Toccoa Holding Train Day on Saturday

The city of Toccoa will again mark National Train Day this weekend with a day of festivities.

Saturday is Toccoa’s 6th National Train Day celebration.

Toccoa Main Street Events Coordinator Sharon Crosby said that everything will get started just before 6:15 a.m. on Saturday when the public is invited to gather at the historic train depot in downtown Toccoa and welcome the Amtrak Crescent line to town as it heads southbound.

“This year, when it comes to Toccoa, we will have people greeting those who are getting off but we are also going to be putting on some of our city officials and they will be handing out bags to the riders between here and Gainesville,” said Crosby.

There will also be refreshments available and the city will have drawings for a number of prizes. People can enter to win here at WNEG Radio, the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce, and Ionosphere Travel.

Following the train’s departure, more activities are planned later in the morning.

This year, the Athens Bend Track will set up a free display in the Mitchell Allen Meeting Room at the train depot.

The Athens Bend Track is a group of N scale modelers who are interested in the Bend Track modular concept of building parts of a model railroad and putting them together to run at shows or just for fellowship.

Crosby said Train Day provides the city a chance to recognize the contribution of the railroad to the community and also note the opportunity that exists today by Amtrak’s Crescent line stopping in Toccoa.

“There are only three stops in Georgia, Toccoa, Gainesville, and Atlanta, so we are very thrilled be one of the stops,” said Crosby.

The new 93.1 FM and AM 630 WNEG will be broadcasting live from Train Day starting at 6:05 a.m. Saturday.