Amtrak Crescent question

[drivertime61]

Does anyone know of a route that would cover the portion of Amtrak's Crescent passenger service that runs between New Orleans and Birmingham and points north? The entire service runs from NO to NY Penn Station, with stops at major cities, such as D.C., Philly, etc.

Obviously the NEC Phila.-NY would cover a portion of it and I could do a scenario myself or use one in the Workshop, but I'm particularly interested in the southern end - NO and north.

Thanks guys.

[ChrisOnline]

Not aware of one. I looked into this myself, as the complete train can now be made up correctly since the release of the Viewliners and heritage baggage car with the Miami Route.

I traveled on this train southbound from Washington, DC to New Orleans a couple of years ago (for Mardi Gras!) and have had a curious yearning for it since, LOL!

Chris

P1000254.jpg

[Captainbob]

It goes through Atlanta if that's any help. Don't think there is any Railworks routes that do.

[drivertime61]

I'll keep those Viewliner cars in mind.

FYI, my interest in this train was triggered by my Birmingham AL cousin, who recently rode the Crescent north to Philly and back. In her opinion it was one of the worst train rides she ever had. She called it a "rough" ride with constant pitching and jolting, and she felt crammed into the "tiny" compartment she was given. All to be taken with a grain of salt though I suppose, since the purpose of the trip was not a happy one - our close relative's funeral, and she was not in the best frame of mind.

I think it may be a lot more enjoyable if the destination is Neu Aulins!

Thanks men.

Al

[ChrisOnline]

Well for the record, our journey wasn't good either - not because of a "rough ride" but because it took over 36 hours!

Only about 1/2 hour out of Washington, shortly after leaving Alexandria, we hit a person on the line. 6 hours without moving while police cleared us to move (but a great time in the cafe/bar drinking the bar dry and hobnobbing with the crew!). Then the leading loco had a fault (damage from the collision apparently), so we limped forward before releasing that loco. As we moved on, we fell behind other freight traffic etc and ended up arriving in NO over 12 hours late! That is why the picture has one loco - the 40th Anniversary Genesis #184 - instead of two, and why it is at Charlotte in the bright daylight instead of the middle of the night, LOL!

We ended up spending TWO nights sleeping in the regular cars (didn't have a sleeper cabin). The good news - we saved one night's hotel cost in NO, and Amtrak gave us FULL refunds! And it wasn't really their fault!

Chris

[buzz456]

So it's all that person's fault for getting in front of a train........over.

[ChrisOnline]

I looked into this myself, as the complete train can now be made up correctly since the release of the Viewliners and heritage baggage car with the Miami Route

P1000254.jpg

To correct my earlier post, I meant to say that the Miami route had the Viewliners and the Heritage Dining Car. (The heritage baggage car also appears in other DLCs).

It is the Heritage Dining Car profile that makes for the overall rather haphazard (but totally authentic!) appearance of the whole train.

Crescent.jpg

[drivertime61]

Interesting discussion. Thanks again guys.

"So it's all that person's fault for getting in front of a train"

Exactly! People can be so rude and without consideration for others in a hurry. But seriously, I always feel bad for the engineers who have to live with these needless tragedies. I suppose it's a part of the job that can be anticipated during a long career, nevertheless.......

[buzz456]

Yeah I remember a friend who was retiring from the airlines and he was really happy that no one had ever died on a plane he was flying in his whole career. Like he felt responsible to not only get the aircraft to its destination safely but all the people on board also.

[drivertime61]

He is fortunate, but I guess the odds are greatly in favor of never having to deal with death and destruction in the airlines business, or so they say. I wonder what the odds are for train drivers?

We had to investigate an apparent "suicide-by-train" very early in my career. An officer told me they found the SEPTA driver about a half mile down from the point of impact, just sitting by the open cab door sobbing. He stated he had tried to stop in time and thought he had a chance, since he had left a station only about a minute earlier and wasn't at full track speed, but it wasn't to be. He said the worst part was the victim's staring him in the eye to the end. That was decades ago, but I still wonder how that engineer did after that.

So it makes me squirm to think about being an engineer seeing a stuck vehicle or a pedestrian on the tracks in the distance and, as the seconds agonizingly tick by, knowing there is not a thing you can do to get your umpteen thousand ton train stopped in time.

[buzz456]

Please don't start that stupid thread over here......please.

[GSkid]

This is crap they have to deal with. And the girl in the orange shirt acts like she did nothing wrong.

[NYWhiskey]

Some guys can handle it and some can't. I work for the NYCTA and we have suicides and accidents. No doubt it's tough on the operators but nobody gives a thought to who has to clean up the mess. I started at the bottom steam cleaning engines and chassis on buses. We had an incident of four kids on roller skates skitching on the back of a bus. One idiot kid decides to work his way up the side and gets sucked under the rear wheels and spit out the back. After the accident investigation is done the bus doesn't disappear it goes to be cleaned.

To make a long story short, I wasn't cleaning a 14 year old's brain and blood off the chassis of the bus. It was just chopped meat with hair stuck in it. How else would you do it?

I think everyone thinks there is magical fairies that come along after murders, accidents and suicides.

[drivertime61]

Please don't start that stupid thread over here......please.

I know what you mean. Post Edited.