Celebrating Amtrak’s 50th: 8 Incredible Small Town Stops

https://www.travelawaits.com/2563350/ce ... own-stops/

Listed:

- Old Orchard Beach, ME (Downeaster)
- Staunton, VA (Cardinal)
- Durham, NC (Carolinian/Piedmont)
- Hudson, NY (Empire Service)
- Meridian, MS (Crescent)
- La Plata, MO (Southwest Chief)
- Flagstaff, AZ (Southwest Chief)
- Santa Barbara, CA (Coast Starlight)

of that list, I've gotten off at Old Orchard Beach. It's certainly convenient to the beach and the fried seafood and whatever's left of the amusements. I loved it.

I had a brother who used to live in OOB. Convenient station right downtown and next to the beach. A lot of people come up from Boston to vacation over the summer so the stop is used fairly frequently.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:34 am https://www.travelawaits.com/2563350/ce ... own-stops/

Listed:

- Old Orchard Beach, ME (Downeaster)
- Staunton, VA (Cardinal)
- Durham, NC (Carolinian/Piedmont)
- Hudson, NY (Empire Service)
- Meridian, MS (Crescent)
- La Plata, MO (Southwest Chief)
- Flagstaff, AZ (Southwest Chief)
- Santa Barbara, CA (Coast Starlight)

JS and Everyone: With Amtrak's 50th Birthday (May 1, 2021) 12 days away (as of this posted subject)
it is an appropriate time to mention these interesting stations. This made me think "How many of these 10
stations go back to Amtrak's birth in 1971 with continuous Amtrak service?
Hudson, NY (Empire Service)
La Plata, MO and Flagstaff, AZ (Southwest Chief-ATSF Railway)
Santa Barbara, CA (Coast Daylight/Starlight)
Honorable Mention-Meridian, MS (Southern Crescent-Amtrak assumes operation in 1979)

As example La Plata, MO and Flagstaff, AZ have Virtual Railfan cameras on location and are well known to
rail enthusiasts.

This is a good subject - any one of these stations/towns are worth a visit - over time I have been to Hudson, NY
and Flagstaff, AZ and through Meridian, MS as examples...MACTRAXX

Mr. MACTRAXX, why do we overlook Staunton?

Checking my A-Day timetable, it was a stop for "the train presently known as The Cardinal". It was "threatened" by the "Carter Cuts", but survived.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:31 pm Mr. MACTRAXX, why do we overlook Staunton?

Checking my A-Day timetable, it was a stop for "the train presently known as The Cardinal". It was "threatened" by the "Carter Cuts", but survived.

It's more like a list of small cities than small towns. I'd replace Staunton with Maysville, KY, on the Cardinal. It's an interesting town with a good affordable hotel right by the tracks, the French Quarter Inn. Staunton is a great small city though, with plenty to do and see on an overnight stop there.

The contrast between the KY and OH sides of the river in that corridor is striking. Seems a lot of pork went to KY and it was fairly well spent.

Here's freshly painted Amtrak Genesis #100 "Connecting America for 50 Years" commemorative unit trailing on the eastbound Capitol Ltd of 4/26/21 as captured from the Elkhart Live Cam. Sharp looking paint job!

Mr. Barlow, I guess P-42 #50 must be out of service, as that would have been most appropriate unit for this commemorative livery.

Ah, Virtual Railfan video feed. Let me see...

And they got it recorded! Timestamp 10:51 (should start there)

A bit late here, but I digitized my "Amtrak Celebrates 40 Years" brochure they gave out back in 2011.
https://archive.org/details/amtrak-cele ... s-brochure

You can download it; and make sure to hit the zoom button to see it in better detail. (Digitized at 700 DPI)

Enjoy-

Funny enough on Quora I just recommended Hudson NY for someone who wanted an "interesting place to go" from NYP.

That said, I did enjoy that for awhile a particular conductor on the Empire Service would announce Hudson as the oldest station in continuous use in the Amtrak network, and Albany, at the time, the newest.