long-term parking near Atlanta's Amtrak station

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tricia

tricia

Conductor
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
1,430
Location
Spring Creek, NC
Anyone here have recent experience with this? I'd be looking for a safe, reasonably inexpensive place to leave a car for about two weeks. Any suggestions?
 
You have a real Hobson's choice. One or more passengers ? How long term? Expect to pay 10 to 15 dollar per day for long term. How far from station in driving time from home by worse case and I nearly got caught coming from the south and made it by 12 minutes ? Do you need to check baggage = 45 minutes cut off so be in line 1 hour early ? Best case IMHO is to have some one drive you and pick you up. However that of course is subject to the north bound #20 sometimes massive delays that your driver will need some planned flexibility.
We have used the long term free MARTA park and ride lots with our jalopy. However still the problem if arriving on #20 3+ hour delays with delays.
There is a motel diagonally across from the station and another parking deck south on Peachtree about 1/2 mile on east side. No idea the costs now

Good luck and bring some snacks if needed.
 
Might look on the ‘net for “park ‘n sleep” hotels near the station. Usually free or reduced parking with one nights stay in the hotel. Might work depending on your situation.
 
This is very frustrating. Now that Amtrak has eliminated checked baggage at every Crescent station between Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, GA---there's no place to park the car that hauled your baggage to the station? Having someone drop me off isn't doable--I live 4 hours from Atlanta, 3 hours from Charlotte. Previously, I would have checked baggage and left my car at Greenville, SC (a mere 2 hours from home for me).

Long-term parking at a nearby hotel might be my only reliable and affordable option. Can anyone on this forum recommend nearby lodging that's both safe and not terribly expensive?

Usually I don't check baggage, but would need to do so for a possible 2-week business trip early next year. Of course, by then Amtrak might decide to stop hauling baggage cars at all--citing lack of usage, now that most stops don't allow checked baggage. :(
 
Thanks! Any idea what long-term parking costs there? (I googled their phone number, but no one answers....)

Unfortunately, MARTA doesn't come anywhere near the Amtrak station.
 
me_little_me said:
I can't remember the price but it was pretty reasonable. However, for more than a few days, you might find it more convenient and cheaper to park at a MARTA station and uber it to Amtrak.
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Can't think of anything much more convenient than 2 blocks away. The nearest MARTA station with long term parking is either Lindbergh or Brookhaven, both about 3 or 4 miles away.
 
tricia said:
This is very frustrating. Now that Amtrak has eliminated checked baggage at every Crescent station between Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, GA---there's no place to park the car that hauled your baggage to the station? Having someone drop me off isn't doable--I live 4 hours from Atlanta, 3 hours from Charlotte. Previously, I would have checked baggage and left my car at Greenville, SC (a mere 2 hours from home for me).

Long-term parking at a nearby hotel might be my only reliable and affordable option. Can anyone on this forum recommend nearby lodging that's both safe and not terribly expensive?

Usually I don't check baggage, but would need to do so for a possible 2-week business trip early next year. Of course, by then Amtrak might decide to stop hauling baggage cars at all--citing lack of usage, now that most stops don't allow checked baggage. :(
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Amtrak was insane, to unstaff Greenville, SC! And as we all know, there's no doubt Amtrak needs a better solution, to handle the crowds with their Atlanta station. Even a relief 2nd station inbetween Atlanta and Gainesville(perhaps in Doraville, Norcross, or Duluth?), would help things a lot there. Not sure if Amtrak would think such a new station, would be supposedly too close to those existing 2 stations?
 
dogbert617 said:
Amtrak was insane, to unstaff Greenville, SC! And as we all know, there's no doubt Amtrak needs a better solution, to handle the crowds with their Atlanta station. Even a relief 2nd station inbetween Atlanta and Gainesville(perhaps in Doraville, Norcross, or Duluth?), would help things a lot there. Not sure if Amtrak would think such a new station, would be supposedly too close to those existing 2 stations?
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Not gonna happen unless somebody comes up with the money. The station they use was built as a suburban station when it was almost in the country. There has been talk of a replacement station 5 or 6 miles north, but again, where is the money?
 
GaSteve said:
Not gonna happen unless somebody comes up with the money. The station they use was built as a suburban station when it was almost in the country. There has been talk of a replacement station 5 or 6 miles north, but again, where is the money?
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I wonder, when was that current Atlanta station originally built? Like in the 1930s, 40s, or 50s? And I don't disagree with you, there probably isn't any big enough political will by elected lawmakers there and Amtrak, to construct a better station there as of now.
 
As we understand it Peachtree station was built by SOU RR as a suburban station for mainly commuters. That was the reason the platform was placed between then current 2 track current of traffic rules ?
 
west point said:
As we understand it Peachtree station was built by SOU RR as a suburban station for mainly commuters. That was the reason the platform was placed between then current 2 track current of traffic rules ?
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There was also a spur track from the south main that led down to Atlantic Steel, the site of the current Atlantic Station development.
 
Peachtree station was built by the Southern at a time when businessmen traveled by rail. This allowed them to avoid going all the way downtown to get on the train. A great surviving example of this is Delmar Blvd in St Louis. The Wabash used to have setout sleepers there for Detroit and Chicago. What a rail system we used to have as late as the early sixties.
 
toddinde said:
Peachtree station was built by the Southern at a time when businessmen traveled by rail. This allowed them to avoid going all the way downtown to get on the train. A great surviving example of this is Delmar Blvd in St Louis. The Wabash used to have setout sleepers there for Detroit and Chicago. What a rail system we used to have as late as the early sixties.
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Southern didn't join Amtrak until 1979.
 
toddinde said:
Peachtree station was built by the Southern at a time when businessmen traveled by rail. This allowed them to avoid going all the way downtown to get on the train. A great surviving example of this is Delmar Blvd in St Louis. The Wabash used to have setout sleepers there for Detroit and Chicago. What a rail system we used to have as late as the early sixties.
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Any vintage timetable pdf scans out there, so I could look at those train schedules to/from Saint Louis until like the 1950s and 1960s?

GaSteve said:
Southern didn't join Amtrak until 1979.
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That is what I thought, but wasn't sure, that Southern RR didn't have Amtrak take over their long distance train service till after 1971. On a slightly different note, I remember Amtrak didn't take over the Super Chief service ran by Santa Fe, till a little after 1971. And of course, Amtrak wasn't initially allowed to use the Chief name by Santa Fe RR in their long distance train they started to run on that route, so that it was called the Southwest Limited at first.
 
dogbert617 said:
...On a slightly different note, I remember Amtrak didn't take over the Super Chief service ran by Santa Fe, till a little after 1971. And of course, Amtrak wasn't initially allowed to use the Chief name by Santa Fe RR in their long distance train they started to run on that route, so that it was called the Southwest Limited at first.
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Amtrak took over the Santa Fe passenger services on Day One. ATSF retained the rights to the service mark, "Super Chief." The quality of service provided by Amtrak in those early days was so poor that the ATSF withdrew the right for Amtrak to use that name. Amtrak renamed the service "Southwest Limited." Some years later, ATSF allowed Amtrak to change the name to "Southwest Chief," but not Super Chief.
 
PRR 60 said:
Amtrak took over the Santa Fe passenger services on Day One. ATSF retained the rights to the service mark, "Super Chief." The quality of service provided by Amtrak in those early days was so poor that the ATSF withdrew the right for Amtrak to use that name. Amtrak renamed the service "Southwest Limited." Some years later, ATSF allowed Amtrak to change the name to "Southwest Chief," but not Super Chief.
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Thanks for the correction, there. I am still in the process of trying to learn all this train history, and the transitions of long distance trains from pre-Amtrak era into the Amtrak era, so thanks for correcting me there!
 
GaSteve said:
Southern didn't join Amtrak until 1979.
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But they pulled Amtrak cars from WAS to ATL & NOL on the Crescent. Amtrak coaches and sleepers from NY were added to Southern's Crescent in WAS with, if I remember it right, an Amtrak sleeper and coach terminated in either ATL or NOL but one sleeper continued on the Sunset to the west coast.
 

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