Eastern Railroad Discussion > A Day Out in Atlanta GA

For several years I have been wanting to ride an overnight bus to Atlanta. Atlanta was the largest place, with the exception of Mexico City that I had not actually been to other than riding through on I-75 back in 1983 and twice in the 1970's as a little kid. Wednesday January 28th I took the Metro buses and caught an overnight Megabus down for $10 down and $20 coming back.
1) The first MARTA train I caught was going to the wrong end of the line so I transferred at North Ave to a Doraville bound train.
2) Megabus had arrived about ten minutes late, but not a problem as my objective was also running late so I had time to set up.
3) The Cresent, Amtrak train 19 passing under the MARTA Doraville line overpass. I really wanted a MARTA passing over Amtrak but a Heritage Unit is a nice concession and it gives me a reason to come back and try this shot again.

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I then rode MARTA back to the Art Center Station and walked to the Siver Skillet for breakfast.
4) This place looks and feels like it came out of the 1950's. Such a contrast the modern city that surrounds it.
5) Southern style breakfast of ham, grits, eggs, biscuits and red eyed gravy, whatever that is? Who cares though, it was great!
After breakfast it was to Five Points Station to a MARTA system map. Five Points is also where the North South MARTA train routes cross and connect with the East West Lines.
6) This is one of the two car trains from the Bankshead end of the West line.
Atlanta has been mysterious to me. I've had people make it out to sound like I would get mugged as soon as I stepped off the bus. So many off the wall descriptions and none that really matched up. I figured I would see more by riding some bus routes and picked the Rt 21 Memorial Route, in part because it started at the Capitol building and connected with the east end of the East West line.

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Atlanta has been mysterious to me. I've had people make it out to sound like I would get mugged as soon as I stepped off the bus. So many off the wall descriptions and none that really matched up. I figured I would see more by riding some bus routes and picked the Rt 21 Memorial Route, in part because it started at the Capitol building and connected with the east end of the East West line.
7) Georgia State Station and my two car train passing a westbound to the Hamilton E Holmes end of the Blue Line.
8) The Rt 21 ended up at Kensington which is one stop short of the east end of the MARTA East West lines.
9) Indian Creek, at the couple ends of the lines I was at it seamed like outbound train would pull in and the inbound would wait for people to run across, which made covering the end of the route much easier.

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10) Interior shot of a MARTA train before it started filling up with people.
I didn't know much about Atlanta and have no friends or family there. My very distant connection is that when I worked for a certain short line railway I billed cars from the Ford Lima engine plant to the Hapeville Ford plant. I read up and found that the Ford plant had been closed in 2006 but still thought I would take a look.
11) Hapeville depot, note the pedestrian overpass. I vote that Hapeville would be a good place to watch trains in Atlanta and is accessible by MARTA bus.
12) After walking around taking pictures of where the Ford plant had been I got a Coke and heard the horn. I did not bring my scanner so I do not know the train ID of this Northbound Triple Crown train passing what would have been the Ford sign.

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13) Hapeville Georgia's main claim to fame is the original Chick Fillet, our Triple Crown is passing the orignal location and original Dwarf House, whatever that was about.
14) The two spurs crossing the road to the left went into what had been the Ford Plant, in the distance is the depot and pedestrian overpass. Not so obvious is the row of buildings on either side of the track but across the street which could really be used for some interesting background for train pictures.
I rode the Rt 95 bus up to West End Station then went into Civic Center to try and get a Cobb County bus to Marietta GA. For some reason it never showed up so I took a Gwinnett County Transit express bus out of Atlanta instead.
15) I guess it was luck as I got to see the Cresent tied down at the Amtrak Station from bus.

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I rode out to Sugarloaf Mills Mall, used the toilet and came back to Doraville and MARTA. I was running out of time fast. i had to make a choice between chili dogs or the Atlanta Streetcar.
16) I chose to check out the Varsity which is a two block walk from North Ave Station seen here.
17) This place is huge and famous.
18) Two chili dogs, onion rings and a Frosted Orange. Delicious!

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19) Back at North Ave Station
I figured I had just over a half hour before my Megabus was going back to Cincinnati. I could give it a quick shot and see if I could see the street car.
20) I took this shot and some stupid homeless guy asked what I was doing. I started down the escalator and the idiot followed but I never looked back. I figure I waisted his time and effort.
21) Peechtree Center Station was a deep bore and I like how they didn't totally cover over the rock it was cut through.
I saw the line up for the Megabus from inside the Civic Center Station and forgot to take a parting shot in the station. From there it was back home to sleep and work a couple hours this afternoon on my offday.

All in all I would say Atlanta is a bit like DC, it does change after dark but overall I never felt threatened or unsafe. It is a big city and pretty much what I would expect in a city that is in the top thirty some urban areas in the World. So much I did not get to see and do I will have to return soon.
Thank You for looking
Jim

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Your northbound TC train = 246, Jacksonville, FL to East Point, GA.

Glad you didn't have a hard time in Atlanta. It appears you did a lot of exploring. Varsity = good stuff. If you come back this way, hanging out around the Gulch or the Howell Wye during the day time is a good spot to see some mixed CSX/NS action. Otherwise, heading to Parrott Avenue or Austell will net you a good chunk of NS trains.

Everything except the Varsity is different from my time at Ga Tech. Nice photos. Miss the Southern E's though.

Jim B

Great travel log!

I had a great visit to Atlanta about a month ago for the Peach Bowl. Thanks to help from several TO folks, there was plenty to see with lots of trains running through the Gulch in particular. Only once late in the day (well after the game) did things feel a little iffy, but once our group was back together everything seemed fine. Would gladly visit again!

Posted from iPhone

Interesting trip. You might want to look into some Crestor though!

Great trip and photos.
JB

Talk about a packed one day visit to Atlanta! About the only thing you missed was some sweet tea.

Where the Hapeville Ford Plant once stood is now the North American headquarters for Porsche, complete with a test track. If it is not already open is dang close to it.

The original Chik-fil-a Dwarf House is worth a visit if for nothing else but seeing the animated gnomes or drawfs in the built in wall display. Chik-fil-a owes its existence to the Hapeville Ford plant as feeding those workers was the reason Truett Cathy opened the first Chik-fil-a. It is often said that you can not get a Chik-fil-a on Sunday, however the original Drawf House was open til 2 am on Sundays for the shift change at the Ford plant.

On your next visit, a trip up to the top of Peachree Plaza Hotel is worthwhile. Not that great for photos, but it does give a nice overhead view of the downtown railroad layout.

As Van said, on your next trip a CCT bus trip to Austell would be well worth your time.

Jay

Wish you had let TO know you were coming, we could have helped out a bit, maybe. Glad you had a safe trip but I have to say, you dodged a few "bullets" based on where you went -- go buy a lottery ticket, you are lucky -- and you missed a few hot spots.