Toccoa celebrates National Train Day

The City of Toccoa will join with Amtrak in celebrating the 2011 National Train Day on May 7, 2011 with a special event at the historic train depot in downtown Toccoa. Mayor Janice English, city officials and citizens will welcome the train when it stops in Toccoa on its way to Atlanta at 6:15 a.m. New this year to the celebration will be a special train display in the Mitchell Allen room of the Currahee Military Museum. Dess Oliver, from the Railroad Museum in Rabun Gap, will display his collection of "trains throughout the decades." The display will be open from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on National Train Day. Admission is free.

AM630 WNEG Radio will broadcast live the morning of May 7. A drawing for several prizes will also be held at the event. Enter to win the drawing at these locations: Ionosphere Travel, WNEG Radio, and the Chamber of Commerce.

The City of Toccoa’s history is centered on the railroad industry. The city originated in 1873 following the development of a coaling station for the Atlanta to Charlotte Railroad after the Civil War. Due to the city’s access to the railroad, industry developed in Toccoa as well as a college and a United States military paratrooper training camp. The city has also benefited from the railroad for the past thirty years, as we are one of only three stops in Georgia in Amtrak’s Crescent Line. In 2008, more than 3,000 people came through the historic downtown via Amtrak and the number increases every year.

"Not only does the National Train Day celebration help focus on the importance of the railroad to our community, it highlights the opportunities it presents today. We continue to promote Amtrak travel as a relaxing way to visit Toccoa," states Sharon Crosby, Special Events Coordinator.

The Crescent Line travels through more states – including the District of Columbia – than any other Amtrak route. Offering daily service, the 1,377 - mile route travels from New York’s Penn Station to the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in 30 hours, stopping in 33 communities along the way.