Advise a newbie on the MARC train?

[Anonymous]

My mother has to be in Baltimore for a few days and I'm trying to explain to her how to take the MARC train here. We've both done Amtrak many times but never of us have ever taken MARC. Can someone walk me through it? Is it really any different than Amtrak? Which is the better line to take - Penn or Camden - or does it matter?

I know, silly questions, but I want to give her very clear instructions. She gets nervous the first time she does something new.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I don't take MARC often so I'm not a fount of wisdom but one thing that is different from Amtrak is that you don't wait to be called to load. With Amtrak, you sit in the waiting area and wait for the announcement. With MARC, you go down to the track and get on the train and the conductor comes later to get your ticket. (At least that's the way I remember it from the last time I took it.)

The reason I emphasize this is that I had a friend who was late to court in Fredericksburg because she was sitting in Union Station waiting for the announcer to tell her when to board the Virginia Railway Express (used to be a morning run of this commuter train south to Fburg) -- so she missed the train.

Of course, that's if you pick it up at Union Station. Now that I think about it, when I pick it up at New Carrollton they do announce the train.

[Anonymous]

Let me just ask you this, then - is it all pretty clear once you get to Penn Station?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me just ask you this, then - is it all pretty clear once you get to Penn Station?

Yes, it's clearer than the other stations on the way up because (as I recall) you go underground first. They do announce stations but you can't always hear the announcements. Just to be sure she could ask the conductor who takes her ticket to make sure she knows when to get off.

And the Penn Line is probably better than the Camden line because the Camden line doesn't run as often and there's not much of a station there -- just a ticket office which is not staffed all the time. Penn Station will be staffed and there are taxis and people who can answer questions and all that.

I hope someone else chimes in on this. I'm going from memories maybe a year or two old! Don't want your mother to get lost!

[Anonymous]

Penn and Camden go different places... not sure if you realize that. Penn ends at a real train station; Camden ends at Camden Yards, where there's a light rail station, maybe some taxis if you're lucky, but not much else (I mean, it's in the middle of the city, but it doesn't have train station amenities).

I bought my MARC tix from a machine. If your mom is not machine-savvy, you can buy them onboard from the conductor for a small surcharge.