WAS - ATL

[Ryan]

So I've decided that the only way that I'm going to write a decent trip report is to just get it done.

Slipped out of work a little early this afternoon and picked the boy up as soon as he got off of school. I read about Dick's train taking out a trespasser up in Delaware earlier today, so I wanted to get to BWI as soon as I could so that I could maybe catch an earlier train (rather than wait for my delayed train). I arrived at BWI about 10 minutes before 93 was scheduled to depart, and sure enough it was showing 20 minutes late. I grabbed a pair of MARC tickets when I printed my AGR tickets, since they had just announced a MARC train arriving. Of course, by the time I printed my 14 tickets, the train left just as we were crossing the bridge to the far side tracks. Drat.

We got to see lots of trains while we were waiting, including as S/B Acela that I half seriously thought about playing dumb and getting on the Acela in hopes that the Conductor wouldn't care. But I decided that getting out off the train in NCR wouldn't really help things out, so I waited. Watching the train status online, it looked like 93 was going to show up at about 5:05. At the appointed time a MARC train showed up, and again I was tempted to jump on. I decided to gamble and wait for 93, which the conductor told me was "right behind". Forgetting that all the rush hour traffic was running north, I thought that we would pull past the MARC local.

Of course, we didn't and arrived at Washington right at 6:00. Waited a few minutes in the Club Acela and got escorted down to the train. We're rolling now, just getting started about 15 minutes late.

_________________________________

Just as we were getting rolling, we were invited to the dining car for dinner. Our SCA told us that we didn't need a reservation, as most folks already on the train had already been served. We made our way down, and just as we were seated the cook came out of the kitchen and gave Alexander a "Junior Conductor" hat (the same one all the kids were running around on National Train Day). Not long after that, one of the SA's led the car in a rousing round of "Happy Anniversary" (sung to the tune of "Happy Birthday") to a couple at the next table, and announced that the couple was celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. Looks like we have a top notch crew to be sure.

Our orders were taken and food arrived before we even arrived at Alexandria. I had the steak (ordered it medium rare, came out more rare than medium, but delicious), Amy had the half chicken (she said it was good) and Alexander had the kid's pizza (which disappeared in about 17 nanoseconds). A nice leisurely dessert and we headed back to our room just as the train stopped at Manassass (now 20 minutes behind).

 

[Ryan]

Part II - Arrival into ATL.

Unsurprisingly, I slept pretty poorly overnight (usually the first night out I'm so keyed up to be on the train that I have trouble sleeping). With Amy 8 months pregnant, there was even less room for the two of us on the lower bunk. I work up at every stop (also helped out by engineers that brought the train to a rather abrupt halt), and finally after Toccoa I decided to get up and get dressed. There was enough padding in the schedule that we made up the 15-20 minutes we had been running behind at Charlotte, and remained on time for the rest of the run.

Amy and Alexander woke up just before our wakeup call at 6:30 (Marcie, the SCA was on top of her game for the whole trip), and we headed to the diner for a quick bite to eat. Alexander and I had the French Toast (excellent, as always). We then had just enough time to get back to the room and get everything packed up and ready for our arrival into Atlanta.

We arrived into Atlanta about 10 minutes early and were able to get off the train and get a cab without any hassle. We cabbed it up to the JW Mariott in Buckhead where we grabbed a rental car (Hertz will give you up to $20 for the cab ride - the cab drivers all know this and charge you a flat $20 to get up there).

Over all, the trip down was perfect. 2 good meals, on time performance, on the train at dinner and arriving in ATL first thing in the morning. Couldn't ask for anything more than that.

 

[Shanghai]

Glad you have a nice trip. Have a good visit in Atlanta.

I hope your return trip is a good one.

 

[acelafan]

Enjoyed reading your post. I take the Crescent to DC from Atlanta every other month and your experience is pretty much the norm - good crews, good service and good on time performance. I've always had a good meal in the diner.

My only gripe is the capital of Georgia's excuse of a train station to greet passengers. Too small, no parking, long stairs. But they did build a new 1.5 billion dollar airport terminal...really sad how other cities have embraced trains but not Atlanta yet.

 

[henryj]

Nice report Ryan. Thanks.

 

[Ryan]

Agreed, I'm sitting here now.

As Mr. Haithcoat likes to point out, this was never designed to be Atlanta's main station. Maybe, just maybe, one day a new station with MARTA connectivity will be built (and when it is, maybe a sleeper lounge?).

 

[Ryan]

...and the return trip was equally noteworthy in it's lack of anything exciting whatsoever.

I tracked 20 running between 15-30 minutes late most of the day. Between that, my excessive paranoia about missing a train and the Lenox Square mall closing at 6:00PM on a Sunday, we ended up with about an hour to kill at the train station.

Our "return the car" routine is to hang out at the mall for a bit (Amy needed to buy some new headphones for the trip home), leave there at 6:00 to head over to Krystal and grab a sack full of burgers (not something we can get up here), then drive back to the JW Marriott to drop the car off.

Unlike the cab driver on Friday morning who just charged us a flat $20, knowing that's what Hertz reimbursed, this driver used the meter, which came to $12.75, plus a $6.00 surcharge (even though the sticker on the window said $2.00/extra passenger, so I thought that it should have only been $4.00). Still, I just gave him a $20 and called it good.

We boarded the 2011 car, happy to have "B" with its forward facing couch on both trips this time, and quickly got settled in. Charles, our SCA, welcomed us aboard and invited us to dinner (which we declined). We had him make up the room not too long after getting underway. After Gainsville, I was the only one of the 3 of us still awake, and I barely made it to Toccoa.

I was the first one up, just as we were pulling into Lynchburg. Just after Charlottesville we finally got our act in gear and headed to the diner (a mistake that would prove costly). We ended up having to wait for a table, and by the time we were served all of the pancakes were gone. Alexander and I must have gotten the last of the eggs on the train, as the group at the table behind us was only offered cereal or oatmeal.

We were about 20 minutes early through ALX, and stopped in WAS about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. I was able to trade my Regional tickets to BWI for an earlier train without any issues at the Club Acela, and only had about a 40 minute wait before train 174 started boarding.

Since it was a train that originated in Richmond (and therefore on the lower level), instead of boarding directly from the lounge I had to head out to the gate. Fortunately, a small line had formed off the side of the gate (as opposed to the mile-long line stretching from gate K almost all the way back to the information desk). The guy at the end of the short line said that it was the Business Class/Families/People needing assistance line, which was just mixing with the "regular" line right at the gate where a single (seemingly helpless) employee was purportedly checking people's tickets and trying to keep the short line moving. In practice, he was completely overwhelmed and the two lines were proceeding at about the same rate, and he was only checking a handful of tickets. In fact, Alexander got somewhat separated from me as the lines collapsed down and ended up going past the screener 3-4 people in front of me without any issues, despite the fact that I was holding both tickets.

Past the (utterly ridiculous) boarding circus, Alexander and I made our way to the front of the train and got two seats next to each other. The train pulled out exactly on time (10:20), which amazed me because we only got to our seats at 10:15 and there were a LOT of people behind us that needed to get down to the platform and aboard.

From there we had a smooth trip to up BWI, where we were able to retrieve our car and head off to work/school and have a productive day.

All told, the trip was as expected. Good service, decent food. The dining car running out of just about everything for breakfast was troubling - they were serving a decent number of folks from coach, so they were definitely leaving revenue on the table by not having enough food available. Using the Hertz location up in Buckhead seems to be the most pain free way of getting into and out of Atlanta with a rental car. It's also worth noting that the 110 bus that passes by the Amtrak station runs up to the Lenox station, which is right across the street. It also runs downtown to Courtland Street where a number of rental car places are located. We ended up going to Buckhead because they will allow after hours car dropoff - the downtown Hertz is in a gated lot that doesn't allow after-hours access. The only other notable thing is how much nicer the NS track is than the CSX track used by the Silvers. The ride was smooth and comfortable the entire way - not something that will ever be said about the other route.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

There were three of you on the trip, right? Because you say the $2.00 per pax shoud have been $4.00, not $6.00, so I'm a little confused.

That aside, very nice trip report.

 

[Ryan]

Yep, me, my wife (Amy) and son (Alexander). Since it said "Per extra passenger", I would have thought that would have been just 2. Unless you could hire the cab out to transport nobody.

Really it was all a wash, he was getting a $20 either way.

 

[acelafan]

The only other notable thing is how much nicer the NS track is than the CSX track used by the Silvers. The ride was smooth and comfortable the entire way

Glad you had a good ride back, and I agree with you about the tracks! They are in great shape and the Crescent must go 79MPH most of the night through SC/NC/VA - it always seems to be moving right along. I was just on the Cardinal on Sunday and the tracks it takes east of Charlottesville are pokey-pokey until they rejoin the NS line near Orange, VA (I think?)

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Yep, me, my wife (Amy) and son (Alexander). Since it said "Per extra passenger", I would have thought that would have been just 2. Unless you could hire the cab out to transport nobody.

Really it was all a wash, he was getting a $20 either way.

I got it. Sorry for that. Anyways, glad you enjoyed the trip overall.