Toccoa Train Day Scheduled for June 15

Press Release

June 4, 2019

Contact: Sharon Crosby

706-282-3309

Toccoa Train Day 

Toccoa, GA, June 4, 2019 – Once again this year, the City of Toccoa will be welcoming the Amtrak Crescent Line at 6:15 a.m. on June 15. This is the ninth year that the city will be celebrating Toccoa Train Day. City officials, and citizens will welcome the train as it stops in Toccoa on its way to Atlanta.  They will then get on the train and distribute information about Toccoa to the train riders.

There will be added events this year for the whole family. Local train fans are invited to set up their train displays in the Mitchell Allen Room at the Currahee Military Museum starting at 8:00 am. The doors will open to the public at 10:00 a.m. Please contact Sharon Crosby at the Main Street office (706-282-3309) if you are interested in setting up a display.

At 12:00 noon, children are invited to the Toccoa Railway Viewing Platform on Foreacre St. to ride Papa’s Little Choo-choo. The rides will be free and there will be giveaways for the children.

The classic action packed movie, “The Great Locomotive Chase”, filmed in Habersham and Rabun Counties, will be shown at the Ritz Theatre at 3:00 p.m. The story takes place during the Civil War, and Union spy James J. Andrews is on a top-secret mission: to steal a Confederate train outside of Atlanta and take it back to Union territory in Tennessee, using it to sabotage and destroy Confederate supply routes along the way. But the train's conductor is on to Andrews and is determined to try his best to throw a wrench in the Union spy's plans before he delivers the train to his fellow soldiers. Doors will open at 2:30. Admission and all concessions are $1.

AM630 WNEG Radio will broadcast live as the train arrives. A drawing for several prizes including round trip tickets to Atlanta, will be held at the event. Attendees can register that morning at the depot.  

“Not only does the 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. Each year more than 3,000 travelers come to Toccoa on the train.

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.