Experience the fun of taking a day trip from Lynchburg, Va. to Washington, DC.  With the newly offered daily round trip service between Lynchburg, DC and Boston, you can enjoy a rail excursion!  From the time you arrive at Lynchburg’s own newly renovated Kemper Street Station, you can’t help but feel like you are stepping back in time, just a wee bit!  Free parking is offered next to the cobblestone street fronting the combined bus terminal and rail depot. Descending to the lower level, you are able to catch your first glimpse of the rails.

As you enter the terminal for ticketing, you can asborb the period decor and read a little of the history of train travel in Lynchburg. While waiting for the announcement of your departure, you can’t help but notice that many are taking advantage of this method of transportation as a way of travel.  With suitcases in hand, the large group proceeds to the cars for boarding.

The interior of the train is what you typically expect with dual seating on both sides of a center aisle.  Each individual car has connecting walkways.  Our group (the Divas of the Dow) took our seats to await the departure, and after leaving the station, we relocated to the “snack car”.   This car has table seating and we were able to converse more easily, and enjoy a light breakfast. 

As the train jostled along, we were able to take in the area scenery not normally seen from the heavily traveled roadways, and delighted in the quaintness of the various depots of our stops along the way- Montpelier, Culpeper, Mananssas, Burke Center, Alexandria and finally, Union Station in DC.  As this was our destination, the train itself traveled onward to Boston.

Arrival at Union Station, Wash. DC

Upon arrival at Union Station, you have many choices of locations for your adventure.  We choose to hop onto the Metro for a manificent lunch at Rosa Mexicano, where we feasted on homemade tableside guacomole with fresh torilla chips. The menu is fabulous and I can definitely recommend this new find!  Having spent 2 hours for our leisurely, social lunch, we again hopped the Metro to nearby Pentagon City Mall.  With three levels of shopping pleasure, it was much too hard to see it all, so we prioritized our time and had no trouble making it back to Union Station by the 4:50 PM boarding time back to Lynchburg.

Our trip home went by quickly as our seats in the “snack car” allowed us to enjoy card games and pass the time.  Occasionally, we took in the small town lights along the way, which offer a warm, inviting look into those areas that we take for granted. Since our games were competitive, the stewards had to encourage us to finish up our game as the train was approaching our final destination.  We gathered our belongings, and as stopped rolling, we all shared the feeling that we had been able to be a witness to one of the little secrets that our wonderful area has to offer. From the welcoming of the crew, to the relaxing accomodations, our excursion for the day was truly a awesome adventure, and one that I can highly recommend.     

The first “All Aboard” of the weekday is at 7:38AM, while weekenders will have to wait until 9:59AM. The route is part of Amtrak Virginia, a program created by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and Amtrak.  This service is in a three year demonstration period, and recent news stated that the income from the service had exceeded projections.

Would you like to see the service stay in Lynchburg?