From Emory to NYC Without Switching Trains
Decatur Metro | November 11, 2011There are few things I love better than a good tidbit. Here’s one from the Emory Report that Cathy pointed out…
20. End of the Line
Emory, Georgia, used to be the official name of the train station located at the present-day campus eatery Dooley’s Den at the Depot. Until 1969, when passenger service from the depot ceased, one could travel from the small station to bustling New York City without switching trains. The station was the setting for a story by Flannery O’ Connor.
Great 1945 photo of the station over on the Emory Report webpage if you’re train/Emory/B&W photo-crazy.
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Pretty amazing. What’s even more amazing is one of the – if not perhaps the – most “transportation challenged” zones in the entire metro area, the Emory/CDC Clifton Corridor, has no passenger rail service, despite having a rail line and even an old rail station right there at Clifton. It’s maddening !
So, it’s going to cost close to $1B to address a problem that a relatively simple (well, it should be simple) switch from freight rail line to passenger rail line would solve ?
Crazy, I say. If only we could go back in time to 1945. They had the proper solution 66 years ago.
You can’t just “switch” the line from freight to passenger. It would take another line because the freight line is heavily used and doesn’t go where it would need to on the other end.
“The station was the setting for a story by Flannery O’ Connor.”
Hmmm, kind of odd that it doesn’t specify which story…
http://emoryhistory.emory.edu/enigmas/depot.htm
Yeah. I was just curious if anyone would say it
one can still travel from Atlanta to NYC without switching trains….not from that depot of course but from the Amtrak depot downtown. We did it 2 summers ago using a sleeping car. quite the experience and pretty fun.
I agree about the fun, as long as you have 17h 44m and a sleeping berth. Otherwise, it is quite an experience.
Isn’t there some saying that goes something like it is not how fast you get there but it is the journey that is important…
from the December 1963 Official Railway Guide-
Seaboard Air Line Railroad Train 34 – Silver Comet
depart Emory University at 7:05pm
arrive New York (Penn Station) at 2:05pm next day
stops in Raleigh, Richmond, Washington and many others
included Sleepers and Coachs along with Dining and Tavern Cars
also a Sleeper for Portsmouth, VA
train started in Birmingham at 1:35 pm
return train arrived Emory at 6:10am
there was also a mail and express train in each direction with a coach.