Passenger Train Service
The historic Southern Crescent, now known officially as the Amtrak Crescent, runs twice-a-day between New York City and New Orleans with stops that include Toccoa, Gainesville and Atlanta ... an amenity that adds to the uniqueness of our beautiful city.
The Crescent connects Toccoa directly with the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans.
The Crescent stops at the restored Toccoa Train Station daily at 6:15 a.m. enroute to New Orleans via Atlanta and Birmingham, AL, and again at 9:40 p.m. enroute to New York vai Charlotte, Washington and Philadephia.
Formerly known as the Toccoa Southern Railway Depot, the train station is located at 47 North Alexander St. In addition to housing the Amtrak station, the depot is used today by the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center as well as the Stephens County Historical Society.
The City of Toccoa began restoring the wood-frame depot in 2005 using a design by Carter Watkins Architects, Inc., of Monroe, Ga. The funding for the project came from several sources: $374,000 in ISTEA funds through the state DOT, which the city matched with $100,000, as well as $500,000 from the Stephens County Historical Society for interior work and for an addition to house the Currahee Military Museum. The new 4,400 square-foot space was dedicated in 2009 during the popular Currahee Military Weekend. It contains a large meeting room, gift shop, research library and office space. A train car houses a rail museum behind the depot.
The Crescent runs 1,377 miles daily from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, Louisiana as train 19 and returns, on the same route, as train 20. Most of the route of the Crescent is on the Norfolk Southern Railway. The Crescent passes through more states (including the District of Columbia) than any other Amtrak route.
Today's Crescent is the lineal descendant of the Washington & Southwestern Vestibuled Limited, inaugurated on January 4, 1891, by the Richmond and Danville. This Washington-Atlanta train was soon nicknamed the Vestibule because it was the first all-year train with enclosed vestibules at each end operating in the South.
The Crescent offers a unique window to the beauty and heritage of the American South. Travelers can tour Monticello or enjoy a wine tasting in the charming Virginia college town of Charlottesville. Or enjoy a stroll through the vibrant shopping and dining scene of Underground Atlanta. As you travel further south, you'll reach New Orleans, where you never run out of things to do. From jazz clubs to Cajun restaurants to Mississippi riverboat rides, the city was simply built to entertain.
When you travel on the Crescent, you can choose a wide, comfortable reserved coach seat or sleeping accommodations on Amtrak's comfortable Viewliner trains. Enjoy a hot dinner in the Dining Car, and mingle with your fellow travelers in the Lounge Car.
Scenic Highlights include vibrant northeast cityscapes, the breathtaking Blue Ridge foothills and the historic Louisiana bayou country. In cooperation with the National Park Service, volunteer rangers provide on board narratives between May and September on selected routes.
The depot was built in 1915, and the adjacent railroad line is even older. Built as the Atlanta & Richmond Air-Line Railway it reached Toccoa, the last stop in Georgia, in 1873. The railroad was later renamed Atlanta & Charlotte Air-Line Railway and in 1894 became the Southern Railroad, which still operates the line today.
