Amtrak Trip Report - Petersburg, VA to Savannah, GA
Sep 28, 2009, 10:11 pm
#1
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Amtrak Trip Report - Petersburg, VA to Savannah, GA
I recently took a one-way ride on the Amtrak Palmetto from Petersburg, Virginia to Savannah, Georgia. This was the first time I'd been on Amtrak to Savannah since 1997, and overall this turned out to be a very pleasant, albeit slow, trip.
My mother and grandmother live in the SAV area and I visit every couple of months, but usually drive now that gas prices are relatively low and air service is expensive and limited between RIC and SAV. US from RIC-CLT-SAV and DL from RIC-ATL-SAV are the only reasonable routings that don't involve an out-of-the-way connection, and by the time I show up early at the airport, go through security, make a connection, etc., the door-to-door time isn't all that much shorter than the drive down I-95! It's about 500 miles, or an uneventful 8-hour drive from my house to my mom's. I'm probably more tolerant of long drives than most FTers, but any leisure trip within an 8-hour drive that I can't fly to nonstop or conveniently from RIC I will consider driving instead of flying.
This time, however, my grandmother graciously offered to give me some of her furniture for the new apartment I moved into recently. She's 89 years old and been in a nursing home for the past year and a half, so she has no use for her furniture (much of which is nearly new). I took the train down and rented a medium size U-Haul truck for the trip back to Virginia. Although I live in Henrico County, much closer to the Richmond Staples Mill Amtrak station than to any other, I booked my Amtrak trip out of Petersburg. I highly recommend the Petersburg station over Richmond for trips to points south, as parking is free, the trip time is significantly shorter going south than it is from Staples Mill, and there's a U-Haul drop off point a block from the station. The one-way ticket, with AAA discount, cost only $70.20.
I showed up at the Petersburg station at about 11:45, for a 12:30ish scheduled departure. The train was already running about 20 minutes late by the time I arrived. There were about 20 passengers in the waiting room, most of whom were heading northbound on a train leaving around noon. I was impressed by the friendliness and efficiency of the ticket agent, who had my ticket pre-printed and in my hand once I told him I was going to Savannah (he didn't even ask my name, so I must have been the only SAV pax leaving from Petersburg that day)! The station building is very old-fashioned but nicely appointed, with model trains and some old photographs laying around, plus clean restrooms, a TV and a couple of vending machines. There are a couple of "mom and pop" restaurants in the neighborhood around the station but otherwise it is in a very quiet residential area. The Petersburg station is actually not located in Petersburg, but right across the river in the Ettrick neighborhood of Chesterfield County, about a mile west of U.S. Route 1 and accessible from I-95 exit 54.
The Palmetto arrived about 20 minutes late and we were all directed to one car. Only about five people got on at Petersburg. This was a short train, with only 3 coach cars plus a cafe/business class car and a baggage car. The coach I sat in was only about half full and I was able to get two seats to myself; the two other coach cars were even emptier. I don't understand why Amtrak personnel apparently require you to sit in one designated car, when other cars may have more room. But I was happy enough with the seating arrangements since there was no one next to me. Thanks in part to the generous legroom (probably at least a 45" seat pitch...sure beats the US domestic airlines, even in F!) and recline and legrest, I fell asleep shortly after leaving Petersburg and woke up a little over an hour later, somewhere in northern North Carolina.
The train was at a standstill for about half an hour when I woke up, before we even reached the next stop, Rocky Mount, NC. I fired up my laptop and, alas, no AT&T signal to get online, so I caught up on some work and before too long we were moving again. I'm not sure of the reason for the delay...perhaps track work, signal problems or waiting for a freight train to pass, but I didn't mind as I wasn't in a hurry and expected the train to be delayed on this route.
Rocky Mount and Wilson came and went, and we remained about an hour late. The towns the train passes through here appeared to be very poor (or maybe just the "wrong side of the tracks"...almost all houses we passed by had one or more junked cars in the yard, something you don't see as much around where I live). A bunch of people boarded the train in Selma, NC and I had a seatmate between Selma and Fayetteville. She was quite talkative, like many people on this train were. I've found that long-distance trains are a very social environment, more so than airplanes! A couple of passengers who had boarded in Richmond joined in our conversation and the train started moving faster between Selma and Fayetteville. The train emptied out in Fayetteville with only a few passengers remaining...most of whom were headed to Charleston or Savannah.
I bought a hamburger, bag of tortilla chips and a cup of coffee from the cafe car after it got dark outside, just north of Charleston. The hamburger wasn't bad considering it was prepackaged and microwaved (kind of similar to the burger served in coach on CO flights, but much bigger). Coffee was surprisingly strong and flavorful. The whole meal was less than $10, not cheap but not a total ripoff either.
We arrived in Savannah around 10 p.m., still an hour or so late.
I will certainly take Amtrak again between RIC and SAV. It is slower than driving or flying, but much more relaxing. The Petersburg station is very convenient and economical, and the ticket price isn't much more than gasoline alone would be if I drove. Compared to the last time I took this route over a decade ago, the cars are in much better shape and the staff (at least on this particular run) genuinely seemed to enjoy their jobs. I hope the Palmetto is successful enough and/or has enough funding to keep running in the future!
My mother and grandmother live in the SAV area and I visit every couple of months, but usually drive now that gas prices are relatively low and air service is expensive and limited between RIC and SAV. US from RIC-CLT-SAV and DL from RIC-ATL-SAV are the only reasonable routings that don't involve an out-of-the-way connection, and by the time I show up early at the airport, go through security, make a connection, etc., the door-to-door time isn't all that much shorter than the drive down I-95! It's about 500 miles, or an uneventful 8-hour drive from my house to my mom's. I'm probably more tolerant of long drives than most FTers, but any leisure trip within an 8-hour drive that I can't fly to nonstop or conveniently from RIC I will consider driving instead of flying.
This time, however, my grandmother graciously offered to give me some of her furniture for the new apartment I moved into recently. She's 89 years old and been in a nursing home for the past year and a half, so she has no use for her furniture (much of which is nearly new). I took the train down and rented a medium size U-Haul truck for the trip back to Virginia. Although I live in Henrico County, much closer to the Richmond Staples Mill Amtrak station than to any other, I booked my Amtrak trip out of Petersburg. I highly recommend the Petersburg station over Richmond for trips to points south, as parking is free, the trip time is significantly shorter going south than it is from Staples Mill, and there's a U-Haul drop off point a block from the station. The one-way ticket, with AAA discount, cost only $70.20.
I showed up at the Petersburg station at about 11:45, for a 12:30ish scheduled departure. The train was already running about 20 minutes late by the time I arrived. There were about 20 passengers in the waiting room, most of whom were heading northbound on a train leaving around noon. I was impressed by the friendliness and efficiency of the ticket agent, who had my ticket pre-printed and in my hand once I told him I was going to Savannah (he didn't even ask my name, so I must have been the only SAV pax leaving from Petersburg that day)! The station building is very old-fashioned but nicely appointed, with model trains and some old photographs laying around, plus clean restrooms, a TV and a couple of vending machines. There are a couple of "mom and pop" restaurants in the neighborhood around the station but otherwise it is in a very quiet residential area. The Petersburg station is actually not located in Petersburg, but right across the river in the Ettrick neighborhood of Chesterfield County, about a mile west of U.S. Route 1 and accessible from I-95 exit 54.
The Palmetto arrived about 20 minutes late and we were all directed to one car. Only about five people got on at Petersburg. This was a short train, with only 3 coach cars plus a cafe/business class car and a baggage car. The coach I sat in was only about half full and I was able to get two seats to myself; the two other coach cars were even emptier. I don't understand why Amtrak personnel apparently require you to sit in one designated car, when other cars may have more room. But I was happy enough with the seating arrangements since there was no one next to me. Thanks in part to the generous legroom (probably at least a 45" seat pitch...sure beats the US domestic airlines, even in F!) and recline and legrest, I fell asleep shortly after leaving Petersburg and woke up a little over an hour later, somewhere in northern North Carolina.
The train was at a standstill for about half an hour when I woke up, before we even reached the next stop, Rocky Mount, NC. I fired up my laptop and, alas, no AT&T signal to get online, so I caught up on some work and before too long we were moving again. I'm not sure of the reason for the delay...perhaps track work, signal problems or waiting for a freight train to pass, but I didn't mind as I wasn't in a hurry and expected the train to be delayed on this route.
Rocky Mount and Wilson came and went, and we remained about an hour late. The towns the train passes through here appeared to be very poor (or maybe just the "wrong side of the tracks"...almost all houses we passed by had one or more junked cars in the yard, something you don't see as much around where I live). A bunch of people boarded the train in Selma, NC and I had a seatmate between Selma and Fayetteville. She was quite talkative, like many people on this train were. I've found that long-distance trains are a very social environment, more so than airplanes! A couple of passengers who had boarded in Richmond joined in our conversation and the train started moving faster between Selma and Fayetteville. The train emptied out in Fayetteville with only a few passengers remaining...most of whom were headed to Charleston or Savannah.
I bought a hamburger, bag of tortilla chips and a cup of coffee from the cafe car after it got dark outside, just north of Charleston. The hamburger wasn't bad considering it was prepackaged and microwaved (kind of similar to the burger served in coach on CO flights, but much bigger). Coffee was surprisingly strong and flavorful. The whole meal was less than $10, not cheap but not a total ripoff either.
We arrived in Savannah around 10 p.m., still an hour or so late.
I will certainly take Amtrak again between RIC and SAV. It is slower than driving or flying, but much more relaxing. The Petersburg station is very convenient and economical, and the ticket price isn't much more than gasoline alone would be if I drove. Compared to the last time I took this route over a decade ago, the cars are in much better shape and the staff (at least on this particular run) genuinely seemed to enjoy their jobs. I hope the Palmetto is successful enough and/or has enough funding to keep running in the future!
Sep 29, 2009, 3:34 pm
#5
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Good report!
I took the train this month from Durham to Rocky Mount and back. It passes through Wilson and Selma and I agree with you on how poor and not pleasing to the eye the area is.
I took the train this month from Durham to Rocky Mount and back. It passes through Wilson and Selma and I agree with you on how poor and not pleasing to the eye the area is.
Oct 5, 2009, 10:46 am
#6
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Forgot to mention...took this trip on Wednesday, September 23.
That probably explains why the train was relatively empty. Wednesdays in the fall are always one of my favorite times to travel (by air or any other mode). Not exactly a "peak" travel time
That probably explains why the train was relatively empty. Wednesdays in the fall are always one of my favorite times to travel (by air or any other mode). Not exactly a "peak" travel time