for Panthers games. who has done it? good time? suggestions? what is it like (depart/arrival times, length, club car, people, party, etc)??

7/14/2009 6:07:39 PM

interested in this as well. I'm doing it sometime this season fo sho.

7/14/2009 7:03:29 PM

This is relevant to my interests for one game only.

7/14/2009 7:10:21 PM

I did it once about 3 1/2 yrs ago. It was pretty cheap ($25 or less if I recall) but took about 4 hours to go one way. I also traveled alone.

I could see how it'd be fun with a small group of peeps with a pre-game atmosphere.

7/14/2009 7:32:18 PM

How much stuff can you comfortably take with you? Like an overnight bag?

7/14/2009 7:39:27 PM

I don't remember, but I was down there for 2-3 days and I had plenty of room. And the train (at least back then) hardly had anyone on it (and this was around Thanksgiving wknd).

7/14/2009 7:51:32 PM

Can you drink on the train. I know that you can BYOB onto the commuter trains that go from Stamford, CT to NYC. Did that a couple of times. A really good way to pre-game before going to a Yanks game or go to bars in the city.

7/14/2009 7:54:49 PM

yeh, I'm wanting to use the 4-or so hour train ride as the tailgate - so can you party/drink/bring drinks? is there a club car? are others partying?

I've got 4 PSLs that didn't sell this year, so I'm planning on using some of them.

I don't visit ST that often, but do you guys do a panthers tickets thread or something similar?

[Edited on July 14, 2009 at 9:04 PM. Reason : .]

7/14/2009 8:43:03 PM

good thread
i would be interested in this as well.

7/15/2009 9:11:40 AM

It is not a party atmosphere.

It is a funeral procession atmosphere.

If you have the means to drive, I highly recommend it.

7/15/2009 9:20:11 AM

but can you bring alcohol? you make the atmosphere(in my experience)

7/15/2009 12:30:09 PM

Did it last year. Doing it again this year.

We left Cary at like 7AM, got to Charlotte shortly after 10. You can DEFINITELY bring/drink booze on the train. Some bum got kicked off in Burlington for being too drunk and harassing some guy. But, there were also parents with young children drinking Screwdrivers.

The ride was very easy and straightforward. We just talked and hung out. They have a little snack car with some bullshit snakcs and drinks. Nothing too exciting. The crowd on the train was pretty relaxed, except for that one bum.

On the way back (after the game), I was pretty blasted and basically slept the whole way.

[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 12:53 PM. Reason : .]

7/15/2009 12:52:52 PM

Where does the train stop in Charlotte?

7/15/2009 1:08:19 PM

the amtrak station is on tryon, just north of uptown. probably less than a mile.

i'd prob take a cab from there to the stadium if i were yer.

[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 1:37 PM. Reason : sdf]

7/15/2009 1:36:30 PM

This is sounding more and more like a good idea.

7/15/2009 2:00:35 PM

yeah on Tryon near "up"town. You could probably walk to the stadium from the station....especially if you are drunk.

This is really a good option for going to Panthers games. I haven't done the day-trip yet (last year we stayed the weekend), but I'm thinking about it doing it for the weekend of the Clemson (in Raleigh)/ATL game in Week 10.

[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 2:16 PM. Reason : .]

7/15/2009 2:15:40 PM

it's a little over 2 miles from the station to the stadium, and around the station is a bunch of homeless sheltes and shit.

it'd be worth the $5 to cab it.

^charlotte's downtown is called "uptown."



[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 2:22 PM. Reason : adf]

[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 2:22 PM. Reason : afd]

7/15/2009 2:21:42 PM

no shit it's called "up"town, but that's gayer than the City of Charlotte.

7/15/2009 2:25:45 PM

good one.

7/15/2009 2:27:29 PM

dang, I was hoping for more a party atmosphere and a club car. oh well.

guess we can try to organize things ITT when games come up. I haven't been on a train in forever; can you just sit/chill where ever?

7/16/2009 3:18:04 PM

if you want to piss someone off and have some cheap lols at the same time

make a mix tape comprised entirely of songs about trains (come on ride the train, crazy train, Casey Jones) and play it on a boom box on the way down

7/16/2009 3:25:02 PM

^ How about Power Hour composed of train songs?

7/16/2009 3:36:30 PM

do not even remotely think about.

everyone who i know that has done it was depressed about it. took for.freaking.ever. and was not "party" atmosphere.

(shouldnt deserve a thread for this....put it in the panthers offseason)

ibtl

[Edited on July 16, 2009 at 3:38 PM. Reason : .]

7/16/2009 3:37:28 PM

I and all of the other native Charlotteans call it downtown Charlotte. It was when all of these out of state people started moving to there that they wanted to start calling it uptown Charlotte. Their reasoning was that it sounded more upbeat and lively so people would want to go "uptown" to do stuff. They put directional signs out all over saying "Uptown Charlotte". It's stupid.

7/16/2009 4:19:38 PM

partly that, and parlty because it's the highest point in mecklenburg county. which is why you can see it from miles away in any direction.

way back people would say they were heading "up to town", hence "uptown."

7/16/2009 4:34:33 PM

^ no its not. the highest point in mecklenburg county is the 2 miles between Elm Lane and Providence Road on highway 51. i know this because thats where my house is and i could see the downtown fireworks 35 miles away from the backyard.

you can also see the skyline from Cedarwood Country Club's back porch.

[Edited on July 16, 2009 at 4:35 PM. Reason : .]

7/16/2009 4:34:37 PM

hasen't this discussion been had... didn't someone give a history lesson that all the "native" Charlotteans from like the 50s on stopped calling it uptown... and now that it's uptown again, people are pissed?

7/16/2009 4:37:28 PM

Quote :

"Charlotte's population in September, 1786, totaled 276, of whom 123 were Negroes. In 1790 the village had grown to 325 and the county's population was recorded at 11,395. Ten years later, as the new century began, the county's total had dropped to 10,439 - but some 4,000 had been taken from Mecklenburg with the forming in 1792 of the new county of Cabarrus. Midway of the century the county's population would have advanced to but 13,914; but once more Mecklenburg had lost by the lopping off of a part of her territory, for some 5,000 had been lost to Union, set up in 1842. As the new century opened, the village had a flour mill, a blacksmith shop, a saw mill, a gunsmith, several tailors, hatters, weavers, and probably other establishments, in addition to several stores and taverns. An authentic, even though brief, view of one of these taverns, as well as the court house at the square, evidently Mecklenburg's third, is provided by William D. Martin's diary, A Journey from South Carolina to Connecticut in 1809, published (1959) in Charlotte. "We breakfasted this morning late in Charlotte," Mr. Martin wrote, "the county town of Mecklenburg. The village consists of two streets crossing in a square; in the center of the town stands a tolerably elegant Brick Court House with a cupola. In my host & lady, Mr. and Mrs. Huston, were united the rare qualities of attention, politeness & kindness. As the lady having prepared a genteel breakfast, when she observed us setting out again, with all the hospitality of a friend & kindness of a mother, she presented & insisted on my accepting some biscuit and cheese, which, said she, 'will serve as a repast at Noon.' Such disinterested goodness among strangers raised into action the most lively sensations of gratitude . . ." One of the principal reasons for the continuation and development of industry in the village of Charlotte was the advantage of location. As the economy of the region advanced, Charlotte's situation in the center of it had much to do with its becoming the economic hub about which industry would turn. And not only manufacturing but distribution would become a more important factor in Charlotte's and Mecklenburg's advancement. Within one century after the establishment of the Republic, cotton manufacturing would be gaining ascendancy and within another several decades the Mecklenburg-Charlotte-Gaston area would be the nation's textile manufacturing center."

http://www.cmstory.org/history/hornets/county.htm

educate yo'self on da QC.

[Edited on July 16, 2009 at 4:41 PM. Reason : .]

7/16/2009 4:41:30 PM

^I read that whole damn thing, and not one word says anything about why downtown is called uptown

7/16/2009 4:48:50 PM

Quote :

""We breakfasted this morning late in Charlotte,""

fuck people who talk like this

I don't care if it was 100 years ago

7/16/2009 4:51:52 PM

here's the graphic history of charlotte:

7/16/2009 5:04:11 PM

Quote :

"i'd prob take a cab from there to the stadium if i were yer."

does the new rail car not go to the stadium?

7/16/2009 5:13:32 PM

kev left out the best parts

7/16/2009 5:25:58 PM

actually i dont think it does, unless they added a new branch to it

7/16/2009 5:27:04 PM

well that's dumb. why would they have it for bobcats games and not make the route go to the football stadium?

7/16/2009 5:47:28 PM

The train travels in a straight line

to make it go to BOA would require a deviation and cost millions

not worth it in my or the city's opinion

7/16/2009 5:59:09 PM

Quote :

"make a mix tape comprised entirely of songs about trains (come on ride the train, crazy train, Casey Jones) and play it on a boom box on the way down"

lol


and doesn't the rail car get pretty close to the stadium regardless? thought you could see the stadium from the rail station

[Edited on July 16, 2009 at 6:14 PM. Reason : ]

7/16/2009 6:14:07 PM

Quote :

"do not even remotely think about. everyone who i know that has done it was depressed about it. took for.freaking.ever. and was not "party" atmosphere. (shouldnt deserve a thread for this....put it in the panthers offseason) ibtl"

If you bring the party, it will be fun. I can bring 4 people and if we organize something on here, it could be a good time with 10 or so people.

this doesn't belong in the offseason thread. this has nothing to do with the off season. this has nothing to do with the team itself. it has to do with tailgating/riding to the game.


LOL@SF

^just jump off?!?

[Edited on July 16, 2009 at 6:17 PM. Reason : .]

7/16/2009 6:17:09 PM