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

RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME

In General


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.....


Map





Pictures


The



Floobydust


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.

RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME


NEW 05/26/2022
Last Modified 03-Jun-2022