www.railroadinfo.com/triprprt/NC-Amtrak.html

You can expect the consist to include a lounge car and two or three coaches.

Timekeeping is generally decent and there is some padding.....ie: Train 74 could be 20-30 minutes late at Burlington but still reach Raleigh within 5-10 minutes of the scheduled arrival. The evening train (74) is pretty regularly delayed when the southbound Carolinian is running late......but still, the Piedmont is rarely more than 20-30 minutes late.

i had a great time on the piedmont betweeen charlotte and durham

quote:

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Originally posted by dilly:

Here's a trip report that someone wrote. It's slightly out of date, but will give you some idea of what to expect.

www.railroadinfo.com/triprprt/NC-Amtrak.html

Note: the ex-Milwaukee Road dome car the Piedmont was somewhat famous for has been pulled from service. It didn't meet the latest safety standards.

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Very interesting. The author of this trip report b-t-w, was employed by the NCDOT Rail Division at the time......he may still be there.....and was involved in a number of the negotiations regarding service levels on the NC Amtrak trains. Interestingly, the idea of using a separate cooler in their coach for the business class complimentary beverages is one that has been enacted. At one point.....like 25 years ago.....he was a young Southern Railway trainmaster working out of Greenville, SC.

And Superchief, glad to hear you had a great time on 'our' train. I spent a couple of years as one of the volunteer train hosts on the Piedmont when I lived near Raleigh. I'm too far away from the area to do it on a regular basis now though.

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David Pressley