Crescent NOL-BHM

[NativeSon5859]

Yesterday, I took Amtrak's Crescent from NOL to BHM. Here's the report as promised.

Amtrak train #20

Crescent

New Orleans,LA to Birmingham,AL

Departed: 7:20am (on time)

Arrived: 2:10pm (9 minutes early)

I got dropped off at the Union Passenger Terminal downtown for 6:30am. Upon entering I noticed that there was a lot of people going out on the Crescent this morning. A ticket agent told me that boarding would begin at 7:00am. Fair enough. I walked into the gift shop and bought some batteries for my walkman, which I had forgot at my house. Looking around the station you can tell that it is undergoing some renovations. It's not the most attractive facility around but it's not the worst either. The Subway sandwhich shop in there certainly does a brisk business all day long. Apparently Amtrak's "Magnolia Room" first class lounge has recently undergone some renovations as well, which is good to hear.

Boarding for train #20 with service to New York City began promptly at 7:00am. The first boarding call was for the sleeping car passengers, of which I counted about 35, a pretty decent number. Next, general boarding. I counted roughly 45 coach passengers, although there could have been a few more than that. The conductor looked at my ticket and off I went, making my way to the second coach. The consist of today's Crescent was as follows:

2 locomotives (numbers 152 and 122)

1 Baggage Car

1 Crew Dorm

2 Viewliner Sleeping Cars

1 Dining Car

1 Lounge Car

4 Amfleet 2 Coaches

1 ExpressTrak Boxcar

The coach I was in (a former BusinessClass coach used in the Northeast Corridor) was reserved for passengers just going to Atlanta or Birmingham. Very comfortable seats, tons of legroom, generous recline. And clean!

Departed on-time at 7:20 with one blow of the whistle. Picked up speed as we passed Interstate 10 leaving the city. We made a big loop around the city before reaching the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. There, we hit 79mph until we reached the seven mile trestle over the lake. It's always fun going over the trestle. It feels more like an ocean liner than a train. First station stop was in Slidell,LA, just after crossing the trestle. Several passengers boarded here.

Just a few minutes later, at about 8:20am, first call was made for breakfast in the Dining Car. I figured it would be pretty full so I made my way up to the Dining Car. Wouldn't you know, it was packed, not a single seat left. I waited for about ten minutes and a seat opened up. I dined with three gentlemen going up to Danville,VA. I had a nice chat with them and enjoyed my pancakes and sausage. Excellent service as usual. And boy, the Dining Car sure looked good. Nice job Amtrak!

After breakfast I returned to my seat. We had passed Picayune,MS without stopping, but we did stop at Hattiesburg,MS for several minutes to pick up a few people. A few people also detrained here. Between Hattiesburg and Laurel I was drifting in and out of sleep. I find train travel to be totally relaxing. We stopped at Laurel right on time and picked up a few more folks heading North. We had a slight delay entering Meridian but nothing too major. Got a great view of Key Field and saw several KC-135's. Pulled into Meridian's gorgeous new terminal just about ten minutes behind schedule.

In between Meridian and Tuscaloosa I hit the Lounge Car for a soda. I sat in there for awhile and chatted with the assistant conductor for a few minutes. I was explaning to him how this was my first trip on the Crescent in about eight years and that every summer growing up my grandparents would take me on this train for day trips to Meridian. I mentioned to him how I was impressed with the large number of people board in New Orleans. He said that by the time the train would leave Atlanta it would be close to full. That's what I like to hear! It was a nice conversation and the conductor seemed impressed with my knowledge and enthusiasm of Amtrak. We crossed the large Tenn/Tom waterway in between these two cities on a high trestle, as well as the good-sized Black Warrior River.

After making a brief stop in Tuscaloosa we headed out for Birmingham. We passed the campus University of Alabama after leaving the station. I returned back to my seat to enjoy the remaining hour of the ride. The landscape got a little more "hilly" as we neared Birmingham. We made up some time and arrived into BHM about ten minutes early. Here, about fifteen passengers got off, and about thirty or so boarded. Before walking down the staircase to enter the Birmingham station, I took a stroll up to the head end of the train to check out those P42 locomotives. I'm always impressed by those things.

Thus concludes my latest Amtrak trip. As usual, it was lots of fun. I can't think of anything else I'd rather do on a day off than to take a train ride somewhere. I have a feeling I'll be riding the rails for a long time to come.

 

[GG-1]

Thus concludes my latest Amtrak trip. As usual, it was lots of fun. I can't think of anything else I'd rather do on a day off than to take a train ride somewhere. I have a feeling I'll be riding the rails for a long time to come.

Aloha

Nice report! May I borrow your closing line. even though I can't ride just any day I like the spirit and enthusium.

Mahalo

Eric

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

That was a most enjoyable report of a most enjoyable trip. Wish I had been there! Of course living where I do (in ATL) I have seen the Crescent through thick and thin and just glad to still have it around, doing as well as it is.

I, too, especially enjoy the seven mile trestle over the lake. Quite a nice touch. Any approach to New Orleans by rail is fascinating but I kind of think the Crescent's approach is the most scenic or maybe I am just more used to it.

Glad to see so many people boarding sleeper in New Orleans. It sort of has a history of sleeper travel getting heavier as you go north (they used to add cars in ATL) but not so heavy out of NOL.

 

[lepearso]

I recently heard that Amtrak may change the schedule of the Crescent for an earlier NOL arrival and a later departure. I like that idea myself. What do you think?

 

[AMTRAK-P42]

I recently heard that Amtrak may change the schedule of the Crescent for an earlier NOL arrival and a later departure. I like that idea myself. What do you think?

Well I guess it could have its advantages. The one thing I can think of off the top of my head would be the ability to see the trestle better year-round. As the schedule stands right now, the Southbound #19, from about mid fall to mid spring, crosses the trestle in darkness (even if the train is ontime). I enjoy riding Southbound more in the summer because of being able to see out the train almost all the way to New Orleans. Of course this is probably not the main catalyst for such a change in the schedule .

On the other hand, departing so early in New Orleans can be to early for some passengers. Of course making the departure out of New Orleans later will put #20 into Atlanta even later. So its kind of a trade off.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

As to the Crescent having an earlier time into NOL and a later time out I have two purely personal observations.

For a positive note, that would make it easier to have a reliable little one day round trip ride from ATL to BHM and back, by having a longer time in BHM as a pad for delays.

On the negative side, it could hurt dining car revenues into and out ot ATL. Most people use that train between ATL and WAS. If it left ATl northbound much later, fewer of those people would eat dinner going out of ATL. For me, dinner on the n.b. shortly after if leaves the ATL station is sort of ingrained in me, like popcorn at a movie. I am fixated to it. (I want my steak medium well).

 

[lepearso]

I agree that the dining car would lose Atlanta patronage if the train schedule changed. For that matter, the dining car would lose some New Orleans patronage if the train reaches the Big Easy around dinner time. However, I think that Amtrak could almost make up for the difference if they coordinated a REAL Thruway bus connection to and from Nashville with stops in Decatur and Hunstville, AL. (A REAL Thruway Bus I define as a reliable, clean, courteous service that goes to and from the train station, not requiring a taxi ride a la the Thruway connections in Atlanta and Salt Lake City!) Connecting passengers from Nashville and North Alabama getting on the Crescent in Birmingham in the middle of the day would boost dining car and lounge car patronage for lunch service.

Changing the schedule is a toss-up. It will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Salt Lake City?

(actually, you put an exclamation point after it so perhaps you were speaking tongue-in-cheek?)

 

[Guest]

Actually, I was giving two examples of Thruway Connections that are indirect and require a taxi transfer between the train and the bus. Atlanta, on the Crescent route, is one of those. Salt Lake City, on the Zephyr route, is another. There are others - these two came to mind. Sorry if that was confusing.