planning on a trip on the Crescent

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Guest_shanghaiamtrak

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Hey everyone

i am planning a trip on the crescent from DC to atlanta in january. How is that train doing these days for ontime performance, etc? What type of equipment does it use? How is the service? Anybody have any photos?

I am contemplating making a day trip out of atlanta-birmingham, alabama. Heard its worth it. Is that true? should i take an extra day out of my schedule to do that day trip?

ive ridden amtrak alot in the west, just not much in the east. Thanks.
 
The Crescent is one of Amtrak's better performers when it comes to on time performance.

It uses Amfleet/Viewliner equipment.

Service is generaly rather good on this train from what I've seen and other have stated.

I'll leave the B'ham question for someone who knows better.
 
Silver Service trains have improved a great deal since the Facility Manager left a few months ago. During the time I've been with Amtrak, that was the first time I ever saw how one person could take down a facility in a short time.

We got a new manager on Dec. 5 and he's growing into the position. They gave the job to "CNOC Chuck" and I hope he gets a fair chance. He's young, talks to his employees and willing to try new things to improve productivity. Remember that his hands are still tied by upper management and manpower is hurting. The cars could always be better, but there's never enough time or people on the running trains.

The holiday's makes it hard to cut B/O cars, but we're doing pretty good on OTP. Cars are pretty tight, and freeze damage has been minimal so far.

Hope you enjoy your trip and looking forward to your opinion. :lol:

MJ B)
 
Miami Joe said:
Silver Service trains have improved a great deal since the Facility Manager left a few months ago. During the time I've been with Amtrak, that was the first time I ever saw how one person could take down a facility in a short time.
We got a new manager on Dec. 5 and he's growing into the position. They gave the job to "CNOC Chuck" and I hope he gets a fair chance. He's young, talks to his employees and willing to try new things to improve productivity. Remember that his hands are still tied by upper management and manpower is hurting. The cars could always be better, but there's never enough time or people on the running trains.

The holiday's makes it hard to cut B/O cars, but we're doing pretty good on OTP. Cars are pretty tight, and freeze damage has been minimal so far.

Hope you enjoy your trip and looking forward to your opinion. :lol:

MJ B)
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Have any Viewliners made it into the new paint scheme yet?
 
Not that I've seen. Keep in mind most Viewliner overhauls are done in Hialeah, which does not have a paint shop. Amtrak's three paint shops are in Bear, Wilmington, and Beech Grove if I'm not mistaken.
 
battalion51 said:
Not that I've seen. Keep in mind most Viewliner overhauls are done in Hialeah, which does not have a paint shop. Amtrak's three paint shops are in Bear, Wilmington, and Beech Grove if I'm not mistaken.
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Actually I can think of a few yards that have paint shops too. :lol: :D

Of course they're not Amtrak authorized paint shops and they often don't use Amtrak colors either. :lol:
 
I've made the trip several times, except that I left from Anniston, AL rather than from Atlanta.

In my view, the scenery is great; however, I have only made the trip in the summer when everything (including the miles and miles of kudzu!) was green and lush. There's a short tunnel along the way and dozens of sharp curves that let you see the length of the train you're riding.

Keep in mind that you will see the backyards of rural Alabama. It can be quite interesting, but can also appear somewhat sad looking. Don't let that damage your impression of the state.

Apparently, there are some nice restaurants in downtown Birmingham. On my last trip we ate at a place called John's. It was very pleasant. The waitress was very interested in our train trip, and the owner of the restaurant came to our table and told us how much he appreciated getting business from Amtrak passengers. It's been a few years, so I don't know if that restaurant still exists, but you may want to check on that while you're there.

The Cresent has a good reputation for runing on time; however, in January there can be delays if there are icy conditions in the Northeast. If you're train is running unusually late, don't risk the day trip to B'ham. Change your tickets to Anniston. The Anniston train station, as I remember, is a little rundown, but you will be only a few blocks from nicer areas. I also remember that they have city buses that connect the train station with the Museum of Natural History.

Enjoy your trip!
 
V/L's are still wearing the original decals from the manufacturer.

Don't know of any accident rebuilds over the years, but if there are any, they wear the factory decals. I'm sure a few sets were included with the spare parts recommendations. With the graphics technology today, replacements are no problem.

I'll "go out on a limb" and say that the only V/L with different decals was the #62091 crew car. I think it had "prototype" decals on it a few yrs ago.

I think the #8400 diner had factory type decals on it and blended in well.

MJ B)
 
I have made the round trip from ATl to BHM many times.

Sometimes I have come and gone the same day, sometimes I have spent the night, as you will note below. For your trip, if you feel it is long enough already, it is probably not worth it to spend the night but my thoughts below anyway.

Always concerned about o.t.(if I am comng and going the same day) I usually wait until the "morning of" to make my reservations, just to be sure the s.b is on time. I call about 6, and if it is on time, I make my same day reservations then,and pick up the ticket at the station. That usually will not jeopardize your chances of getting a seat because the train usually has its biggest load between WAS and ATL, not NYC and NOL. That is my advice. Unless you choose to stay overnight in BHM.

What I have seen of downtown BHM is rather dead. there is a library, a civil rights musuem, and an IMAX Theater, a couple of nice htoels, not much large retail. But it is adequate to walking around about an hour and a half. I am not sure if I remember a restaurant called "John's". You might try the internet to see if it is on there.

There is a large shopping mall way out in the suburbs called Galleria Chase or something like that and there is a neat hotel physically attached to it called the Wynfrey, I have stayed there several times. I was stuck there durng the genuine blizzard ("Winter Storm" all across the southeast and northeast) of 1993 for a couple of unscheduled days. Another story, another time.

There are no lockers to store your bags at the station in BHM for a one day round trip, so you check with the one person who is doing everything at the station, selling tickets,loading baggage, etc. and leave it with him. Kind of a hassle pinning him down. Best to travel (round trip one day) with zero luggage if you can. That man might be very nice but he is very busy. But just charges about a dollar, last time I did that.

There is one of those nice oldie-goldie but well maintained older hotels in BHM. It is called the Tutwiler(spelling?). Very expensive but sometimes you can find good rates, even half price. Done that a time or two. Nice, though not large, eating space. I would not rank it with something like the Royal York in Toronto, but it is along those lines. Most cities seem to have at least one such well maintained older downtown hotel.

The station is on the very outskirts of the specific downtown area proper, so walking around to most places is easy enough.
 
Miami Joe said:
V/L's are still wearing the original decals from the manufacturer.
Don't know of any accident rebuilds over the years, but if there are any, they wear the factory decals. I'm sure a few sets were included with the spare parts recommendations. With the graphics technology today, replacements are no problem.

I'll "go out on a limb" and say that the only V/L with different decals was the #62091 crew car. I think it had "prototype" decals on it a few yrs ago.

I think the #8400 diner had factory type decals on it and blended in well.

MJ B)
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Yeah 62091 looked like it's decals/paint job were from an Amfleet, given the fact that the pinstripe is close to if not at the top of the windows on the car. 8400 did seem to blend in in Phase IV. 2300 probably is still in Phase III. I've seen a production Viewliner or two that has had something missing in the decal. 62040, or one other car might not have the word Amtrak on one side anymore, at least I remember it that way a year ago.
 
The Crescent had actually not been doing that great. There was a month period, from about mid-October till Thanksgiving that I checked on the northbound every night and made a chart (thanks to excel) (The reason for this was that I was taking #20 the day after thanksgiving, and I was curious how it was doing time-wise). Anyways, during the entire period the train was only late 5 times, the latest was 2 hours and 59 minutes and the earliest was 1 hour 39 minutes. With the exception of 5 trains, the rest were early, many of which by over an hour.

However, after thanksgiving something happened. For the next 25 days or so, about 5 out of every 7 days held late trains. Some 30 minutes, some 6 hours, but #20 began to average only about 2 early/on time trains per week.

Luckily, over the past couple of weeks things have been looking back to the normal. She has been averaging about 1 late train per week.
 
what coach cars does the crescent use? amfleet? amfleet 1 or 2? does the cardinal use the same type of coach cars? (i have ridden the cardinal)
 
The Crescent uses long distance Amfleet 2 coaches.

And yes, the Cardinal uses (mostly) Amleet 2 as well.
 
were amfleet 2 designed for long distance service? i read somewhere where some amfleet were designed for short routes but then used as long distance cars.
 
They were designed for Medium to Long Distance routes. They were originally intended mostly for use on NE Medium Distance trains that left that left the corridor, Montrealer, Pennsylvanian, Hilltopper, etc. Some were designated especially for Auto Train when it first started under Amtrak, these cars had upgraded restrooms and larger windows. Since the retirement of the Heritage Coaches the Amfleet II has become the eastern long distance standard.
 
i liked the heritage cars better! more room! and the cars didnt feel like being inside an airplane....
 
Does the Crescent usually run with a lot of passengers this time of year? or alot of empty seats? i know on the empire builder, january and february can be dead.
 
Right this very second all trains are busy, due to holiday travel. Give it a couple of weeks and most trains will be deader than a doornail.
 
Guest_shanghaiamtrak said:
Does the Crescent usually run with a lot of passengers this time of year? or alot of empty seats? i know on the empire builder, january and february can be dead.
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The "Crescent" is a very busy train for the most part especially in the coaches for most of the trip lightening up a little on the South side of ATL. The sleepers are usually busy between ATL and NYP, and I have noticed them to be about half full below ATL on to NOL. I haven't been on a "dead" trip on the "Crescent" so to say. I don't work it, but it seems the times I had riden it, the train was busy!

As for the other trains, I am not sure of them other than the Florida trains. Those trains will be fairly busy all through the winter travel season. As the winter season dies down, then school lets out and the summer season begins pretty quickly thereafter. Our "dead" time on the Florida trains is the fall season right before holiday travel begins! School is in session, etc.
 
I was on the Crescent on 12/11 all the way from Washington to New Orleans, and the sleeper was not booked to capacity out of D.C...they had at least six open rooms in our car when we left D.C., and it stayed that way until we reached NOL. By the time we got to New Orleans, i'd say both sleepers were about 75% full and the coaches maybe half. Probably 100 or so people got off the train.

The Crescent serves some booming cities (both business and leisure) along its route, so there's no question that it enjoys good ridership pretty much year-round.
 
NativeSon5859 said:
I was on the Crescent on 12/11 all the way from Washington to New OrleansThe Crescent serves some booming cities (both business and leisure) along its route, so there's no question that it enjoys good ridership pretty much year-round.
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We consider that time part of the "fall" travel season. It is after Thanksgiving, a little too soon for Christmas, etc... It is usually slower all over for the most part during the fall season.
 
oooops............ and yes your right, the "Crescent" definitely has no problem generating ridership due to that reason you have stated!
 
i like to see amtrak busy, because then i know its making some money. i am just a little selfish because i ride in coach and like to have two seats to myself. Guess i can plan on that not being very likely on the crescent......
 

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