About the Peidmont-The Peidmont is a Raleigh-Charlotte local. It takes people to from RGH to CLT in the morning and brings them back in the afternoon. NCDOT has two special engines devoted to this service, both are ex-freight engines turned into GP-40PH's and are painted in North Carolina flag colors. The coaches are ex-Kansas City Southern/NJ Transit and feature table seating, railfone, and outlets for computers. The lounge car is a ex-U.S. Army hospital car.
Our trip- November 29,1996. I awoke quite excited, for me every trip is an adventure, and are trips are limited to an average of two a year, so this was a treat. Mom dropped us off at the Raleigh depot, gave us both a kiss and drove away. I wanted to see if the Silver Star was running anywhere on time because I was hopping we could get a view of her. The Star was running three hours late! Passengers wishing to connect from that train to the Peidmont would either be bussed to meet us or held in Raleigh all day and take the Carolinian.
Cary-We left Raleigh on time but arrived into Cary late because of frequent stops. The Cary station shares its facilties with the DMV office. Amtrak has a platform with a fence that has sine telling the last person through to shut the gate. By the way, the coach we were in wasn't one of the nice NCDOT cars, this is a standared Amtrak heritage coach with every thing inside painted a dark color. The NCDOT cars are painted blue inside and are probably more fun to ride in.
Durham-The station here is pretty new. There used to be a "Amshack" type station here but there is a new station now with a ticket office and checked baggage.
Probably near Mebane-We decided to check ou the lounge car. Its really nice and is not like those Amdinnetes, there is a kitchen area and a server. Dad really loved there omlette.
Greensboro-It took us fifteen minutes to go through this town and finally reach the station. There is a large yard next to the depot and a Norfolk Southern SD-40 was doing switching.
Outside of Greesboro-We were put in a siding so the northbound Carolinian could go by. I noticed that there were a lot of cars lettere for Northeast Direct in her consist.
Kannopolis-Were getting close to Charlotte. Now we were wondering what we were going to do when we reached Charlotte!
Charlotte-Between Kannopolis and here we went from a hour to fifteen minutes late. Guess it was Amtraks famous schedule padding. After every one was off the train backed away. We could see the skyline in the distance so we took the bus[aaaagghhh!]into town. In Charlotte you can get to anywhere on the bus. We visited the the Discovery Place[the local science museum]and mainly just wandered around town killing time.
The trip back was not too interesting since it was pretty dark. But the Peidmont is a nice train and is very convienent for day trips in Charlotte.
