Some factoids: Amtrak will be building a platform for the Raleigh line to drop off at the back of BOA

[Davidson Deac II]

19 minutes ago, Paintballr said:

 

Good luck getting there on time. 

I travel to Raleigh ever two weeks for work and tried using Amtrak due to the fact it’s the same cost as a rental except I can work while riding. Every time the trip was supposed to take 3 hours (when driving was 2 1/2), we would always “stop” due to “issues”. What was a 3 hour train ride is now a 4 hour train ride. 

I wouldn't take the train if I had to be some where on time if my life depended on it 

I flew to texas this weekend, was supposed to get there Saturday night, finally arrived on Sunday night.  When I got back to Charlotte on Thursday night, drove back to winston and hit some construction on North bound I85.  A drive that is normally just over an hour was more like two.  Delays can happen regardless of travel mode.

 

That being said, Amtrak does have some issues regarding having to give way to freight trains, as the rails are usually owned by private companies.  That causes a lot of their delays.

[GRWatcher]

7 minutes ago, Stoney said:

Out of curiosity I looked at the composition of the Raleigh city council.  As it compares to the Charlotte city council let's just say Raleigh's council has some real diversity to it versus the monolithic nature of the Charlotte council. 

Charlotte deserves better.

This isn't diverse?

[GRWatcher]

4 minutes ago, Stoney said:

If your primary concern is skin color and/or gender, yes it is. 

 

I get Charlotte news and, trust me, council members' ideas are diverse.

[fortyrod]

1 hour ago, Paintballr said:

I wouldn't take the train if I had to be some where on time if my life depended on it 

This is true. As much as I loved taking the train, I didn't use it if I had a tight schedule. I usually saw a delay at least every 4-5 trips. I stopped riding regularly a couple of summers ago when they were still working on putting in the second set of tracks. We used to get stopped waiting on freights to get out of the way occasionally so I'm curious if that helped. 

[jfra78]

2 hours ago, GRWatcher said:

This isn't diverse?

no aliens? 

[TNPanther]

4 hours ago, Paintballr said:

 

Good luck getting there on time. 

I travel to Raleigh ever two weeks for work and tried using Amtrak due to the fact it’s the same cost as a rental except I can work while riding. Every time the trip was supposed to take 3 hours (when driving was 2 1/2), we would always “stop” due to “issues”. What was a 3 hour train ride is now a 4 hour train ride. 

I wouldn't take the train if I had to be some where on time if my life depended on it 

Yeah, people don’t know that Amtrak travels on freight rails outside of the Northeast. All Amtrak trains are subject to any delays caused by the freight trains. 95% of delays are freight related.

[Paintballr]

1 hour ago, TNPanther said:

Yeah, people don’t know that Amtrak travels on freight rails outside of the Northeast. All Amtrak trains are subject to any delays caused by the freight trains. 95% of delays are freight related.

Oh I know, it’s comical that they try to play it off though. Last two times at the same time and area “oh there are some downed power lines we just have to wait for the all clear” 

Really? Same time between Charlotte and concord? 

I get it, they don’t have the infrastructure here or the money (or people) to build their own but it sucks as trains are a good source of transportation when they are operated properly 

[CPcavedweller]

On 6/8/2019 at 11:26 AM, Captain Morgan said:

A guy posted on Reddit about taking the tour of BOA...had some interesting stuff.

 

• It costs around $2MM to resod the field. They resod 'as needed' during the season

• The grass comes from a specialty farm in Pinehurst. This farm supplies almost all of the grass for golf courses in the south east. Panthers field is consistently rated as the nicest field to play on, by NFL players, because of how soft it is.

• The paint used for the field (lines, logos, etc.) can paint 3 houses. They paint for each game.

• Background color of end zone matches home jersey that week. Ex. if the background color of the end zone is black, and Panthers is in blue, we will wear black jerseys.

• Amtrak will be building a platform for the Raleigh line to drop off at the back of the stadium. AKA, if you live in the triangle, you can ride the Amtrak to the stadium!

• Charlotte is building a new east west light rail to come from downtown to the stadium.

• Jerry always sat in the end zone, so the current owners box is still there. He is the only owner to ever do this (all others sit on the 50). He said he liked to watch the game that way since he played football, and always saw the field this way when playing.

• The current media/press box is going to be downsized (size of around 4-5 suites now) to about 1/3 it's current size. This is where the new owner box will be, on the 50 on the home side.

• We went in one suite called the 51 Club. Currently it's dedicated to Sam Mills, with some if his memorabilia inside. Jerry Richardson used to wear 51, so when he owned the team, it also featured some of his memorabilia from when he played with the Baltimore Colts.

• In the visitor locker room, the league requires the home team to provide the following: 625 bath towels, water, coffee, gum, power bars, Gatorade, fresh fruit. That is all they are allowed to have in the locker room.

• Dirt/soil under field is from each county in NC and SC (146 total). This was done with one dump truck from each county, driving to Charlotte with that county's 'best dirt'. When they redid the field completely a few years ago, they kept all the dirt and put it in a pile outside the stadium. Fans kept trying to steal some, so they had to fence it in, and hire 24 hr security.

• You will always see NC and SC flag at every entrance to the stadium, so that you walk through 'both states' anytime you enter.

• The tour guide said that they plan on having a lot more events in the stadium, including NC and SC high school football championship games. He talked a lot about how Tepper is going to get a MLS team. Either via expansion, or buying one and moving it to Charlotte. Some concerts will take place, but only on weekends before they resod, because of the cost.

• And this was the most interesting thing to me, especially considering the number of people that have freaked out about Tepper moving the team to SC. The land the stadium is on was leased from Charlotte for $1 per year to the Panthers. The lease includes language that if the team ever moves, the city can foreclose on the stadium, which is privately majority owned by David Tepper. AKA, if the team moves, he will lose the stadium (and its value).

more, and photos, at the link.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/panthers/comments/bxvy8e/i_took_the_panthers_stadium_tour_last_week_pics/

 

You can live in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, High Point, Kannapolis, or Charlotte. The line runs from NYC to Charlotte daily and the reverse. The tracks basically follow 40 to 85 south to Charlotte.