Commuter rail from NYC to Washington DC - Trains Magazine

I have done this once before, but in the opposite direction.

Started in Fredericksburg, VA on the VRE at 5:05 AM

Got on MARC limited stop service to Baltimore Penn at 6:45

At 9:05, Took a Greyhound bus to Wilmington, DE

At 12:45, got on SEPTA to Philly

At 2:11, got on train to Trenton

At 3:18, got on train to New York Penn, which arrived at 4:48.

This turned out to be $5 cheaper then Amtrak fare, I would recommend going reverse this way. You get less train mileage by getting on Greyhound, but it bridges the gap.  We bought all the tickets (except VRE) at the stations and the layover in Wilmington was a good amount of time for lunch. I would recommend planning by getting on the earliest NJT train you can and working your way south from there. Make sure to print out a schedule with departure and arrival times of trains you plan to take, include backup plans on this schedule. My trip was fully on time, but I can't speak for anyone else. If it goes wrong, it will go very, very wrong.