Crescent scenery

[guest]

In taking the Crescent from Washington DC to New Orleans, is there any particularly good scenery to watch out for?

 

[Tracktwentynine]

Well, crossing the Potomac is pretty scenic. That happens just as you're leaving Washington.

And crossing Lake Pontchartrain is scenic as well, though I forget whether the southbound Crescent does it after dark.

Other than that, it's pretty boring. Trees and farms. But then I grew up in the South. It's all old hat to me. If you're from somewhere else, you might find it more engaging.

 

[TVRM610]

There are some beatiful mountains but mostly you will travel through them in the dark. If you wake up early with the sun so there is some nice scenery and a high bridge near Tacoa GA north of Atlanta. Atlanta-Birmingham is very nice... Not breathtaking but certainly scenic as the train curves along rivers and travels through hills. South of Birmingham gets a little less exciting until the swamps.

If the train is on time you will see an amazing sunset over Lake Ponchatrain.

There is alot of sad but true Civil Rights history in the towns the Crescent passes through. The National Parks guide had some really interesting information on that and other subjects in the lounge car.

 

[cirdan]

Well, crossing the Potomac is pretty scenic. That happens just as you're leaving Washington.
And crossing Lake Pontchartrain is scenic as well, though I forget whether the southbound Crescent does it after dark.

Other than that, it's pretty boring. Trees and farms. But then I grew up in the South. It's all old hat to me. If you're from somewhere else, you might find it more engaging.

Crossing Lake Pontcahrtrain is definitely a highlight. It should still be daylight if the train isn't delayed.

In parts (I think parts of Alabama) the line runs through pretty impressive swampy / foresty areas with a real jungle feel to them.

Of course that whole area is steeped in history, both in terms of the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, so if you're interested in history a lot of things will make click. At least they did for me as I passed through places whose names I previously only knew from books. It brings it all to life.

 

[guest in the west]

Interesting observation about the geography of the Civil Rights history traversed by the Crescent. That raises a question I have from looking at at 1945 timetable of the Missouri Pacific. For its trains running south from St. Louis and Memphis, such as the Southerner, the consist description included the listing of a grill coach for "colored" and "divided" coaches. In a 1951 MP timetable, those descriptions are dropped even though railroads through the South maintained "separate but equal" until the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But I have never seen similar descriptions in MKT, KCS, IC, L&N or Southern timetables of those eras. The only other reference I have found to racial classification is in a Central of Georgia timetable where coach seating for "whites" was by reservation only, for trains between Atlanta and Savannah.

Does anyone know whether the MP consist descriptions were spelled out by other railroads, or were the seating and dining restrictions merely left unstated with the assumption that riders would know the discrimination system in place?

 

[xyzzy]

Assuming the train is on-time, there is the Lake Pontchartrain bridge (but not southbound in the winter), a glimpse of Alabama mountains an hour east of Birmingham, and the view from the Wells Viaduct 5 minutes south of Toccoa, Ga. (southbound only, in the summer). If the northbound train runs late, you might see glimpses of mountains in Virginia. Otherwise, like the NY-Florida trains, it's an unremarkable route.

As to the question from Guest_guest in the west_*, segregation on-board was such a given that it needed no mention. Conductors would force African-Americans to sit in dedicated car(s) or sections of cars or, if absolutely necessary, in the back of a car. Ticket agents would often refuse to sell tickets on premium trains to African-Americans, who had to ride locals instead. Likewise, seating and restrooms in stations in the South were almost always segregated. Bus companies had the same rules, basically.

 

[yarrow]

most of the scenery is covered with kudzu

 

[ScottRu]

When are you going? I went from NYC to NO in February and the train was on time - but Lake Pontchartrain was in the dark. Alas.

(BTW, I agree there is a lot of kudzu. LOL. But I very much enjoyed the Crescent.)

 

[xyzzy]

True, there's a lot of kudzu in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia... but less of it in the Carolinas and Virginia. The government paid farmers to plant it during the Great Depression to prevent soil erosion, a major problem at that time. It easily spread up to railroad tracks. Wouldn't surprise me if the southern railroads planted some of it themselves to stabilize cuts and fills of clay.