them. Back in August, I was planning on going up to the Charlotte area for a Saturday to do a little railfanning and spend some time at the airport. The Charlotte Airport has a neat observation area adjacent to 18R/36L and it's a good vantage point to watch the planes roll in. Anyway, I kind of discovered by accident that I could take 80 from CLT to SAL, layover, and then hop on 73 and ride back to CLT, all for $12.80 with the Student Advantage card. I immediately booked the trip.

As I had ridden 80 a few times before, I knew what to expect, and I recognized some of the crew's faces, even though I knew that they didn't recognize me. Anyway, 80 departed right on time as usual at 7:40 AM and arrived a whole minute late into SAL. NS MOW had just installed a new turnout and had to limit the speed to 10 mph for it to settle in, so I'm sure that's where we lost that time. 80's crews were the usual: not overly nice, but not rude. One minor detail though, when I did this back over Thanksgiving, 80 had a female conductor that I had never dealt with. When she came by to look at my ticket, she kind of stared at it, and then shook her head in a "whatever" fashion. Sorry for supporting Amtrak, Mrs. Conductor. I'll avoid having to hassle you next time and just drive to Salisbury. <_<

Salisbury's station is a great one, even though the Amtrak waiting room is located in an adjacent corner of the building that does not seem to be a part of the original structure. The station is the original Southern Railway station, complete with latin american style architecture. Apparently the actual station is utilized as a banquet/convention center and is unfortunately kept locked. I've never really ventured very far away from the station, but the station appears to be right downtown and is in a well-traveled area.

The Southbound Piedmont is almost always punctual. It was within 5-10 minutes of its scheduled arrival when I rode it twice in August, but it was running about 20-25 minutes late when I took it over Thanksgiving. This was of course due to the increased station dwell time to load the extra passengers traveling that day. Piedmont is always a great ride. The cars are comfortable, bright, and clean, and the onboard staff is always great too. No Amfleets here folks! (Visit http://www.bytrain.org/passenger/ at the bottom of the page) And who can argue with a complimentary snack and drink in the cafe car? It's definitely my favorite train to ride, even if it is only for 48 minutes.

And for anyone in the area, doing this roundtrip is a good way to show new/potential riders what train travel is all about.

 

[VentureForth]

It really is a fun 'day-trip'. What better way to pick up 200 AGR points for such a low cost? My boys loved it. Enough to get the whole train thing out of their system, and not too long to bore them (my 2 year old was on the floor 'coloring' his activity sheet 5 minutes into the ride).

I'd love to ride it into Charlotte, but the times are all wrong right now. Rumor on the train yesterday was that the 2nd train to take the Piedmont route is acquired and almost ready to put into service. Would love to see that happen! That would make it a very commuter friendly train to take into Charlotte. Right now, none of the NC Corridor trains are very practical for commuting anywhere if you work regular business hours.

As for the Piedmont, you're totally right about the snacks and cafe car - I prefer their basic snack and beverage system to the Business Class service I received on the Carolinian and the Palmetto.