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I'll be doing my FL run in a couple of weeks and because of my health had just planned to go down and back. However, I'm feeling better and tempted to stop in Raleigh, since I'd like to see all 50 state capitals and tour all the capitols in them (I've only toured a few so far)! Problem is, to reboard the Silver Star northbound, it's 5:20AM. (The later train, Carolinian, gets into NYC too late for me to make my upstate connection). I don't mind leaving at 5:20 AM, in fact, I am often up at 4! And of course we all know the train will be late anyways! BUT I still feel there's a chance I'll need to book a taxi in advance to be there at 5:20, and I'm worried about reliability. If I stay at the Clarion (which David recommended to someone else in another strand), do you think I will have trouble getting a taxi to the station for this early early morning departure? It's too dark then in winter for me to walk it. Also, will the Clarion be OK safetywise for me to stay in, as a single female? I'll perhaps be seeing a friend in the area but she won't be around at 5:20AM!!!
One thing I cannot do is make my Raleigh stopover going down; my arrival times in FL are set, it's only on the northbound trip I can dawdle about. Also, I don't think I'll have time to do a Piedmont loop and come back on the Crescent; plus the times northbound out of Greensboro are awful; I'd have to go to Atlanta and spend the day there (see another state capitol!) and then catcb a Crescent in the evening, doable but much more expensive--and I'd have to cut down on my time in Raleigh then and see only the capitol.
Oh, and what think you of the weather risks of going to Raleigh this time of year? I mean, I was considering making a trip to Raleigh and doing a Piedmont/Greensboro/Atlanta loop, coming back on the Crescent, at some later date. But so far it's been a pretty mild winter in the east, which is why I'm tempted to consider it now. . . .
BTW, David, healthier though I feel, I doubt I can have any BBQ (boohoo). Know any places I can get some plain fish or chicken in the hotel area?
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Just checking the computer for the first time today.....I've been out for a train ride at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. It was a nice ride as usual but I irritated our car host when he pointed out Clingmans Dome and told us it was the highest point in North Carolina. I corrected him and said that Clingmans Dome, while being the highest point in the Great Smokies is actually in Tennessee. That's normally out of character for me but, by golly, if you're going to tell a train load of Floridians about the area I grew up in you need to have your facts straight.......but I digress.
The Clarion's website indicates that Taxis are available 24 hours a day.....obviously though I'd suggest lining up a cab for the next morning before going to bed.
The hotel does have a restaurant on the top (20th) floor and while it's billed as a 'high class joint', I'd think their food would be blander than what you would encounter out in the surrounding area.
One area you might want to look into is the 'City Market'. It's a bunch of shops and restaurants in old railroad warehouses (the block and plaster with some character kind) about a half mile east of the hotel. The state capitol building is even closer to the hotel than this.
Safety issues - should not be a problem but do plan to use a cab to and from the station. There is a homeless mission across the street to the south of the station. I am 6'4" (and sometimes mistaken for a former football player.....did I mention that I don't enjoy flying...particularly on smaller aircraft!) and have never been accosted at the Raleigh station but that may be different for someone who doesn't seem potentially 'dangerous'.
Finally - If you want to 'sample' the Piedmont you could do a morning departure of 7:05am from Raleigh or 7:18am from Cary (which the Silver Star stops at around 5:10am) and travel to Greensboro. You would step down there about 8:30am and have about an hour to check out that station before catching the Carolinian back to Raleigh. You'd be there by lunch time and not have to kill several hours waiting for things to open up. While I would never bet on the Silver Star being on-time, it was at every stop when I took it from Winter Park to Washington back in October.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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David, since you have convinced me there are lots of neat things to see beyond the capitol building in Raleigh, what I think I might do is go to Raleigh on the Silver Star, spend the day seeing sights, overnight 1 night at Clarion, and leave for Greensboro in a more decent hour of the AM, check my luggage at Greensboro station (you once told me they had such a facility), catch the "midnight train to Georgia," check my luggage in Atlanta (assuming they have luggage checking; see other strand I started), spend the day in Atlanta (I want to visit the capitol but also have friends there), return north that same day but leave 8PM-ish on the Crescent. BUT: Is there anything much to see in Greensboro on my stopover (beyond the BBQ I can't eat, I mean!)? I could of course spend more time in Raleigh to see the sights and leave on the late afternoon train for Greensboro, but then it will be getting dark so I will STILL never have been through any part of North Carolina in the daytime!!! But if that is more convenient and there is a lot more to see in Raleigh, I guess I'd do that. . . .
I would also consider going all the way to Charlotte on that morning train (see more of NC by day) but it seems to me you told me that catching the middle-of-the-night southbound Crescent there to Atlanta is more problematic.
Thanks for your input, and happy new year!
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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I'm adding a link from the NCDOT website. Scroll below the station info and there will be links for the Greensboro Convention and Visitor's Bureau, the local transit system (which has it's hub at the Greensboro station), and a few other worthwhile sights. The Civil Rights Museum would be of interest to me BUT it might be hard filling a full 15 hours in Greensboro. Not so much that there are not things to see BUT that they might be hard to reach using the city bus.
Compare what Greensboro offers as opposed to what Charlotte has. You may want to try this -
1) Take the Piedmont from Raleigh to Charlotte.
2) Sightsee in Charlotte.
3) Take the Piedmont from Charlotte back to Greensboro (departure is about 5:30pm)
4) Catch the Crescent south from Greensboro.
This would mean that you are choosing to sightsee in Charlotte instead of Greensboro BUT it would give you more NC daylight riding and the Piedmont is a pleasant train to spend a few hours on.
I prefer catching the southbound Crescent from Greensboro because the Greensboro station is now a more pleasant place to catch a train AND because the train is scheduled into Greensboro shortly after midnight......as opposed to 3:00am or so in Charlotte.
One other idea - I am a huge fan of the North Carolina Transportation Museum located at an old Southern Railway shop in Spencer, NC. That's a short bus ride (weekdays only sadly) from the Amtrak station in Salisbury, NC which is 45 minutes north of Charlotte.
Luggage in Atlanta - Like Greensboro they have checked baggage there for the Crescent and I assume that they will store bags for a fee. If you have checked baggage that you won't require accesss to that evening you could probably go ahead and check it when you arrive. Give 'em a call.
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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