aah. Twinned with Atlantis. Thank you 
New Gulf Coast Amtrak service (New Orleans - Mobile, New Orleans - Baton Rouge)
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To be fair, I think the station in Deland still has the Sunset Limited on the letterboard...The Biloxi station still showed it on their schedule board into 1972
Hey, it's only " Suspended", so there's hope yet for its return, Right?
rookzie
Train Attendant
Danville TN won’t be found on most maps – not contemporary maps anyway, as one easily could find the Danvilles of IL and VA.Magnificent stuff! As an outsider, may I ask where Danville TN is? Google maps can't seem to find it
As Siegmund stated, Danville is a ghost town. The land on which the former community of Danville TN was impounded when the region was inundated by the Tennessee River, the TVA’s (Tenn. Valley Authority) construction of Kentucky Dam in 1944 to create the Kentucky Lake reservoir.
On the other hand, the community of New Johnsonville, TN, located upstream along the CSX Bruceton Sub (former L&N, ex-NC&StL), is the result of a new town established when the former town of Johnsonville TN also became inundated for the new lake. Still, Danville TN remained an official station point on the Memphis Line until the late 1970s.
So, Danville is the PoDunkest of podunks and the name remains primarily as an association among locals.
Metra Electric Rider
Conductor
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- 1,791
Excellent!!! Well done!aah. Twinned with Atlantis. Thank you
A similar thing happened in Massachusetts when the Quabbin Reservoir was built to supply water to the Boston Metro area. The flooding of the Swift river valley caused the loss of the towns of Enfield. Prescott, Greenwich, and Dana, which you will not find on your Google map.
Seaboarder3023
Train Attendant
I've seen that people have been saying that the new service is just going to be called the Gulf Coast, but according to the FY24 doc, they'll be using the original Gulf Coast Limited name...
Some more news about Gulf Coast Service...
www.al.com
Mobile’s train stop ‘key element’ for Amtrak’s return to Gulf Coast
Train infrastructure is needed in downtown Mobile before Amtrak trains can officially roll again. It appears it could be the last piece of capital improvement needed before the service can start.
DonNewcomb
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2019
- Messages
- 139
"Mobile is the only city along the route to New Orleans without infrastructure built to accommodate an Amtrak train. Other cities that are stops along the Gulf Coast route – Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis – have train stops or depots ready to go in preparation for Amtrak’s restart."Some more news about Gulf Coast Service...
Mobile’s train stop ‘key element’ for Amtrak’s return to Gulf Coast
Train infrastructure is needed in downtown Mobile before Amtrak trains can officially roll again. It appears it could be the last piece of capital improvement needed before the service can start.
Yeah. Come on, Mobile. Get with the program!
JWM
Service Attendant
For once, Mississippi is ahead of Alabama.
Hard to believe this wasn’t a priority from day1. I wonder if there is a building along the track in Mobile that could be repurposed as a station with an added platform. NC has done this successfully and if I recall correctly so did Denver when DUT was being renovated.
For the longest time they were arguing about whether the station should be downtown or near the airport. I lost track of whatever came of it or not.
moselman66
Train Attendant
So...the article says both these things:
construction of a train stop, and a track leading to it in downtown Mobile, is the final infrastructure issue that needs to be addressed before Amtrak can restart passenger trains
and
the anticipation is for Amtrak to restart along the route before the end of the year
So either
(1) Mobile gets the station and new track built in the next 6-8 months
(2) The train is delay into at least 2024
(3) The train can start running in 2023 but not go as far as Mobile
Hard to see (1) happening unless all the stars align more perfectly than one could hope for. More likely is (2) I suppose, which is a disappiontment. If they go with (3) then ridership will be pretty stunted until Mobile is ready for service.
Really frustrating if we are finally clearing long-standing difficult hurdles to start this service in the next several months but now Mobile not being ready may well push the start off further?
construction of a train stop, and a track leading to it in downtown Mobile, is the final infrastructure issue that needs to be addressed before Amtrak can restart passenger trains
and
the anticipation is for Amtrak to restart along the route before the end of the year
So either
(1) Mobile gets the station and new track built in the next 6-8 months
(2) The train is delay into at least 2024
(3) The train can start running in 2023 but not go as far as Mobile
Hard to see (1) happening unless all the stars align more perfectly than one could hope for. More likely is (2) I suppose, which is a disappiontment. If they go with (3) then ridership will be pretty stunted until Mobile is ready for service.
Really frustrating if we are finally clearing long-standing difficult hurdles to start this service in the next several months but now Mobile not being ready may well push the start off further?
I suppose it is within the realm of possibilities to slap together an Amslab with a Bus Shelter type thing on the Amslab in 6 months pending something more elaborate. That should be sufficient to start service, though embarrassing for Mobile. But every indication is that they thrive on such down there
Well, initially the Tukwila. WA stop had temporary wooden platforms, so I am sure something could be slapped together in 6 months. What is probably the bigger holdup and the critical path is getting all agencies involved, Amtrak, CSX, the City of Mobile, etc, to agree on something and getting it permitted. There will have be some agency or organization pushing them all to resolution, otherwise they'll all consider it someone else's problem.I suppose it is within the realm of possibilities to slap together an Amslab with a Bus Shelter type thing on the Amslab in 6 months pending something more elaborate. That should be sufficient to start service, though embarrassing for Mobile. But every indication is that they thrive on such down there
It is ostensibly the Southern Rail Commission which is supposed to be doing the pushing AFAICT.
DonNewcomb
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2019
- Messages
- 139
Remember that Mobile was against resuming passenger service. Unlike the Mississippi Coast, they are a destination for a lot of CSX freight. They are in lockstep with CSX.
You're correct regarding the temporary station at DUS. There was a lot of background noise, but it had a happy ending. The temporary station's disadvantage was the need to cross arterial Wewatta Street to get to or from the trains, which were on Track 8. The building was formerly a lighting outlet store.
The main danger with temporary stations is the St. Louis model, where the temporary is around for a long time. In Denver, some faction among the developers thought that Amtrak should remain in the temp site.
west point
Engineer
That seems fine! Get a portable wheelchair lift for ADA. The slab needs to not cause any problems constructing the permanent high platform. Short trains might solve that problem ?I suppose it is within the realm of possibilities to slap together an Amslab with a Bus Shelter type thing on the Amslab in 6 months pending something more elaborate. That should be sufficient to start service, though embarrassing for Mobile. But every indication is that they thrive on such down there
That “temporary station” in Denver was pretty nice…some places would be thrilled to have had one similar…
Wow- I was so excited for this train to run then Mobile needs a terminal. Why were they not getting it ready while they were doing test runs, where were they stopping when they were doing the test runs.
JWM
Service Attendant
Probably denying that it would ever start.
The usual internecine wrangling among various stake holders. Nothing unusual here or almost anywhere else, but with rail in the US these things seem to drag on longer.
As Mobile is also a port used by Carnival Cruise Lines, one would think city, county and state big-wigs would be eager for cruisers to have another way to get to/from their cruise ship. The double tracks run right next to the Cruise Terminal at 201 Water St. . . .
. . .and there's also a reversing loop about four miles to the north.
. . .and there's also a reversing loop about four miles to the north.
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There has been another collision between a test train and a vehicle. This was at Mobile on Wednesday. Worse, this time there was a fatality in the car. Looks like the car burst into flame upon impact.
www.wkrg.com
1 dead after car hit by Amtrak train at Navco Rd. crossing: Mobile Police
UPDATE (10:10 p.m.): WKRG spoke with a woman who witnessed the crash. “It was fast and it hit the car and like exploded,” said Sandra Politis. “I mean, like exploded. It was just …
www.wkrg.com
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