Help with Grassroots Effort to start new Station

[Ashland Train Enthusiast]

Hello AU Members! I was hoping someone here might be able to provide some assistance or further recommendation. A good friend of mine is on the Orange County Chamber of Commerce (Orange County, VA), and the town and county have recently been interested in seeing what could be done to get Amtrak to stop at the restored station right in town that is now serving as a visitors center. Knowing that I'm an AmFan, I was asked if I knew anyone who could help provide guidance for the next steps, or someone within Amtrak whom they could discuss options with, or see what the town/county/state would need to do.

For those of you not familiar with the geography, Orange is at the junction between the Norfolk Southern line from Alexandria and the Buckingham Branch (former C&O), where the Cardinal switches to the BB, and the Crescent and Lynchburger pass through on the NS on their way to Charlottesville.

Any further information anyone here could provide to help would be much appreciated.

~ DCTE

 

[CHamilton]

You should connect with places that have successfully lobbied for Amtrak stops, including Hope, AR and Leavenworth, WA. You might also want to talk to the folks in Blaine, WA and Lyons, NY, who are lobbying for a stop right now.

 

[Ashland Train Enthusiast]

You should connect with places that have successfully lobbied for Amtrak stops, including Hope, AR and Leavenworth, WA. You might also want to talk to the folks in Blaine, WA and Lyons, NY, who are lobbying for a stop right now.

Thanks, that's helpful! I just found some information from Amtrak on Hope, which sounds very similar to what Orange is trying to do, so that I believe is a great connection.

Mods: I just noticed that the title to this thread got cut off when I was posting it. Could someone edit it to read "Help with Grassroots Effort to start new Station"

~ DCTE

 

[Nathanael]

You might also want to talk to the GreatAmericanStations people, who have information on Amtrak's standards for stations.

 

[afigg]

Any further information anyone here could provide to help would be much appreciated.

Have the town leaders talked to Virginia DRPT? DRPT is the state agency that works with Amtrak, NS, CSX, and BBRR on passenger rail matters.

 

[Ryan]

If he doesn't drop in here, send a PM to Anderson. He seems to be plugged in with the DRPT folks somehow.

 

[Shanghai]

Is the proposed station located near Montpeiler, home of President James Madison?

That could be a good reason to have the station stop.

 

[Big Iron]

Also plug into the Orange Downtown Alliance. Orange is a member Community in the Virginia Main Street Program. They could help ferret out contacts with the railroad and Amtrak. The Station is featured on their website under the "history" tab. I would expect they work hand in hand with the Chamber of Commerce.

http://orangedowntownalliance.org/

 

[Ashland Train Enthusiast]

Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone, I've passed them along, and I know at least with regards to DPRT, we've gotten the State Senator informed to see if there is anything that can be done that route.

Is the proposed station located near Montpeiler, home of President James Madison?That could be a good reason to have the station stop.

That would depend on what you mean by "near". The current station building which is being used as a Visitors Center is in downtown Orange, VA, and is about 5 miles away from Montpelier. There is a station building right at the entrance to Montpelier that is used as a free museum to showcase the history of segregation, but that's not the proposed station stop.

~ DCTE