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| PHOTOS: Piedmont...The Ride (1299846) | |||
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PHOTOS: Piedmont...The Ride |
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Posted by kp5308 on Mon Jun 30 12:47:17 2014 When Vogel, Ken & myself attended the NS Heritage event in 2012 we shot the Piedmont before heading home: I had hoped that someday I'd get the chance to ride the apparently well kept train to experience for myself if the service was as nice as it looked from the outside. The Streamliner event last month gave Dave & myself that chance & it did not disappoint. First off, you get a parking permit at no charge when you pick up your tickets, but you must go to the agent at the window:  Train #73 picked us up in Durham at 7:21AM, 4 minutes late:  The whole exterior was freshly cleaned:  We boarded 56 seat coach Emerald for our trip to Salisbury:  Plenty of leg room, outlets at every seat (but no WiFi) & curtains instead of shades greet you:  With windows clean enough for good shooting. This is at Greensboro:  Free coffee & water is available to all ticketed passengers up in the combine:  Vending machines dispense snacks. For a trip of 3:10 IMO this makes sense & according to NCDOT the machines generate about $2000 in profit monthly:  From the Amtrak website: All Piedmont trains are equipped with a limited number of bike racks for carrying unboxed bicycles. Reservations are required; no service fees apply. Passenger’s bicycles loaded and unloaded from the baggage car. For details, visit ncbytrain.org.:  The ENTIRE train interior appeared very clean:  Below Greensboro construction is well underway to extend sidings & add double track for the coming service improvements. BTW is there any other regularly scheduled Amtrak train where you can ride a Dutch door?  The service is staffed by Amtak but the state adds attendants like Joel to give passengers a personal touch that really adds to the trip:  We arrived Salisbury 9 minutes down at 9:17 & were at the Streamliner event by 9:30:  We rode #76 back to Durham behind the City of Greensboro, boarding at 6PM. The locomotive was one of three rebuilt by American Motive Power in 2010. After AMP declared bankruptcy in 2011 the 4th unit (#1893/GO #540) was shipped to Amtrak at Beech Grove to be finished, being completed in late 2011:  We rode one of the ex-Kansas City Southern cars back. Same fit & finish as the ex-UP car we rode on the morning trip. No rattles or vibrations, very clean, very comfortable. Just a little less legroom:  One hour & fifty seven minutes later we are on the platform at Durham to complete our journey:  I think this shot shows how much we enjoyed our ride:  A little history on the present Durham station from Greatamericanstations.com "On July 8, 2009, Amtrak began serving a new station in Durham located in the restored Walker Warehouse, a historic brick structure erected in 1897 by the American Tobacco Company trust. Included in the Bright Leaf National Register Historic District, the former warehouse is marked by impressive decorative brickwork such as corbeled pendants and mousetoothing at the cornice and parapet. The Walker Warehouse is part of the West Village redevelopment project, which encompasses seven former tobacco warehouses, constructed between 1884 and 1949, that are being converted into loft apartments and office, laboratory, retail and entertainment space." "The new station was a joint venture of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the city of Durham. The former entered into an agreement with developer Blue Devil Partners to lease and up-fit one third of the Walker Warehouse, while the city was responsible for 25 percent of the lease costs. The NCDOT also constructed a 600-foot long boarding platform with a 300-foot canopy and a covered walkway extending from the station building. Be sure to stand back when the freights roar through:  "This work was funded with $1.25 million in federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) funds. Across the tracks from the Amtrak depot is “Durham Station,” a transit terminal served by city, regional and intercity bus providers." "Prior to the renovation of the Walker Warehouse, the NCDOT and Durham jointly opened an interim modular station in 1996 to provide accessible ticketing, a waiting room, baggage handling and restrooms. Staffed by a full-time Amtrak station agent, it in turn had replaced a small shelter used by passengers since 1990."   Seven more ex-GO FP59PH engines are on the property for the increased service, 5 of which will be turned into cab cars to save about an hour turning the consist at Charlotte so get your shots of the "traditional" trainset while you can!   |
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