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The train was actually one that originated at Goldsboro, NC. It connected the sleeper to a north bound SOU RR train at Greensborough. The train from Goldsboro continued to Winston Salem and Asheville.
Was more concerned about service south of CLT to connect east of Greensborough.

Baby steps: consider a WAS-ATL train that operated exactly 12 hours opposite the Crescent, and mostly on days when the Cardinal is not running, so as to tap Charlottesville's strong demand on days that Charlottesville is underserved.

City MoTh TuFr
NYP 02:15a 01:46a
WAS 06:30a 09:53p
CVS 08:52a 07:09p
LYH 10:00a 05:56p
CLT 02:20p 01:46p
CSN 05:39p 10:16a
ATL 08:13p 8:04a

This addresses a number of obstacles:
* Long Bridge Slots: stays under the daily cap, except for 1 trip Friday
* Equipment: requires only 1 trainset per day (though creates a crunch on Friday)
* Demand: supplements & complements existing LDs targeting the opposite time of day (vs Crescent) and unserved days of week (vs Cardinal)[/list]

On Fridays, the only day that both the Cardinal and this new train would run at the same time, the northbound would serve Charlottesville 2h30 after the Crescent...decent spacing to minimize cannibalism and maximize "weekend getaway" convenience.

Arlington: why not let the planned second Lynchburg train serve the CVS route and get new service via Richmond ?

Great thing about Charlottesville and Lynchburg is that they seem poised to support almost any new service that can be configured, whether it is a Northeast Regional or some sort of Crescent or Cardinal derivative.

The problem with any new service south of Washington is getting slots on CSX across the Long Bridge and negotiating with NS or CSX for access.

Richmond is undoubtedly a huge Market but it is also well served by rail, air and highway, in a way that the Blue Ridge isnt. And I think Charlotte deserves and would support a fast direct day train.

So far, I don't see where the additional slots to operate an additional Lynchburger are going to come from, so I like the idea of running a train in what I believe or the unused slots from the days the Cardinal does not operate.

I think that a Birmingham-Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte-Raleigh train makes sense--a super-extended Piedmont.

Originating and Terminating at BHM would be great except that for the for seeable future ATL <> BHM timekeeping is Terrible. The median delays for last two months run 90 - 120 minutes. You cannot run service to the NEC with that kind of continuing delays. CSX delays Crescent just west of Amtrak station and NS is congested all way to BHM.

Here's a detailed and mostly positive trip account from the New York Times. The writer had a good experience up until Norfolk Southern freight delays after Atlanta led to a middle-of-the-night arrival in New Orleans.

How I Rolled on the Crescent: New York to New Orleans by Rail

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/trav ... train.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Inane question, but:

On the northbound Crescent in December (particularly 12/24), will sleeping cars be at the back of the train? Youtube videos indicate that they are on recent Crescents.

In addition, is there a way of determining which one will be car 2010 and which will be car 2011? (And why does Amtrak number its sleepers 10 and 11 when there are fewer than 11 cars on the train?)

Thanks!

Not sure about the sleepers. I can never keep track of where they are on the Crescent. They seem to swap ends on a regular basis.

If you mean which car number will be assigned the 2010 position, not really (I think it'll be the same as the one leaving NYP on the 22nd. But don't quote me on that.)

As for 10/11 etc.
Basically it's 1x are sleepers
I believe 0x are coach. (but you never really see that.)
I don't know if Amtrak assigns numbers (obviously internally) for baggage or diners)

Anybody got insight as to why the Crescent doesn't travel south of Atlanta?

Umm, it does. It goes to New Orleans.

However, my guess is you're looking at a period when CSX (or is it NS, I always forget whose track is is south of there) is doing their annual track maintenance so Amtrak terminates all Crescent trains at Atlanta for several weeks.

But the rest of the year, they go to New Orleans.

Here is what is happening. On calendar days Monday - Thursdays Jan 8 thru February 8 --Train 19 from Atlanta and train 20 from New Orleans will not operate due to major track work on NS south of ATL. Bus substitution will be in effect ATL <> NOL. ATL <> NYPS will still operate.
At least Monday night thru Thursday night during this time Train #20 should leave ATL close to or on time ? What Amtrak should do is schedule extra sleepers that arrive Mon -Thursday in ATL to measure actual cut off car demand during slow season. But that will never happen ?

I'm looking forward to a round trip on Crescent, NYP <-> HBG in late March. (I've travelled NOL -> NYP in 2013). Can I look forward to sleeping/eating in a new Viewliner II by then?

I was looking to book some travel in May and August and noticed that Business Class is no longer an option after May 1. I'm assuming they're withdrawing it, but does anybody have any more information on what exactly the plan is? Will the car be kept but used as coach? Will Business Class be rotated to another train?

I'm actually pretty saddened by this loss; while we know that the service itself really wasn't any better than coach, the fact that the car was usually ~75% empty and filled with very quiet people made it a huge upgrade over coach in my books (90% of the folks in Coach are respectable and fine, but that remaining 10% who talk through the night, have loud ringtones etc can really ruin an overnight trip). My go to was still the roomette, but when sleeper prices were out of reach, Business was a great compromise for me.

hrsn wrote:I'm looking forward to a round trip on Crescent, NYP <-> HBG in late March. (I've travelled NOL -> NYP in 2013). Can I look forward to sleeping/eating in a new Viewliner II by then?

Missed this. But yes. I ate in one both ways in February. Very nice.