NYC to Arlington VA. Drive or fly?
Mar 9, 2023, 1:16 am
#31
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,735
Admittedly this was many years ago, but the last time I took Amtrak to NYC it took 12 hours! (train ran over some debris, ruptured brake lines and was stuck for hours about 20 miles outside Philly). YMMV.... at least I learned how to play backgammon and drink whisky! 
My scariest Amtrak trip was also the fastest. About 18 months after the 2015 derailment in Philadelphia due to excess speed, the Northeast Regional I was on made its scheduled 2 hr 3 mn trip in 1:45, shaking and rattling the whole way. Conductor said he'd never heard passengers complain about arriving too early before, but that trip was scary.
Mar 9, 2023, 2:49 am
#32
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Admittedly this was many years ago, but the last time I took Amtrak to NYC it took 12 hours! (train ran over some debris, ruptured brake lines and was stuck for hours about 20 miles outside Philly). YMMV.... at least I learned how to play backgammon and drink whisky!
Apr 3, 2023, 5:31 am
#33
Moderator: Hawaii-based airlines & Hawai'i forums
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Ka ʻĀpala Nui, Nuioka
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Posts: 18,041
Thanks for the advice upthread. We left the Van Ness area of DC around 2pm yesterday and took surface streets to US50/301 to Delaware (stopping for a quick late lunch along the way). That took about 2.5 hours. The only traffic we encountered was just before the Bay Bridge; maybe 5 minutes of delay there. I really enjoyed the drive over the bridge and through Delmarva; much more interesting than I95 and also much easier to drive with the lack of trucks and busses. We stopped at the Costco in Christiana for some tax-free shopping and gas and got back onto I-95 a little after 6pm. There was a bit of traffic around Wilmington but it cleared up nicely after the 295 split. We made another stop in Cherry Hill and got onto the turnpike around 8 pm and didn't hit any more traffic. The delay at the Holland was about 10 minutes. $50 in gas + about the same in tolls.
Speaking of tolls, I know enough of the upper end of the Turnpike to know that if traffic is lite, taking 1-9 over the Pulaski and past EWR avoids some tolls and doesn’t add that much more time to the drive. For the southern portion is there a similar concept of staying on the Philly side of I95 or 295 for a bit heading north before cutting over to the Turnpike?
Speaking of tolls, I know enough of the upper end of the Turnpike to know that if traffic is lite, taking 1-9 over the Pulaski and past EWR avoids some tolls and doesn’t add that much more time to the drive. For the southern portion is there a similar concept of staying on the Philly side of I95 or 295 for a bit heading north before cutting over to the Turnpike?
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Apr 3, 2023 at 1:05 pm
