RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.
TRIP 15
TRIP TO NYC and SAVANNAH GA
BAL - NYP
NYP - SAV
SAV - BAL
In General
Map
Sights
Pictures
Floobydust
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
Background....
This trip had a strange origin - it has a 52 year old history. Way back in high school, I knew this fellow Italian named Augie. We started out going to the same high school, Towson Senior High, in (guess what), Towson MD (it's the same school that Michael Phelps attended, and John Waters filmed SERIAL MOM at). We met when our families moved into the Colony apartments in 1966. Then, in between the 10th and 11th grades, Augie's father moved them up to Cockeysville, where he then attended Dulaney High School (where my daughter went to school). After Augie and I graduated (same year, I think it was 1969), we lost touch, because "they" moved away. I thought they moved to Rochester NY, but it was actually Syracuse. Several years later, I tried to find a phone number for them in Rochester, and came up with nuttin. Remember, this was the early 70's, and we didn't have access to the tech we have today. So, scratch that. Maybe 10 years later, I tried again with the same result. Every 5 years or so, I would try to find him with no luck, again, and again, and again, even in the early days of the internet. So, enter 2003 or so, and I was finally to locate an address for him in St Paul MN, after all, how many Augie's can there be with his last name? Now, to make this even harder to get over, between 1998 and 2002, I was traveling to Minneapolis for work 4 or 5 times year. I located this Minnesota address AFTER I stopped going there. Dam. So I wrote a letter, and never got a reply - guess he moved on again. Double Dam. I continued trying to locate him, again, without success. Fast forward to the fall of 2021. I Googled his name again, and this time, I came up with an address in the Bronx, and an email address. So I took a chance, and emailed him, and a few days later, I received a reply from him! Even more interesting, was, when he read my first email, he knew before he saw my name, that it was me!!!
So, we connected, and set up a visit in New York a few weeks away. I can't tell you how amazing it was to re-connect after 52 years, and details aside, it was like we had never lost track of each other!! It was most amazing.
The visit with Augie was short - basically just lunch where he lived. The trip to New York itself was a short one, a day trip, as another friend of mine from high school were up in NYC for some serious railfanning - riding the subways, the LIRR, a ferry ride over to NJ, NJT, and the NJT Light Rail. But we promised to let this NOT be a -one day thing-. So we finally made plans to go somewhere, and I let Augie decide. He picked Savannah Georgia, and when I asked him "why Savannah", he said "I don't know". Too funny :-) But we made the plans, and took off southward May 24th, returning on May 26th after walking around Savannah for a day.
I decided to go to New York the day before we departed for Savannah, so we could get on the train together, cause the conductors HATE you saving a seat for someone when the trains get full.
The trip down was around 15-1/2 hours long, the trip back (for me) should have been 12 hours, but was stretched out by 90 minutes due to OUR train being "put in the hole" for a total of 90 minutes. We left Savannah late, having to wait for a (non-moving) CSX freight tying up Central Junction, maybe waiting to get into Dillard Yard, then 40 minutes south of Richmond, and another 20 minutes north of Richmond.
Part 1 - Baltimore to New York Penn Station
car we rode up to New York that required truing
While in New York
Part 2 - New York Penn Station to Savannah
The trip from New York to Savannah was pretty uneventful, and came off without any major issues. The car we rode in had a smooth ride in comparison to the car I rode up to New York in.
While in Savannah
Part 3 - Savannah to Baltimore
Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
None for now.....
The
Stats
How did Amtrak faire? You decide....
Southbound, New York Penn Station to Savannah GA:
| Where | Actual Time | Scheduled Dev/Arv Time | Notes |
| Lv New York Penn Station | 06:02 | ---- | |
| Newark NJ | 06:17-06:20 | ---- | |
| Metropark NJ | 06:33-06:34 | ---- | |
| New Brunswick NJ | 06:42-06:43 | ---- | |
| Princeton Jct NJ | 06:54-06:57 | ---- | |
| Trenton NJ | 07:05-07:07 | ---- | |
| Philadelphia PA | 07:34-07:41 | ---- | |
| Wilmington DE | 08:00-08:03 | ---- | |
| Baltimore MD | 08:50-08:54 | ||
| BWI Airport MD | 09:05-09:10 | ||
| Washington DC | 09:34-09:59 | ||
| Alexandria VA | 10:18-10:22 | ||
| Richmond VA | 12:32-12:39 | ||
| Petersburg VA | 13;12-13:14 | ||
| Rocky Mount NC | 14:57-14:59 | ||
| Wilson NC | 15:15-15:17 | ||
| Selma NC | 15:40-15:42 | ||
| Fayetteville NC | 16:25-16:31 | ||
| Florence SC | 17:55-18:04 | ||
| Kingstree SC | 18:46-18:48 | ||
| Charleston SC | 19:38-19:46 | ||
| Yemassee SC | |||
| Savannah GA | 21:30 | 21:25 | 36 minutes late departing SAV due to CSX freight in the way |
Northbound, Savannah GA to Baltimore MD:
| Where | Actual Time | Scheduled Dep/Arv Time | Notes |
| Lv Savannah | 08:11 | 07:35 | 36 minute delay due to CSX freight blocking the crossovers at Alabama Jct |
| Yemassee SC | 09:13-09:17 | ---- | |
| Charleston SC | 10:07-10:13 | ---- | |
| Kingstree SC | 11:09-11:12 | ---- | |
| Florence SC | 11:54-12:03 | ---- | |
| Dillon NC | 12:31-12:33 | ---- | |
| Fayetteville NC | 13:33-13:38 | ---- | |
| Selma NC | 14:22-14:23 | ---- | |
| Wilson NC | 14:47-14:50 | ||
| Rocky Mount NC | 15:06-15:10 | ||
| Petersburg VA (Ettrick) | 16:51-16:54 | ||
| Richmond VA | 18:10-18:18 | 40 minute delay south of James River for 2 SB Amtrak's and 1 SB CSX freight | |
| ----- | 19 minute delay for 2 SB Amtrak's just north of RVA, one was the Autotrain | ||
| Alexandria VA | 20:30-20:34 | ||
| Washington DC | 20:56-21:26 | ||
| New Carrolton MD | 21:35-21:37 | ||
| BWI Airport MD | 21:51-21:52 | ||
| Baltimore MD | Ar 22:03 | 20:38 | 95 minutes delay, 1:35 |
Disclaimers:
I love trains, and I love signals. I am not an expert. My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page. This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.
Please Note: Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them. For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.
If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct. Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)
My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning. Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented. Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost! I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches. ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them. If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads. Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.
Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted. Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it!
By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.
Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given! Please be NICE!!! Contact info is here
Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly inaccurate, wrong, or not true.
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NEW 05/26/2022
Last Modified 03-Jun-2022