Unloading time at LOR from the NB Auto Train

[riverviewer]

I'll be taking the Auto Train northbound the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, arriving on Wednesday (day before Turkey Day).

How long does it take to off-load cars from the train at LOR?

The reason I'm asking is I have to pick up someone (my mom) at the Philly airport at 2:30 that same afternoon.

Will it speed things up at LOR of i get to Sanford when it opens for cars on Tuesday?

Thanks in advance!

 

[AlanB]

Riverviewer,

I'd expect that to be a very busy day for the Auto Train, therefore there will be plenty of car to unload. Assuming that the train arrives on time, you could be one of the lucky ones and watch your car roll off the train first around 9:50 is generally when the first cars start to roll off. But you could well be unlucky and be the last off, which could easily mean that the hour is approaching 11:00 AM before you're on I-95.

And again, all that assumes that you are on time and not either late or early.

Then I'd worry for you about catching traffic as you head north on I-95, especially as you get closer to Wilmington and the mass exodus starts for the holiday weekend.

Finally, the time that you arrive in Sanford will in no way influence when you car comes off the train in Lorton. It will influence what time you get dinner, as the middle time 7:00 PM usually fills up by 1:30 PM and often earlier. The 5PM is the next to sell out often by 2PM, leaving only the 9PM for those arriving later.

But how the car carriers are loaded at one end has no bearing on how they get unloaded at the other end. In fact, on my recent trip on the AT, I was driving one car and my brother-in-law was driving his family in another car. We both got to Sanford at the same time, checking in one right after the other. Yet in Lorton my brother-in-law's car rolled off the carriers about 20 minutes before my mother's car that I'd been driving.

 

[guest_riverviewer]

Riverviewer,

I'd expect that to be a very busy day for the Auto Train, therefore there will be plenty of car to unload. Assuming that the train arrives on time, you could be one of the lucky ones and watch your car roll off the train first around 9:50 is generally when the first cars start to roll off. But you could well be unlucky and be the last off, which could easily mean that the hour is approaching 11:00 AM before you're on I-95.

And again, all that assumes that you are on time and not either late or early.

Then I'd worry for you about catching traffic as you head north on I-95, especially as you get closer to Wilmington and the mass exodus starts for the holiday weekend.

Finally, the time that you arrive in Sanford will in no way influence when you car comes off the train in Lorton. It will influence what time you get dinner, as the middle time 7:00 PM usually fills up by 1:30 PM and often earlier. The 5PM is the next to sell out often by 2PM, leaving only the 9PM for those arriving later.

But how the car carriers are loaded at one end has no bearing on how they get unloaded at the other end. In fact, on my recent trip on the AT, I was driving one car and my brother-in-law was driving his family in another car. We both got to Sanford at the same time, checking in one right after the other. Yet in Lorton my brother-in-law's car rolled off the carriers about 20 minutes before my mother's car that I'd been driving.

Thanks for the info...I'll have apps on my iPhone to keep me posted about traffic & info on my Mom's flight. (I've also got other family living near Philly that can meet her is things get too bad on my end.)

As for dinner times, I may just take a later one on each AT segment, now that I've found out there are Wawas along my driving route where I can stop in & pick up a hoagie (for lunch while waiting to board).