lol...those Are original wooden benches...I sat in them in 1949, and every summer until 1959. :) Many wonderful memories here. The main feature I recall about the Greensboro station was the continuous echo of called-out departures and arrivals... the Redcaps, and luggage trolleys. It was not as sterile as this view shows. It wasn't air-conditioned, and the warm, humid Southern air was thick with the promise of a wonderful summer of fun for this city boy. The people, especially thr Redcaps were superbly friendly and sweet...if I could travel back in time, I would go here. Those were the days.
I love it that rail fans are so adept at photographing trains and so inter connected that a train vlogger can have his train photographed in transit by another rail fan. That's awesome!
Right? I'm always like "How is it that railfans always seem to know exactly where and when a specific train will be like that to be able to always capture it or even chase it down for multiple sets of photoshoots on it?" They blow my mind with it. Is there like a app that allows them to listen to dispatch or a website that publishes itineraries? Or maybe they're just Wizards who happen to be railfans and use their powers to sniff them down! Who knows! haha
@@trippinoutdoors most railfans use scanners which is just a radio that is programmed onto the frequency that the railroad uses. They then can hear all radio chatter from train crews and dispatchers and are able to tell where a train is and what it is doing just by listening. I really recommend getting one if you are interested in trains. It helps a lot.
Your videos bring me so much comfort and happiness on days when my chronic illness makes me miserable. All I can do is sit and take in something calm. I just wanted to say thank you.
I'm sure too. It's synonymous with the deep south. Pacific Northwest "Kudzu" is English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberries. They're absolutely everywhere, and slowly strangle trees, being nearly impossible to ever truly get rid of.
@@trippinoutdoors truly!!! so i moved to the pnw with my parents and when we went into our backyard... boy did we have to get the clippers out lol. took days!
@@trippinoutdoors Same with kudzu, however kudzu is edible, perhaps it could be used to produce feed for animals or veggies burgers, added to salads or made into smooties like kale or I don't know produce other things like fabric. If people started to use it commercially it would disappear in no time
Made that trip between Atlanta and New Orleans twice during the 1960s before Amtrak. The train took a more southern route (on the L&N tracks) and involved crossing the nightmare bridge at Bay St Louis. The train had to travel at walking speed and rocked and swayed so violently that it was extremely frightening. Fortunately, Hurricane Camille erased that bridge from the face of the earth. (That was the only good thing about Camille.)
Six years ago my son and I took the Crescent from Slidell to New York. We had a roomette which was run down and not very clean. Wifi was not available at that time. The dinning car was the highlight of the trip. The food was good, and the portions large. Too large really, because for two days we just sat and ate. When the train got up in speed it was really not a smooth ride, which is to be expected using freight tracks. That swamp you mentioned right before crossing the lake is a saltmarsh, and that lake is really a lagoon.
We just got back tonight after taking the Crescent as part of a Connecticut to Florida to N. Carolina and back to Connecticut trip. Had a great time and every train was on time. There is some great scenery on the Crescent route, especially through Virginia. Our portion was coach from Charlotte to Washington.
Thank you very much for this video. I have loved traveling on trains since I was a little kid. Everything about the trip was special... scenery, relaxed pace, the cozy roommette, the welcoming staff etc. Now I am old and have a terminal illness. I still hold on to the hope that I will be able to take on last train trip In the meantime I love these videos - they bring back wonderful memories and bring me peace.
Wonderful videos and I particularly like your positive outlook to your travels. So many presentations by other only focus on the negatives while you see the charm of the old stations and point out how to enjoy each trip to the fullest. A side note... the freight railroads own and maintain the track and give their trains priority as does Amtrak where they own and maintain the right of way.
I love to watch the landscape go by. It seems as if the rivers are loaded with algae. I'm so happy that people videograph their train trips and share them with us.
The Crescent is on my list of Amtrak trips, mostly because I have a close friend in NYC, and I think it would be a fun way to get there...I'd have to take The City of New Orleans down from Memphis to catch it. Thanks for giving us a great look at what seems to be a really nice station at Greensboro...I never get tired of viewing all the cool stations around the US, first time for this one. Seeing them from the outside always makes me want to see the interiors as well; I'm often surprised at how nice and well-preserved or well-restored many stations are. Possibly I'm sensitive to this matter because, until recently, Central Station here in Memphis was a disaster, but has undergone a major renovation. I don't know if you've ever travelled aboard The City of New Orleans (the only Amtrak service we get in Memphis), but if you do so in the future, I'd really enjoy seeing and hearing your impressions of Central Station. Also, you may have convinced me to take the Coach option next time, for the City of New Orleans from here to Chicago (an all-nighter), or to New Orleans (a day trip). But for a long-distance trip, such as the Crescent, Southwest Chief, or Empire Builder, I still think the Roomette (or bedroom if you can get a good deal) is the way to go. I was excited to see the old 2-8-2 Mikado coal-burning engine from the Frisco Lines (St Louis and San Francisco Railway, although it never went anywhere near San Franciso), because one of my grandfather's worked for the Frisco all his adult life, retiring in the early 1960s. The Frisco had a number of named trains in its heyday, most notably The Texas Special; there's an overpass here in Memphis on which you can still see a sign for the Frisco passenger service to St Louis and Kansas City painted onto the concrete; considering the fact that they stopped carrying passengers in the late 60s, and were absorbed by the Big Nasty (Burlington Northern, now BNSF) in 1980, that's some very durable paint! Frisco TX is named for the Frisco and uses their classic logo as their own; it's supposed to represent, or so I'm told, a stretched raccoon skin...why, I don't know! Again, thanks for another informative and very enjoyable video journey!
Amtrak are brilliant trains. Except that they are very slow. Probably maximum average of about 55 mph. Here in England, on the new High Speed 1 railway (Dover to London St Pancras) we have regular trains travelling at 200 mph 👍
@@francishuddy9462it’s more like 70-110 MPH in many parts, but in some states you aren’t getting above 60. The NER gets up to 125 in many parts (hopefully the NEC will be able to support 125 mph track speeds throughout the entire route). Also, is HS1 used for domestic services as well? Last time I checked it was only the Eurostar and the shuttle.
I recently took a multi-train trip that started with the Crescent (Atlanta to New Orleans) and later ended with it (Philadelphia to Atlanta). The first train left ATL on time, but because we had to stop for 45 minutes south of Tuscaloosa to wait for a freight to pass, we arrived, like you, about 30 minutes late, which is not bad. But the schedule has been changed, so we crossed the lake after dark. The DiGiornio pizza is no longer offered, so I had an excellent turkey and cheese sandwich on an oat roll for lunch, and a decent (but under-baked) cheese stromboli for dinner. At least this was a day trip, in coach. On the later train, I took a roomette (Viewliner I); this train left PHL a bit late but we arrived in ATL on time. The "flexible" dining is definitely inferior to the traditional dining car service, and I hope that returns. For dinner I had the beef short ribs, which were decent, served with a salad, green beans, a roll and a brownie, and I ate them in the lounge car to "simulate" a dining car experience! For breakfast I had pancakes with sausage, which were just fine, and I again ate them in the lounge car. Since the Viewliner I roomette has a toilet, if I had elected to have the meals delivered to my room, I could have gone the whole trip without ever leaving it, but what fun is that?
Bonjour Thibault, Thank you very much for your trip logs. I enjoy every one. When I first crossed the US, there was no Amtrak. the next year 1971 it began. Please come back to California
Such charming views of the Deep South...which makes it a pity that the Crescent has such a short consist with no dining car. I used to watch this train come and go on my visits to Atlanta in the mid-1980's, when this was an impressive sized train with at least 10 cars including diner and lounge (railfans used to call this "Mr. Claytor (then Amtrak CEO)'s train" back then, but that's another long story). On the other hand, it's encouraging to see people continuing to ride this train. Hopefully the infrastructure legislation will help bring about the much needed improvements. Great documentary as always!
I was just on it, with 3 sleeper cars, so only 4 coach cars would make 10 (including lounge, cafe, and baggage). They are using half the cafe car for staff and prep. They probably could do dining if the next generation of cafe car were rearranged so that the concession was at the lounge end. Or they could add a car back and get some revenue out of it with a couple more handicap-accessible rooms in addition to the dining.
Well, I have not yet been on the Crescent route on Amtrak! I've rode most of the west routes: Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, Coast Starlight and California Zephyr! Other routes I've been on once, or more times is Capitol Limited, City of New Orleans, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Hiawatha to Milwaukee, WI, Northeast Regional to Newport News, VA, Carolinian and Heartland Flyer to Oklahoma City, OK. Your Crescent trip video looked and seemed very awesome, IDK about that Lake going into Slidell, LA....that is a very long ride over that huge body of water, on a train, nearly touching the surface of the water level, though not. I hope that one day I can travel on the Crescent, don't know where I may take it to.👍😃🤗👏❤🚆
Great to see you’ve been to Greensboro, that’s my home sweet home and I’ve traveled in and out of the passenger station many times. And actually in July, I did the same exact trip from Greensboro to New Orleans as I went on a journey across the country to LA on Amtrak
This video deserves 1.000.0O0 stars. I watched before an extraordinary video from Deutsche Welle about The Crescent and this one have nothing to envy it. I´m very glad about yor opinions because when you're on a train you are living an adventure and it doesn´t matter what happens. IT´S AN ADVENTURE and that is the reason why we love trains and the people who works there. Greetings from Osorno, Chile.
The Southern Crescent was last privately owned inter-city train when it was handed over to Amtrak in 1979. Greensboro Station has an interesting design. Two platforms heading in different directions. The Crescent is well known for having an incredibly high On-Time ratio. I think NS takes pride in hosting it. Passengers have been complaining about the size of Atlanta Peach Tree Station. The Station was original designed as a commuter station. Most inter-city traffic went through Terminal Station. The station wasnt designed for the amount of traffic it sees.
😁 My Old Friend, for the last month and a half I haven't been able to be with you in company, but for the last few days I have made up for everything that has been missed. I just arrived in New Orleans with you and I see all the impressions from the trip through the deep US south. I am glad to be able to say that you have made a huge step forward in the preparation and release of the video. The most beautiful of all is that with all your knowledge and passion, your creativity has finally come to the fore, which leaves true and strong impressions. I'm preparing to embark with you on a magnificent journey of the perfectly good California Zephyr. I would be lying if I didn’t confirm that I expect a spectacle from this trip. Also, I believe that a great movie and a wonderful experience awaits me, on the way to San Francisco. Great Thibault, thank you for excellent company and perfect adventures on the steel tracks!
I,m from Greensboro. Growing up in Greensboro on Sunday afternoons we went to the train station with my Grandfather who had worked on the railroads during world war 1. We would see the early train from Asheville(15) The Northbound Piedmont (34)Southbound (35) Carolina special (21)with pullmans for NY and then at exactly 8:38 no.38 northbound Crescent all Pullman. All stainless steel. This was our Sunday routine from 6 pm to 8:30. Plus freights on the station passing tracks. I never rode the all Pullman Crescent but instead rode the all coach at the time Southerner usually to DC. When I was in college in Charlotte on the weekend I rode home on the Piedmont. In the Early Amtrak era Southern was not apart and ran the Crescent with coaches but it was still nice and always on time. I miss my Grandfather and I miss the old trains and that era of rail transportation. Back in the 60’s there were passenger cars from every railroad in the US in the station in DC but I always thought ACL purple coaches were the best
When I rode the Crescent we were 4 hours late into New Orleans. Now Amtrak is issuing a new schedule for the train lengthening the journey time and guaranteeing a late evening arrival into New Orleans.
The Huey P. Long Bridge is a pinch-point for freight traffic crossing the Mississippi river. It's common to get stuck in a long queue on the north side of the river. We waited for a couple hours after crossing Lake Pontchartrain the last time we rode this (early 2000's).
Back in 2018, Amtrak began to issue report cards to the freight lines as to how they handle Amtrak trains with delays and whatnot. In that initial report card, our friends at Norfolk Southern got a big fat "F." As did Canadian National.
25:30 good ole Slidell! Been in those marshes plenty of times! That crossing before you got to the lake was “Car Drive”. Beautiful little stretch, but gets BLASTED by hurricanes. The bridge In between the train trestle and I10 is the highway 11 bridge. During your ride it was under construction, and it just reopened after 3 years of construction lol. But that ride is a fun ride. I once rode on a just for fun trip. Slidell has an Amtrak station, and depending if anyone had tickets they’ll stop.
Amazing video! I am a citizen of the beautiful state of Louisiana but I have never seen the heavenly view of the sun setting over Lake Ponchetrain until you shared it. Thank you so much!
Amtrak has one of the most comfortable coach seats, even better than coach on the Euro Rail......and those trains are fast and sleek. I love European trains
8:45 Currently, Amtrak has proposed a plan to introduce new service from Atlanta to Montgomery, Savannah, and Nashville beside of increasing frequency from Atlanta to Charlotte and Birmingham (if Amtrak manage to get the fund needed).
@@chriswalker1993 Spot on. Nor does the Atlanta station presently have any real estate for more platforms adjacent to a freeway. Unlike New Orleans and Chicago, among other cities, there is NO Amtrak locomotive or rolling stock infrastructure in Atlanta... One siding off the Norfolk Southern mainline does NOT cut the mustard...
@@amfan_17presentations87 You have been gas lighted... There is NO Amtrak locomotive or rolling stock infrastructure in Atlanta that Chicago and New Orleans do have. One siding off the Norfolk Southern mainline does not cut the mustard... Keep in mind the former Atlanta downtown station is no longer in existence. That site is now the location of the Atlanta downtown federal building... Where is your suggested mythical location for a new Amtrak hub infrastructure facility in downtown Atlanta? How quickly do you think Amtrak could get a EIS study done, and how quickly do you think it will take Amtrak to build it? Five years, ten years?
@@ronclark9724 Improvements like a better station would likely be bundled into a new local network, not just for one new Amtrak line. The plan's never been implemented due to anti-transit forces in suburban Georgia, but the politics have been changing a bit so it could happen. Regional rail is also more palatable to the suburbs than MARTA extensions, as MARTA has a bad (and largely undeserved) image as a crime carrier in the suburbs.
I used to ride in coach on the Empire Builder (Milwaukee, WI to Fargo, ND) to get to and from my undergrad college back in the 1970s. It always seemed to run 3 hours late, not so much departing Milwaukee westbound, but always arriving Milwaukee eastbound and arriving westbound/departing eastbound at Fargo. I was comfortable enough in coach, but thought the dining car food was overpriced, and really didn't like the plain potato chips which always seemed to be a side dish with lunch/supper meals on the train. Where I work, the Texas Eagle passes by my office window every afternoon (but doesn't stop), right when it's time for me to head home for the day. Would love to take one of the Silver Service trains to visit my sister in South Carolina sometime!
This was the first long distance train I ever took (NY to Atlanta). I rode in one of the Viewliners :) Awesome trip. Our steward on the ride north was exceptionally friendly and talkative about his life riding the rails.
Greensboro station built 1927, "reopened 2005." Southern and Amtrak musta used smaller stations before 2005. Charlotte's station opened in 1962, likely replacing a bigger station. Atlanta's station was originally a suburban stop that became Southern's only Atlanta station after the Terminal station downtown closed in 1969-70 and later demolished. Amtrak switched from a separate Southern depot to the one it was using in Birmingham in 1979 when it took over the Crescent from Southern Railway.
Metro Atlanta is the ninth largest and one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the nation. Home to 6 million people in 2019, metro Atlanta experienced the fourth-largest population increase of all MSAs in the nation-an increase of approximately 734,000 people from 2010 to 2019. More than 500 thousand. A lot more
Sleeping in coach is only comfy if you don't have another passenger beside you. I did it once and will never do it again. Although the seats are roomy, some people don't understand personal space and have large body parts that will be in your seat or touching your body. The next time I travel overnight by train I would have to get a room or fly instead.
I've been taking the Crescent from DC to NOLA once or twice a year for thirty years. I used to take just sleepers but one year waited too late and they sold out. I was shocked at how smooth the coach ride was and was never again pressed about choosing between the two. It does make a the difference however if coach is sold out! Going to Atlanta and Birmingham both ways increases the number of passengers. So I learned that I could comfortably do a twenty four hour trip in coach but I would not like to do much more than that. You wee generous about the scenery on this trip. You caught pretty much every water scene on the trip. Leaving DC, seeing Manassas and Charlottesville makes good viewing. After that it is usually dark so there are just night shots until approaching Atlanta. After Atlanta for about fifty minutes you go through great small town shots but once you hit Anniston Alabama you have some of the most boring view of the same terrain for hours until you get to Birmingham. After that there are several small towns that are very quaint and the train is right next to main street so all traffic has to wail for passengers to unload . Some have beautifully restored cars at the stations. The reason the on time rate is so bad on the Crescent is that the freight trains have right of way since its their tracks, and can make your train pull over for them to pass especially if they are late. In thirty years I have only been within an hour of on time arrival in NOLA but usually pretty close when going back to DC. Slidell is the last town before the lake and you want to video it and the boathouses and docks as you leave it. Remember the best views are during the months when the days are long. You cannot see the lake when its dark!!! While to me this route is not a gem is has it's moments and will be even more fun when the dining car returns! Breakfast and dinner in the diner totally enhances the experience. KB
Atlanta is my hometown station! I've taken this a handful of times from Atlanta to Hattiesburg, MS, where I used to have family. I've also taken from Meridian to Hattiesburg. Not flashy, but a solid train. :)
Great journey across the American South the scenery was amazing especially the lake as if it was crossing the ocean. The greensboro station looks very good including the train interior. It must have been a great experience to travel across America by train when you were there
Cool report! The northbound Crescent was rescheduled through Greensboro at 7:20 am, gives it a bit more time in the daylight heading to Washington and New York
@@nelsonricardo3729 because in the Navy the first response to a quality presentation is “you’re so handsome - I want to go on a trip with you”? No, armchair sailor, service personnel don’t do that.
@@cjb8010 I never said they did. I was merely responding to your rudeness toward Barry F. Are service personnel judgmental pricks? Not in my experience. But there's always one in every bunch, guess.
@@TheLostfoundation Spot on... Beyond 3 hours no matter what the train's speed is, airlines win the ridership battle with the trains, EVEN IN EUROPE. How many of the French ride a train to Moscow from Paris? Very, very few. The vast majority fly... There is a reason why the USPS terminated the railroads mail contracts and chose to fly the mail instead long distances more than 50 years ago. There is reason why FedEx and UPS do the same...
@@ronclark9724 So is that why the post office is operating with such a growing debt and has to keep raising postal rates to try to cover some of that loss? If you rail fan, you may have noticed that both FedEx and UPS ship their trailers on piggyback rail. It's more cost effective and quicker than driving long distances overland. It's also quite pricey to maintain those aircraft with all the costs involved in keeping them flying (the kitty's pal-allen from Ga)
It's awesome so many folks remember their train journeys from their childhoods like me. Long distant train trips are forever etched in my memory. I can't say I remember plane trips which are for the most part uneventful-unless someone has a melt down or there's a celebrity on board. The Crescent doesn't have many scenic views on account of the trees, but crossing Lake Pontchartrain makes up for the boredom for me.
When the Claytor brothers (W. Graham and Robert) ran Amtrak and NS respectively in the 1980s and early '90s those delays would not have happened, or heads would have rolled. The Crescent did have a diner and separate lounge car at one time. Thirty years ago #19 and 20 only operated from ATL to NOL tri-weekly and the lounge and a sleeper came off at ATL the days it ran to NOL and turned for the northbound that evening, the diner serving both functions on to NOL. Of course those were "heritage" cars back then, from the equipment Amtrak started with. The Amfleet cafe car you had was built as a Dinette/lounge car in the early '80s, with lounge-style tables and seating at the restroom end of the car that allowed smoking, and meal service at the eight four seat tables on the other side of the counter, and was run by three OBS workers (lead, assist and server) serving frozen, pre-plated meals (airline-grade, glorified TV dinners, but better than the stuff they are serving now). Going back to the declining days of pre-Amtrak passenger trains myself, after the bulldog-nosed EMD E and F units, the EMD F40PH was definitely a better looking (and performing) locomotive than the GE P40/42. Indeed, former Amtrak president Paul Reistrup called the F40s one of the two locomotives (the electric AEM7 being the other) that saved Amtrak. I miss the "screamers" coming into a station at night with it's roof-mounted strobes flashing, and the second unit roaring away at full-throttle generating head-end power with it's two-cycle 16 cyl. 645 prime mover burning 150 gal/hr of #2 Diesel, which is a major reason they went to the 4 cycle GEs, they are a little easier on fuel, but totally fuggly (f-ing ugly), like coyote ugly. However, they are part of Amtrak's history, and some should be preserved, unlike the earlier GE P30CHs, of which none exist. They were Amtrak's first HEP-equipped units, and proved the concept. The Lake Pontchartrain trestle is the longest railroad bridge in the U. S., and the longest railroad bridge over water in the World, but nowhere near as long as the 24 mile parallel I-10 causeway/bridge. Hurricane Katrina wiped the track off the bridge in 2005 and NS restored it to service in only 16 days. The lake itself is actually a 630 sq/mi brackish estuary averaging only 14-16 ft. deep.
Most important thing congrats again for 100k and 1st video after this.....as understanding and seeing the fab and awesome Amtrak's Eastern Corridor with more than you expected...as New Orleans and Chicago is good place for and act as hub for Amtrak operation.The Crescent is a thrice a week train it operates between Pennsylvania Station in New York City and Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans as train numbers 19 and 20 and daily services resumes June 7, 2021 as intercity train operating between 100 to 150mph through scenic way of Pearl river in Mississippi connecting southbound train by Acela from Boston or Washington DC to NYC or etc.. or from Chicago as Blue line or Lake shore limited or Cardinal or northbound train from New Orleans by many ways good and fascinating video.....need videos on California Zephyr or Coaster trains to commuter train from MBTA or Caltrain or Maple leaf to Toronto
Nice recap of the Crescent! It's my favorite train and the one I've most often traveled. As for the crew, in my experience the Crescent has had the most helpful, friendly employees, but of course that can vary. (My worst by far were on the CZ going west out of Denver. Sleeping compartment hadn't been cleaned and they never emptied the trash bin in my bedroom compartment.) Sorry you got the exception on your trip. The CZ is probably the most scenic train. Btw, the above-ground tombs in the cemeteries visible going into N.O. are interesting and beautiful, very unusual for the U.S. They are necessary in N.O. because the water table is so high there. I enjoy your videos; many thanks. It's a shame and a waste of Amtrak's expensive new Viewliner dining cars to no longer provide full dining service (and for all passengers) on the eastern long distance trains as was previously done. Poor management and death by a thousand cuts.
I just took it to and from NO. Was essentially on time both ways. In-room trash was not emptied on the way down, but I figured that out and on the return used the bin out in the vestibule. The room bin wasn't designed for the volume of the in-room meals! The meals did not seem greatly changed in substance from the dining car version... on a train the food is being reheated either way. It's the presentation that one doesn't get. And they've created new opportunities for process error by having the guest receive a bag rather than be right there at the table to correct an error.
Good job. Track appears to be pretty smooth. With a career in the travel industry, I have ridden on almost every US train. Much of it Amtrak. A lot of Canada and the Copper Canyon of Mexico. Again, good job on this video.
I'm planning on taking The Crescent from Anniston, Alabama to Danville, Virginia to watch my brother play baseball. Thanks for your review on Coach class. Will be definitely worth the money paid for!
Amtrak doesn't bother to shunt the cars in any order except for a coach and sleeper on the trains they do shunt somewhere besides the terminus of a route. The locomotives will pull the train anyway. Like the Lake Shore Limited in Albany, the Texas Eagle in San Antonio, and the Empire Builder in Spokane...
@@ronclark9724 I honestly hate that the sleeper cars are always in front on the trains I take, because that means the horn is louder while I'm trying to sleep. =( I mean coach has to sleep too but I'm paying extra specifically because I want the best sleep.
Your pronunciation of Lake Pontchartrain is by far the best I've heard from apart from locals here in Louisiana. Honestly, probably better than many here. Lol. But anyway, great video and I hope you enjoyed your stay in my home state.
I wish they had restored the Amtrak service from my hometown which is Mobile Alabama. I would love to ride the train from Miami to mobile again. Love Amtrak!
Nice video! I hope to be traveling Boston to Atlanta this summer and riding the Crescent. Thus gave me an idea of what to expect! I loved the scenery. Great job!
One of my first memories of *any* kind is of taking the Southern Crescent with my mom in the 70's, in an open section car! That was an interesting setup that you don't really see much anywhere anymore, although VIA Rail Canada still have some I think (also using the same old Budd equipment). I still have pictures from that trip, including the several dome cars on that train and the *four* E-8's pulling us. It was a great trip and the scenery in your video looked very familiar! Still wish Amtrak hadn't discontinued diner service, or the domes, but progress, I guess.
I've ridden the Crescent a few times between Atlanta and Philadelphia and have always enjoyed it, even though most of that part is at night in both directions. You're right about the poor on-time performance; you were very lucky! (Once the northbound train arrived too late to have dinner in the dining car, so there was a long line in the cafe car. I like the DiGiornio microwave pizza, but the guy in front of me bought the last one, and I wound up with a merely adequate turkey sandwich. Breakfast in the dining car was very pleasant, and I hope they bring dining cars back; they're a "blast from the past" which makes the journey unique!) While the coach seats are fine, I just do not sleep well sitting in a seat, even my own living-room recliner! Last time I got a Viewliner roomette (which was actually still a bit cheaper than plane fare!) and had a much more restful night. (I do not mind having the toilet right in the compartment.) Oh yes, Greensboro's train station is much more impressive than Atlanta's!
this train was once southern railways combined southerner and crescent at one time considered one of the best in the country , now the north bound train arrives 3 hrs later and has no dining car , which was one of the highlights of this long trip , then there's a longer wait at ny penn for connecting trains going up state ny , please bring back the diner and the old schedule
Traveling by train is HUGELY underrated. Most excellent way to casually travel with great scenery. We can afford a private jet flight but love the trains. Take your time, enjoy the scenery instead of speeding over it in the wild blue yonder. Plus, it’s extremely economical for those needing that benefit.
My hometown! Very seldom, would I take the Crescent, since the Carolinian began running. It's a 10 hour trip between Greensboro-New York, on the Crescent. The Carolinian is 12 hours. I prefer leaving Greensboro at 8:40a on the Carolinian versus 3:45a on the Crescent. The last time I rode the Crescent, we left Greensboro 2 hours late. We missed our connection in D.C. to New Haven. Amtrak was nice enough to put us on Acela. Guess what! We beat our original connection by an hour, into New Haven. Coming back home was a different ball game. Left New Haven on time, and connected to the Crescent in New York. Everything was fine, until we left Alexandria, Virginia. It was raining, and the train was moving extremely slow. Everyone was complaining! We were moving so slow, that the cars on the street, not the highway but the street, were passing us. We finally arrived in Greensboro at 5:30a, when we were suppose to arrive at 12:30a. That was about 12 yrs ago. I love flying but if I just want to enjoy the travel, I love Amtrak. An on-time Amtrak.
Wow, brings back memories. I took the Crescent from Atlanta (my home then) to New Orleans way back in the 90s. It looks like they have upgraded things since then a bunch. might try again soon but the other way.
I just discovered you today. This is crazy because, since I'm mainly a plane guy, I know this channel named Simply Aviation. It's so crazy, it's like a sister channel!
I find it incredible that Atlanta a city of 500k has one train a day. Presumably one in each direction. Small villages in Geoff Marshall’s series on least used stations in the UK have more. And check your own French Laura Cox version of Sweet Home Alabama hahaha
Yeah. Pretty ironic how the City with the busiest airport in the world is also only served by one train in both directions. Hopefully Amtrak’s plan to improve service there gets the necessary funding and backing by freight railroads.
Big airport hub, plus in the US we don't get that much vacation time, so we can't take 3 days to get to our vacation spot, and 3 days back. Plus most places are not on a train route.
@@1978dakdog I wasn’t using it as an excuse, I was using it as an ironic point. Most places in the US are connected by train. Hence the reason why the US has the largest freight network. Also these trips don’t take 3 days unless you want to travel across the whole country. Amtrak’s plan is to increase regional service around Atlanta, with Atlanta to Charlotte being the most prominent on their list.
Oh...I forgot to mention the Texas Eagle route! Been on that train more times than ever, used to live only 11 feet from the Union Pacific R.R. tracks at my apartment in San Antonio, TX, where the Amtrak Texas Eagle passes by on, going Northbound usually!
14:52 you should visit the mountains of East Tennessee/Western South Carolina. While not as tall as the Rockies, in my opinion they're more beautiful, especially in the fall - it's breathtaking. There used to be an Amtrak excursion between Birmingham and Chattanooga during the fall but they stopped doing it years ago. Wish they'd bring it back! Also 18:55 I wish Amtrak would bring some healthier/fresh foods back. That microwave stuff is so embarrassing!
Even the much denser Amfleet 1 coach interiors are extremely comfortable, but the larger windows with curtains, plus the extra legroom, recline, and footrests, make the Amfleet 2 interiors a perfectly viable option for overnight rides.
lol...those Are original wooden benches...I sat in them in 1949, and every summer until 1959. :) Many wonderful memories here. The main feature I recall about the Greensboro station was the continuous echo of called-out departures and arrivals... the Redcaps, and luggage trolleys. It was not as sterile as this view shows. It wasn't air-conditioned, and the warm, humid Southern air was thick with the promise of a wonderful summer of fun for this city boy. The people, especially thr Redcaps were superbly friendly and sweet...if I could travel back in time, I would go here. Those were the days.
I lived in Greensboro for a few years in the 70s and visited the station only once. I'm glad they refurbished it and kept it in use.
I love it that rail fans are so adept at photographing trains and so inter connected that a train vlogger can have his train photographed in transit by another rail fan. That's awesome!
Right? I'm always like "How is it that railfans always seem to know exactly where and when a specific train will be like that to be able to always capture it or even chase it down for multiple sets of photoshoots on it?" They blow my mind with it. Is there like a app that allows them to listen to dispatch or a website that publishes itineraries? Or maybe they're just Wizards who happen to be railfans and use their powers to sniff them down! Who knows! haha
@@trippinoutdoors most railfans use scanners which is just a radio that is programmed onto the frequency that the railroad uses. They then can hear all radio chatter from train crews and dispatchers and are able to tell where a train is and what it is doing just by listening. I really recommend getting one if you are interested in trains. It helps a lot.
And these days for amtrak in particular, they provide tracking services online
@@米空軍パイロット and ats is there with ns and other railroads
@@trippinoutdoors we just find out what train they're in and we look at the time and location
Your videos bring me so much comfort and happiness on days when my chronic illness makes me miserable. All I can do is sit and take in something calm. I just wanted to say thank you.
That shot of the sunset over the lake is beautiful !!!
The way Thibault pronounced it in his sexy French accent made it sound even more exotic.
@@Eurobazz Well I mean, he's pronouncing it the correct way. xD
@@NozomuYume Indeed he is with his sexy French accent that complements his extremely good looks.
I think the “crazy weeds” is kudzu. It’s an Asian plant introduced to the southern US to prevent soil erosion, but it grew out of control.
I'm sure too. It's synonymous with the deep south. Pacific Northwest "Kudzu" is English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberries. They're absolutely everywhere, and slowly strangle trees, being nearly impossible to ever truly get rid of.
@@trippinoutdoors truly!!! so i moved to the pnw with my parents and when we went into our backyard... boy did we have to get the clippers out lol. took days!
Always the case with introduced species.
@@trippinoutdoors
Same with kudzu, however kudzu is edible, perhaps it could be used to produce feed for animals or veggies burgers, added to salads or made into smooties like kale or I don't know produce other things like fabric. If people started to use it commercially it would disappear in no time
Made that trip between Atlanta and New Orleans twice during the 1960s before Amtrak. The train took a more southern route (on the L&N tracks) and involved crossing the nightmare bridge at Bay St Louis. The train had to travel at walking speed and rocked and swayed so violently that it was extremely frightening. Fortunately, Hurricane Camille erased that bridge from the face of the earth. (That was the only good thing about Camille.)
Camille erased a lot of things from the face of this earth.
At about the 6:00 mark when they're passing through the town, that's Buford, GA. I live on just the other side of the tracks.
Six years ago my son and I took the Crescent from Slidell to New York. We had a roomette which was run down and not very clean. Wifi was not available at that time. The dinning car was the highlight of the trip. The food was good, and the portions large. Too large really, because for two days we just sat and ate. When the train got up in speed it was really not a smooth ride, which is to be expected using freight tracks. That swamp you mentioned right before crossing the lake is a saltmarsh, and that lake is really a lagoon.
We just got back tonight after taking the Crescent as part of a Connecticut to Florida to N. Carolina and back to Connecticut trip. Had a great time and every train was on time. There is some great scenery on the Crescent route, especially through Virginia. Our portion was coach from Charlotte to Washington.
Thank you very much for this video. I have loved traveling on trains since I was a little kid. Everything about the trip was special... scenery, relaxed pace, the cozy roommette, the welcoming staff etc. Now I am old and have a terminal illness. I still hold on to the hope that I will be able to take on last train trip In the meantime I love these videos - they bring back wonderful memories and bring me peace.
Wonderful videos and I particularly like your positive outlook to your travels. So many presentations by other only focus on the negatives while you see the charm of the old stations and point out how to enjoy each trip to the fullest.
A side note... the freight railroads own and maintain the track and give their trains priority as does Amtrak where they own and maintain the right of way.
Me and my family used to take this train from Washington DC to Mississippi to see my grandparents
I love to watch the landscape go by. It seems as if the rivers are loaded with algae. I'm so happy that people videograph their train trips and share them with us.
The Crescent is on my list of Amtrak trips, mostly because I have a close friend in NYC, and I think it would be a fun way to get there...I'd have to take The City of New Orleans down from Memphis to catch it. Thanks for giving us a great look at what seems to be a really nice station at Greensboro...I never get tired of viewing all the cool stations around the US, first time for this one. Seeing them from the outside always makes me want to see the interiors as well; I'm often surprised at how nice and well-preserved or well-restored many stations are. Possibly I'm sensitive to this matter because, until recently, Central Station here in Memphis was a disaster, but has undergone a major renovation. I don't know if you've ever travelled aboard The City of New Orleans (the only Amtrak service we get in Memphis), but if you do so in the future, I'd really enjoy seeing and hearing your impressions of Central Station.
Also, you may have convinced me to take the Coach option next time, for the City of New Orleans from here to Chicago (an all-nighter), or to New Orleans (a day trip). But for a long-distance trip, such as the Crescent, Southwest Chief, or Empire Builder, I still think the Roomette (or bedroom if you can get a good deal) is the way to go.
I was excited to see the old 2-8-2 Mikado coal-burning engine from the Frisco Lines (St Louis and San Francisco Railway, although it never went anywhere near San Franciso), because one of my grandfather's worked for the Frisco all his adult life, retiring in the early 1960s. The Frisco had a number of named trains in its heyday, most notably The Texas Special; there's an overpass here in Memphis on which you can still see a sign for the Frisco passenger service to St Louis and Kansas City painted onto the concrete; considering the fact that they stopped carrying passengers in the late 60s, and were absorbed by the Big Nasty (Burlington Northern, now BNSF) in 1980, that's some very durable paint! Frisco TX is named for the Frisco and uses their classic logo as their own; it's supposed to represent, or so I'm told, a stretched raccoon skin...why, I don't know!
Again, thanks for another informative and very enjoyable video journey!
I like the trains in the USA. They are monstrous, powerful and incredible trains. Great video as well.
And slow as hell compared to other trains around the world.
@@westwoods7675 no one cares
Amtrak are brilliant trains. Except that they are very slow. Probably maximum average of about 55 mph. Here in England, on the new High Speed 1 railway (Dover to London St Pancras) we have regular trains travelling at 200 mph 👍
@@francishuddy9462it’s more like 70-110 MPH in many parts, but in some states you aren’t getting above 60. The NER gets up to 125 in many parts (hopefully the NEC will be able to support 125 mph track speeds throughout the entire route).
Also, is HS1 used for domestic services as well? Last time I checked it was only the Eurostar and the shuttle.
I recently took a multi-train trip that started with the Crescent (Atlanta to New Orleans) and later ended with it (Philadelphia to Atlanta). The first train left ATL on time, but because we had to stop for 45 minutes south of Tuscaloosa to wait for a freight to pass, we arrived, like you, about 30 minutes late, which is not bad. But the schedule has been changed, so we crossed the lake after dark. The DiGiornio pizza is no longer offered, so I had an excellent turkey and cheese sandwich on an oat roll for lunch, and a decent (but under-baked) cheese stromboli for dinner. At least this was a day trip, in coach. On the later train, I took a roomette (Viewliner I); this train left PHL a bit late but we arrived in ATL on time. The "flexible" dining is definitely inferior to the traditional dining car service, and I hope that returns. For dinner I had the beef short ribs, which were decent, served with a salad, green beans, a roll and a brownie, and I ate them in the lounge car to "simulate" a dining car experience! For breakfast I had pancakes with sausage, which were just fine, and I again ate them in the lounge car. Since the Viewliner I roomette has a toilet, if I had elected to have the meals delivered to my room, I could have gone the whole trip without ever leaving it, but what fun is that?
Bonjour Thibault, Thank you very much for your trip logs. I enjoy every one. When I first crossed the US, there was no Amtrak. the next year 1971 it began. Please come back to California
Such charming views of the Deep South...which makes it a pity that the Crescent has such a short consist with no dining car. I used to watch this train come and go on my visits to Atlanta in the mid-1980's, when this was an impressive sized train with at least 10 cars including diner and lounge (railfans used to call this "Mr. Claytor (then Amtrak CEO)'s train" back then, but that's another long story).
On the other hand, it's encouraging to see people continuing to ride this train. Hopefully the infrastructure legislation will help bring about the much needed improvements.
Great documentary as always!
I was just on it, with 3 sleeper cars, so only 4 coach cars would make 10 (including lounge, cafe, and baggage).
They are using half the cafe car for staff and prep. They probably could do dining if the next generation of cafe car were rearranged so that the concession was at the lounge end. Or they could add a car back and get some revenue out of it with a couple more handicap-accessible rooms in addition to the dining.
Well, I have not yet been on the Crescent route on Amtrak! I've rode most of the west routes: Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, Coast Starlight and California Zephyr! Other routes I've been on once, or more times is Capitol Limited, City of New Orleans, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Hiawatha to Milwaukee, WI, Northeast Regional to Newport News, VA, Carolinian and Heartland Flyer to Oklahoma City, OK. Your Crescent trip video looked and seemed very awesome, IDK about that Lake going into Slidell, LA....that is a very long ride over that huge body of water, on a train, nearly touching the surface of the water level, though not. I hope that one day I can travel on the Crescent, don't know where I may take it to.👍😃🤗👏❤🚆
I love seeing my country through your eyes!
Great to see you’ve been to Greensboro, that’s my home sweet home and I’ve traveled in and out of the passenger station many times. And actually in July, I did the same exact trip from Greensboro to New Orleans as I went on a journey across the country to LA on Amtrak
He's so handsome. Nothing will convince me to drink that Amtrak water though.
OMG how many memories! I did that trip in 2003! (I traveled in coach and was very comfy to sleep) from NY to Atlanta!! 😍😍😍😍
How many hours is that trip and how was it for not be able to shower for that long,
This video deserves 1.000.0O0 stars. I watched before an extraordinary video from Deutsche Welle about The Crescent and this one have nothing to envy it. I´m very glad about yor opinions because when you're on a train you are living an adventure and it doesn´t matter what happens. IT´S AN ADVENTURE and that is the reason why we love trains and the people who works there. Greetings from Osorno, Chile.
The Southern Crescent was last privately owned inter-city train when it was handed over to Amtrak in 1979. Greensboro Station has an interesting design. Two platforms heading in different directions. The Crescent is well known for having an incredibly high On-Time ratio. I think NS takes pride in hosting it. Passengers have been complaining about the size of Atlanta Peach Tree Station. The Station was original designed as a commuter station. Most inter-city traffic went through Terminal Station. The station wasnt designed for the amount of traffic it sees.
😁
My Old Friend, for the last month and a half I haven't been able to be with you in company, but for the last few days I have made up for everything that has been missed.
I just arrived in New Orleans with you and I see all the impressions from the trip through the deep US south.
I am glad to be able to say that you have made a huge step forward in the preparation and release of the video. The most beautiful of all is that with all your knowledge and passion, your creativity has finally come to the fore, which leaves true and strong impressions.
I'm preparing to embark with you on a magnificent journey of the perfectly good California Zephyr. I would be lying if I didn’t confirm that I expect a spectacle from this trip. Also, I believe that a great movie and a wonderful experience awaits me, on the way to San Francisco.
Great Thibault, thank you for excellent company and perfect adventures on the steel tracks!
I,m from Greensboro. Growing up in Greensboro on Sunday afternoons we went to the train station with my Grandfather who had worked on the railroads during world war 1. We would see the early train from Asheville(15) The Northbound Piedmont (34)Southbound (35) Carolina special (21)with pullmans for NY and then at exactly 8:38 no.38 northbound Crescent all Pullman. All stainless steel. This was our Sunday routine from 6 pm to 8:30. Plus freights on the station passing tracks. I never rode the all Pullman Crescent but instead rode the all coach at the time Southerner usually to DC. When I was in college in Charlotte on the weekend I rode home on the Piedmont. In the Early Amtrak era Southern was not apart and ran the Crescent with coaches but it was still nice and always on time. I miss my Grandfather and I miss the old trains and that era of rail transportation. Back in the 60’s there were passenger cars from every railroad in the US in the station in DC but I always thought ACL purple coaches were the best
When I rode the Crescent we were 4 hours late into New Orleans. Now Amtrak is issuing a new schedule for the train lengthening the journey time and guaranteeing a late evening arrival into New Orleans.
@@deepnation10009 looks permanent to me
The freight lines are to blame.
The Huey P. Long Bridge is a pinch-point for freight traffic crossing the Mississippi river. It's common to get stuck in a long queue on the north side of the river. We waited for a couple hours after crossing Lake Pontchartrain the last time we rode this (early 2000's).
Back in 2018, Amtrak began to issue report cards to the freight lines as to how they handle Amtrak trains with delays and whatnot. In that initial report card, our friends at Norfolk Southern got a big fat "F." As did Canadian National.
Yeah and it sucks!! If you're connecting you get stuck overnight in New Orleans.
25:30 good ole Slidell! Been in those marshes plenty of times! That crossing before you got to the lake was “Car Drive”. Beautiful little stretch, but gets BLASTED by hurricanes. The bridge In between the train trestle and I10 is the highway 11 bridge. During your ride it was under construction, and it just reopened after 3 years of construction lol. But that ride is a fun ride. I once rode on a just for fun trip. Slidell has an Amtrak station, and depending if anyone had tickets they’ll stop.
I had no idea crossing Lake Ponchartrain was so epic! It looked like you were crossing the ocean via train.
Amazing video! I am a citizen of the beautiful state of Louisiana but I have never seen the heavenly view of the sun setting over Lake Ponchetrain until you shared it. Thank you so much!
Nice to hear a favorable review, especially from a European who has seen railways outside of US and has seen the world by rail!
A long train trip through beautiful scenery and "Trailer Park Boys"? Now that's my idea of a great trip!
Interesting how you’re talking in your video intros now. Great video as always and I want to ride this one day!
i've never been to America lol
Crossing the beautiful lake is wonderful! Someday I will get on this train
Amtrak has one of the most comfortable coach seats, even better than coach on the Euro Rail......and those trains are fast and sleek. I love European trains
8:45 Currently, Amtrak has proposed a plan to introduce new service from Atlanta to Montgomery, Savannah, and Nashville beside of increasing frequency from Atlanta to Charlotte and Birmingham (if Amtrak manage to get the fund needed).
Known as Atlanta Hub in their recently-published 15-year vision plan.
It will only happen if Georgia agrees to pay for the operation of the trains, which seems unlikely. Most of Amtrak’s map is fantasy.
@@chriswalker1993 Spot on. Nor does the Atlanta station presently have any real estate for more platforms adjacent to a freeway. Unlike New Orleans and Chicago, among other cities, there is NO Amtrak locomotive or rolling stock infrastructure in Atlanta... One siding off the Norfolk Southern mainline does NOT cut the mustard...
@@amfan_17presentations87 You have been gas lighted... There is NO Amtrak locomotive or rolling stock infrastructure in Atlanta that Chicago and New Orleans do have. One siding off the Norfolk Southern mainline does not cut the mustard... Keep in mind the former Atlanta downtown station is no longer in existence. That site is now the location of the Atlanta downtown federal building... Where is your suggested mythical location for a new Amtrak hub infrastructure facility in downtown Atlanta? How quickly do you think Amtrak could get a EIS study done, and how quickly do you think it will take Amtrak to build it? Five years, ten years?
@@ronclark9724 Improvements like a better station would likely be bundled into a new local network, not just for one new Amtrak line. The plan's never been implemented due to anti-transit forces in suburban Georgia, but the politics have been changing a bit so it could happen. Regional rail is also more palatable to the suburbs than MARTA extensions, as MARTA has a bad (and largely undeserved) image as a crime carrier in the suburbs.
That train was rocketing into that station and slammed on its brakes!
I used to ride in coach on the Empire Builder (Milwaukee, WI to Fargo, ND) to get to and from my undergrad college back in the 1970s. It always seemed to run 3 hours late, not so much departing Milwaukee westbound, but always arriving Milwaukee eastbound and arriving westbound/departing eastbound at Fargo. I was comfortable enough in coach, but thought the dining car food was overpriced, and really didn't like the plain potato chips which always seemed to be a side dish with lunch/supper meals on the train.
Where I work, the Texas Eagle passes by my office window every afternoon (but doesn't stop), right when it's time for me to head home for the day. Would love to take one of the Silver Service trains to visit my sister in South Carolina sometime!
Thank you . This was the coolest ever. God bless you with many safe journeys 😊
This was the first long distance train I ever took (NY to Atlanta). I rode in one of the Viewliners :) Awesome trip. Our steward on the ride north was exceptionally friendly and talkative about his life riding the rails.
Greensboro station built 1927, "reopened 2005." Southern and Amtrak musta used smaller stations before 2005.
Charlotte's station opened in 1962, likely replacing a bigger station.
Atlanta's station was originally a suburban stop that became Southern's only Atlanta station after the Terminal station downtown closed in 1969-70 and later demolished.
Amtrak switched from a separate Southern depot to the one it was using in Birmingham in 1979 when it took over the Crescent from Southern Railway.
Love your positivity! Keep 'em coming, Thibault ~
That sunset over Lake Ponchartrain was epic!
Metro Atlanta is the ninth largest and one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the nation. Home to 6 million people in 2019, metro Atlanta experienced the fourth-largest population increase of all MSAs in the nation-an increase of approximately 734,000 people from 2010 to 2019. More than 500 thousand. A lot more
Station was probably built by the Southern Railway System; class act. When they ran the Southern Crescent, it was a class act train.
Thumbs up for watching trailer park boys! That show is hilarious.
Great video! I was waiting for this one! I am taking this train from Baltimore (BAL) to New Orleans (NOL) in July! Thanks for the report!
Sleeping in coach is only comfy if you don't have another passenger beside you. I did it once and will never do it again. Although the seats are roomy, some people don't understand personal space and have large body parts that will be in your seat or touching your body. The next time I travel overnight by train I would have to get a room or fly instead.
thank you for this post! It's so informative and helpful. (I especially like the captions for the locations.)
I've been taking the Crescent from DC to NOLA once or twice a year for thirty years. I used to take just sleepers but one year waited too late and they sold out. I was shocked at how smooth the coach ride was and was never again pressed about choosing between the two. It does make a the difference however if coach is sold out! Going to Atlanta and Birmingham both ways increases the number of passengers. So I learned that I could comfortably do a twenty four hour trip in coach but I would not like to do much more than that. You wee generous about the scenery on this trip. You caught pretty much every water scene on the trip. Leaving DC, seeing Manassas and Charlottesville makes good viewing. After that it is usually dark so there are just night shots until approaching Atlanta. After Atlanta for about fifty minutes you go through great small town shots but once you hit Anniston Alabama you have some of the most boring view of the same terrain for hours until you get to Birmingham. After that there are several small towns that are very quaint and the train is right next to main street so all traffic has to wail for passengers to unload . Some have beautifully restored cars at the stations. The reason the on time rate is so bad on the Crescent is that the freight trains have right of way since its their tracks, and can make your train pull over for them to pass especially if they are late. In thirty years I have only been within an hour of on time arrival in NOLA but usually pretty close when going back to DC. Slidell is the last town before the lake and you want to video it and the boathouses and docks as you leave it. Remember the best views are during the months when the days are long. You cannot see the lake when its dark!!! While to me this route is not a gem is has it's moments and will be even more fun when the dining car returns! Breakfast and dinner in the diner totally enhances the experience. KB
When I rode it home in a sleeper an employee gave me one of their keys and I think it's for the door in between the 2 family rooms
Atlanta is my hometown station! I've taken this a handful of times from Atlanta to Hattiesburg, MS, where I used to have family. I've also taken from Meridian to Hattiesburg. Not flashy, but a solid train. :)
Great journey across the American South the scenery was amazing especially the lake as if it was crossing the ocean. The greensboro station looks very good including the train interior. It must have been a great experience to travel across America by train when you were there
Nice review!! Yes the scenery in the West is different from scenery in the South. Each has its own charm and beauty. 👍👍💚💚😄😄
Yep! And the food is better in the South...
@@claudiahansen4938 Absolutely!!
Cool report! The northbound Crescent was rescheduled through Greensboro at 7:20 am, gives it a bit more time in the daylight heading to Washington and New York
Good to see you personally giving introductions. You're a very handsome guy;)
Incredibly handsome. I wouldn't mind accompanying him on a journey :)
@@Eurobazz show some dignity.
@@cjb8010 Ditto, bruh! And stop embarrassing our great navy.
@@nelsonricardo3729 because in the Navy the first response to a quality presentation is “you’re so handsome - I want to go on a trip with you”?
No, armchair sailor, service personnel don’t do that.
@@cjb8010 I never said they did. I was merely responding to your rudeness toward Barry F. Are service personnel judgmental pricks? Not in my experience. But there's always one in every bunch, guess.
As always a great video! I can't believe the plane is preferred to train when you travel in so much comfort...
Time and price
@@TheLostfoundation Spot on... Beyond 3 hours no matter what the train's speed is, airlines win the ridership battle with the trains, EVEN IN EUROPE. How many of the French ride a train to Moscow from Paris? Very, very few. The vast majority fly... There is a reason why the USPS terminated the railroads mail contracts and chose to fly the mail instead long distances more than 50 years ago. There is reason why FedEx and UPS do the same...
@@ronclark9724 So is that why the post office is operating with such a growing debt and has to keep raising postal rates to try to cover some of that loss? If you rail fan, you may have noticed that both FedEx and UPS ship their trailers on piggyback rail. It's more cost effective and quicker than driving long distances overland. It's also quite pricey to maintain those aircraft with all the costs involved in keeping them flying (the kitty's pal-allen from Ga)
It's awesome so many folks remember their train journeys from their childhoods like me. Long distant train trips are forever etched in my memory. I can't say I remember plane trips which are for the most part uneventful-unless someone has a melt down or there's a celebrity on board. The Crescent doesn't have many scenic views on account of the trees, but crossing Lake Pontchartrain makes up for the boredom for me.
Love from Southeast Asia 💕 thanks friend for watching ❤️
Passed through my home state, Sweet Home Alabama! It’s definitely worth a trip to visit some of the small towns and cities in Alabama.
Great video! The interior of the train is nice. Wow, the view of the lake is great!
Wow, on my normal route the coach seats usually have a nasty, uncomfortable fabric. Those look great.
When the Claytor brothers (W. Graham and Robert) ran Amtrak and NS respectively in the 1980s and early '90s those delays would not have happened, or heads would have rolled. The Crescent did have a diner and separate lounge car at one time. Thirty years ago #19 and 20 only operated from ATL to NOL tri-weekly and the lounge and a sleeper came off at ATL the days it ran to NOL and turned for the northbound that evening, the diner serving both functions on to NOL. Of course those were "heritage" cars back then, from the equipment Amtrak started with. The Amfleet cafe car you had was built as a Dinette/lounge car in the early '80s, with lounge-style tables and seating at the restroom end of the car that allowed smoking, and meal service at the eight four seat tables on the other side of the counter, and was run by three OBS workers (lead, assist and server) serving frozen, pre-plated meals (airline-grade, glorified TV dinners, but better than the stuff they are serving now).
Going back to the declining days of pre-Amtrak passenger trains myself, after the bulldog-nosed EMD E and F units, the EMD F40PH was definitely a better looking (and performing) locomotive than the GE P40/42. Indeed, former Amtrak president Paul Reistrup called the F40s one of the two locomotives (the electric AEM7 being the other) that saved Amtrak. I miss the "screamers" coming into a station at night with it's roof-mounted strobes flashing, and the second unit roaring away at full-throttle generating head-end power with it's two-cycle 16 cyl. 645 prime mover burning 150 gal/hr of #2 Diesel, which is a major reason they went to the 4 cycle GEs, they are a little easier on fuel, but totally fuggly (f-ing ugly), like coyote ugly. However, they are part of Amtrak's history, and some should be preserved, unlike the earlier GE P30CHs, of which none exist. They were Amtrak's first HEP-equipped units, and proved the concept.
The Lake Pontchartrain trestle is the longest railroad bridge in the U. S., and the longest railroad bridge over water in the World, but nowhere near as long as the 24 mile parallel I-10 causeway/bridge. Hurricane Katrina wiped the track off the bridge in 2005 and NS restored it to service in only 16 days. The lake itself is actually a 630 sq/mi brackish estuary averaging only 14-16 ft. deep.
Nice trip! You got lucky on the 30 min. delay! Thanks for sharing!
Most important thing congrats again for 100k and 1st video after this.....as understanding and seeing the fab and awesome Amtrak's Eastern Corridor with more than you expected...as New Orleans and Chicago is good place for and act as hub for Amtrak operation.The Crescent is a thrice a week train it operates between Pennsylvania Station in New York City and Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans as train numbers 19 and 20 and daily services resumes June 7, 2021 as intercity train operating between 100 to 150mph through scenic way of Pearl river in Mississippi connecting southbound train by Acela from Boston or Washington DC to NYC or etc.. or from Chicago as Blue line or Lake shore limited or Cardinal or northbound train from New Orleans by many ways good and fascinating video.....need videos on California Zephyr or Coaster trains to commuter train from MBTA or Caltrain or Maple leaf to Toronto
Welp, I just had a stroke.
Everytime I watch another one of your amtrak videos it gets me so excited for my northeast regional trip in October! 😁
Nice recap of the Crescent! It's my favorite train and the one I've most often traveled. As for the crew, in my experience the Crescent has had the most helpful, friendly employees, but of course that can vary. (My worst by far were on the CZ going west out of Denver. Sleeping compartment hadn't been cleaned and they never emptied the trash bin in my bedroom compartment.) Sorry you got the exception on your trip. The CZ is probably the most scenic train. Btw, the above-ground tombs in the cemeteries visible going into N.O. are interesting and beautiful, very unusual for the U.S. They are necessary in N.O. because the water table is so high there.
I enjoy your videos; many thanks.
It's a shame and a waste of Amtrak's expensive new Viewliner dining cars to no longer provide full dining service (and for all passengers) on the eastern long distance trains as was previously done. Poor management and death by a thousand cuts.
I just took it to and from NO. Was essentially on time both ways. In-room trash was not emptied on the way down, but I figured that out and on the return used the bin out in the vestibule. The room bin wasn't designed for the volume of the in-room meals! The meals did not seem greatly changed in substance from the dining car version... on a train the food is being reheated either way. It's the presentation that one doesn't get. And they've created new opportunities for process error by having the guest receive a bag rather than be right there at the table to correct an error.
New Orleans has some of the best cuisine in the US! I hope you got to try some of the food there.
Good job. Track appears to be pretty smooth. With a career in the travel industry, I have ridden on almost every US train. Much of it Amtrak. A lot of Canada and the Copper Canyon of Mexico. Again, good job on this video.
Oh my gosh - I don't know if this was your intention or not but this video is giving me serious ASMR! Love it.
Watching Trailer Park Boys while eating breakfast on a great train. Doesn't get better!! :-)
I remember crossing lake ponchartrain on amtrak, definitely a sight to behold!
I'm planning on taking The Crescent from Anniston, Alabama to Danville, Virginia to watch my brother play baseball. Thanks for your review on Coach class. Will be definitely worth the money paid for!
I love the sounds f this train at my other home you can hear the train 3 times going past the crossing I miss that sound
the southbound crescent usually had the sleepers in the front I guess they changed or something
The sleepers are usually underneath the train. A joke! In the UK and Australia, railroad ties are called sleepers.
Amtrak doesn't bother to shunt the cars in any order except for a coach and sleeper on the trains they do shunt somewhere besides the terminus of a route. The locomotives will pull the train anyway. Like the Lake Shore Limited in Albany, the Texas Eagle in San Antonio, and the Empire Builder in Spokane...
@@ronclark9724 I honestly hate that the sleeper cars are always in front on the trains I take, because that means the horn is louder while I'm trying to sleep. =( I mean coach has to sleep too but I'm paying extra specifically because I want the best sleep.
The Crescent passes under my window. The sleepers are always in the back. I think they are in the front on Superliners.
@@johnadams6535 on the northbound or southbound crescent
Your pronunciation of Lake Pontchartrain is by far the best I've heard from apart from locals here in Louisiana. Honestly, probably better than many here. Lol. But anyway, great video and I hope you enjoyed your stay in my home state.
That's because he's pronouncing it the way it was originally named when it was a French colony. xD
Great video - I hope to travel to the US one day to experience their trains too! Good that you are doing intros and we can see and hear you!
I wish they had restored the Amtrak service from my hometown which is Mobile Alabama. I would love to ride the train from Miami to mobile again. Love Amtrak!
Atlanta metro actually has almost 6 million people-making the one train in each direction per day even stranger!
Nice video! I hope to be traveling Boston to Atlanta this summer and riding the Crescent. Thus gave me an idea of what to expect! I loved the scenery. Great job!
One of my first memories of *any* kind is of taking the Southern Crescent with my mom in the 70's, in an open section car! That was an interesting setup that you don't really see much anywhere anymore, although VIA Rail Canada still have some I think (also using the same old Budd equipment). I still have pictures from that trip, including the several dome cars on that train and the *four* E-8's pulling us. It was a great trip and the scenery in your video looked very familiar! Still wish Amtrak hadn't discontinued diner service, or the domes, but progress, I guess.
I've ridden the Crescent a few times between Atlanta and Philadelphia and have always enjoyed it, even though most of that part is at night in both directions. You're right about the poor on-time performance; you were very lucky! (Once the northbound train arrived too late to have dinner in the dining car, so there was a long line in the cafe car. I like the DiGiornio microwave pizza, but the guy in front of me bought the last one, and I wound up with a merely adequate turkey sandwich. Breakfast in the dining car was very pleasant, and I hope they bring dining cars back; they're a "blast from the past" which makes the journey unique!) While the coach seats are fine, I just do not sleep well sitting in a seat, even my own living-room recliner! Last time I got a Viewliner roomette (which was actually still a bit cheaper than plane fare!) and had a much more restful night. (I do not mind having the toilet right in the compartment.) Oh yes, Greensboro's train station is much more impressive than Atlanta's!
this train was once southern railways combined southerner and crescent at one time considered one of the best in the country , now the north bound train arrives 3 hrs later and has no dining car , which was one of the highlights of this long trip , then there's a longer wait at ny penn for connecting trains going up state ny , please bring back the diner and the old schedule
Traveling by train is HUGELY underrated. Most excellent way to casually travel with great scenery. We can afford a private jet flight but love the trains. Take your time, enjoy the scenery instead of speeding over it in the wild blue yonder. Plus, it’s extremely economical for those needing that benefit.
Heh. From a Canadian, I’m delighted to see the appreciation of Trailer Park Boys. Canadiana at its finest.
My hometown! Very seldom, would I take the Crescent, since the Carolinian began running. It's a 10 hour trip between Greensboro-New York, on the Crescent. The Carolinian is 12 hours. I prefer leaving Greensboro at 8:40a on the Carolinian versus 3:45a on the Crescent. The last time I rode the Crescent, we left Greensboro 2 hours late. We missed our connection in D.C. to New Haven. Amtrak was nice enough to put us on Acela. Guess what! We beat our original connection by an hour, into New Haven. Coming back home was a different ball game. Left New Haven on time, and connected to the Crescent in New York. Everything was fine, until we left Alexandria, Virginia. It was raining, and the train was moving extremely slow. Everyone was complaining! We were moving so slow, that the cars on the street, not the highway but the street, were passing us. We finally arrived in Greensboro at 5:30a, when we were suppose to arrive at 12:30a. That was about 12 yrs ago. I love flying but if I just want to enjoy the travel, I love Amtrak. An on-time Amtrak.
I can't wait for my train trip to DC Now! Thank you for this video ❤
Great video! Really enjoy seeing you and hearing you talk about the trip. Thank you ; you do a fantastic job!
Wow, brings back memories. I took the Crescent from Atlanta (my home then) to New Orleans way back in the 90s. It looks like they have upgraded things since then a bunch. might try again soon but the other way.
Very well done so informative! thank you
I just discovered you today. This is crazy because, since I'm mainly a plane guy, I know this channel named Simply Aviation. It's so crazy, it's like a sister channel!
I find it incredible that Atlanta a city of 500k has one train a day. Presumably one in each direction. Small villages in Geoff Marshall’s series on least used stations in the UK have more. And check your own French Laura Cox version of Sweet Home Alabama hahaha
Yeah. Pretty ironic how the City with the busiest airport in the world is also only served by one train in both directions. Hopefully Amtrak’s plan to improve service there gets the necessary funding and backing by freight railroads.
@@banksrail That would be brilliant. I am sure it would change people’s lives
Big airport hub, plus in the US we don't get that much vacation time, so we can't take 3 days to get to our vacation spot, and 3 days back. Plus most places are not on a train route.
@@1978dakdog I wasn’t using it as an excuse, I was using it as an ironic point. Most places in the US are connected by train. Hence the reason why the US has the largest freight network. Also these trips don’t take 3 days unless you want to travel across the whole country. Amtrak’s plan is to increase regional service around Atlanta, with Atlanta to Charlotte being the most prominent on their list.
Looked at train from my area to Denver, 2 days there and 2 back. I can drive it 13 hrs one way and way cheaper.
Oh...I forgot to mention the Texas Eagle route! Been on that train more times than ever, used to live only 11 feet from the Union Pacific R.R. tracks at my apartment in San Antonio, TX, where the Amtrak Texas Eagle passes by on, going Northbound usually!
14:52 you should visit the mountains of East Tennessee/Western South Carolina. While not as tall as the Rockies, in my opinion they're more beautiful, especially in the fall - it's breathtaking.
There used to be an Amtrak excursion between Birmingham and Chattanooga during the fall but they stopped doing it years ago. Wish they'd bring it back!
Also 18:55 I wish Amtrak would bring some healthier/fresh foods back. That microwave stuff is so embarrassing!
Thank you for an excellent review. I thoroughly enjoyed your trip, and the wonderful typical small town America scenery.
Even the much denser Amfleet 1 coach interiors are extremely comfortable, but the larger windows with curtains, plus the extra legroom, recline, and footrests, make the Amfleet 2 interiors a perfectly viable option for overnight rides.
What a nice station!. i've never been there. Kind of reminds me of Baltimore Penn Station.
It's great to finally see the face behind the vlogger! 🙌 Awesome trip!
I live in Atlanta, we need more trains