Jacksonville Station

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rmarcel

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Hi All,

I am going to be traveling the week after Christmas on the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Jacksonville and from Jacksonville to Miami. I would like to get some advise on how to handle the "11 hour layover" in Jacksonville. I've tried calling the station but it never answers. I've searched the internet for information on buses into town and such but there isn't much there. Does anyone have experience with this depot. Is it safe to stay in the station? We will be there from 2pm to 2am. I am traveling with a 6 yr old and am not to sure I want to take her all over town. Is it a relatively safe city and is the station near anything or out in the boonies!

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. I am so looking forward to taking this trip. It will be my first train experience. Reading the post here about all of your great adventures has made the wait worse! hee hee

Thanks for any help at all,

Happy Holidays,

rmarcel
 
First the easy question, yes the station is open 24/7 and it is safe even at night. The station is also staffed round the clock. Jacksonville is a relatively new station, with seating for at least 30 - 40 people and restrooms. There are also a few vending machines for snacks and sodas. Beyond that though, there is nothing else in the station to eat.

The neighborhood where the station is located is ok, but I certainly wouldn't go wandering around outside after 9:00 pm or so. While I wouldn't call it the boonies, the station is not downtown in JAX and the imediate area is largely industrial. Within a few blocks you will quickly hit a residential area. I seem to recall a few smaller corner stores within a six or seven block walk and maybe something like a Seven Eleven or a WAWA.

My recomendation however would be to ride the local bus downtown and have dinner there and kill a few hours of your layover that way. There is indeed a local bus that pulls right into the station's parking lot and after meandering around the local neighborhood, will deposit you in downtown JAX with no transfers required.

The bus that you need to ride is the M4 Moncrief A and the ride is about 45 minutes one way. You can find the schedule along with a map of it's route, by clicking here. The bus will cost you 75 cents to ride one way, I'm not sure what they charge for children though.

You can take the bus to Forsyth (ask the driver for the best place to get off along Forsyth) and it's a short 1 block walk to a mall called the Jacksonville Landing located right on the shore of the St. James River. In the mall is a nice food court where you can have dinner and relax for a while, before you return to the station.

By the way, if you do go into town, you can have your luggage held for you at the Amtrak baggage check. It will cost you a buck fifty a bag, but it's better than dragging your luggage around the town.

Finally if you like, you can ride a report that I wrote when I made an Amtrak trip that included a stop in Jacksonville, where I did indeed make the run on the bus into the downtown area. I also however took a ride on the Jacksonville Skyway, a monorail that runs around the downtown area. My report can be found here and the section on JAX is almost at the bottom of the page.

Please don't hesitate to ask if you have more questions. :)
 
My feeling is that most young mothers with a six year old would probably consider the area not a great neighhorhood. As a perspective, it's about the same as the Hialeah area around Miami.

Have you considered taking the Sunset Limited into Orlando, then catching the Silver Service home from there?
 
Chatter163 said:
Have you considered taking the Sunset Limited into Orlando, then catching the Silver Service home from there?
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The wait in Orlando would be even worse, in fact they would either have to stay in a hotel or spend the entire night in the station. At least in JAX, the Palmetto comes along in the middle of the night. In Orlando, the next train to Miami isn't until 11:30 the next morning, that's a 20 hour wait. :eek:

My feeling is that most young mothers with a six year old would probably consider the area not a great neighhorhood. As a perspective, it's about the same as the Hialeah area around Miami.
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As for JAX, yes as I mentioned, I would not recomend walking around in that area especially after dark. First off there's simply not much there to do, aside from the neighborhood. I do think that it's a better area than Hialeah though.

However taking the bus is perfectly safe, and the station itself is staffed all night long and it too is safe.
 
rmarcal,

I just spent 4 hours at the jacksonville station on thanksgiving. Everyone gave you a great idea of what to expect. I do have one thing to add though. Between the station and the track platform they have a nice area of patio type furnature to use if the weather is nice. The 3 of us sat outside most of the time and played cards at a table. It's a relaxing way to let the time fly by. We did not leave the station, so I can't comment on the neighborhood. However, I am sure you could order a pizza or something and have it delivered there if vending machine food doesn't intrest you. Just bring a couple games that your child loves and I am sure you could spend a lot of your time sitting outside enjoying yourselves as a family.
 
:) Thank you all for the great advise and ideas. I feel much better prepared now.

Happy Holidays,

rmarcel
 
I ride the Palmeto every weekend, and I might even see you. What date will you be arriving in JAX? There is a new ice cream vending machine in the station. There are lots of brochures and also a free Jacksonville Magazine that tells you all about Jacksonville.
 
Well the neighborhood as mentioned isn't exactly great. I personally locked the doors on my car once I got in, but then again I do that whenever I'm in unfamiliar territory. But there's a saying that most crew members use when asked what the neighborhood around a station is like, "Well let's see it's an Amtrak station, so not good." There are very few instances (Winter Park, FL) where this is not true.
 
According to mapquest it's about 8 miles the stadium is in downtown.
 
It ain't right around the corner. :lol: It's about a ten minute drive right to the heart of downtown JAX on the St. Johns.
 
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