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.
