Roomette opened up last minute. Decided to take it.Welp, my BidUp got rejected for the CL tomorrow. Wish me luck for my overnight coach trip on a sold out train.
I think they are the Toledo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Cumberland. Although I was fast asleep when most of these happened.What are the stops on the Capitol Limited between Chicago and Washington DC? I am wondering where the significant stops are (e.g. fresh air stops)? Thank you!
A capital idea! The Cardinal used to have dome cars, and it was a shame when this scenic route went to single level, so it could extend to New York. In the 1980s I first heard it was hard to get a ticket in the summer, when it runs the New River Gorge in daylight hours. There's no way to see most of the Gorge by motor car.I think the Capitol Ltd and Cardinal should swap NEC roles and equipment. Given the frequency of CSX derailments on the former B&O, that would allow reroutes via Harrisburg, and on normal days eliminate some Pittsburgh transfers for those headed between NYP/PHL on one hand and CLE/CHI on the other. Patronage on the Cardinal east of Washington is very light.
Run the Cardinal WAS - CHI with Superliners.
Run the Capitol Ltd NYP - WAS -CHI with low level cars. It can still be done with 3 train sets, which could be rotated out to Hialeah among Silver trains in Sunnyside.
There should be enough Viewliners and Amfleet-2 coaches wasted on day trains to do that. With 6 Superliner sleepers and 6 Superliner coaches now needed for the Capitol Ltd, the equipment utilization with over 24 hours of lay up in Washington is very inefficient. 2 Superliner sleepers and 4 Superliner coaches could cover the Cardinal. Send the balance out west. Supplement with Superliner trans-dorms when they become available from Beech Grove.
While I agree, it's also true connections are a drag, especially from the west. And many people want to leave New York at 6:30am. It's the busiest time at airports, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know what they were thinking in 1981, other than WV Senator Byrd's intervention, but the Wikipedia pages are interesting. Maybe they just looked at a map and said the middle one, between the Cardinal and the Lake Shore, would terminate in Washington. Back then the busy CVS station in VA only had the Crescent and the Cardinal. That has changed with the NER's.There are other trains running very close to the Cardinal in the NEC that a transfer could be done. They should capitalize on the WAS-CINCY-IND market, even at the expense of some NEC business, which there is not much of anyway. It is trying to be an all-purpose train, but does a lousy job at it. Nobody wants to leave NYPS at 630am.
Cardinal was created by rejiggering and partly rerouting the George Washington/James Whitcomb Riley. It serves that specific market well, specially if made daily. The fact that it happens to connect PHL and NYP to CHI is an incidental thing, which it does not do very well.While I agree, it's also true connections are a drag, especially from the west. And many people want to leave New York at 6:30am. It's the busiest time at airports, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know what they were thinking in 1981, other than WV Senator Byrd's intervention, but the Wikipedia pages are interesting. Maybe they just looked at a map and said the middle one, between the Cardinal and the Lake Shore, would terminate in Washington. Back then the busy CVS station in VA only had the Crescent and the Cardinal. That has changed with the NER's.
This has given me an idea! for a new train (so it is unlikely to happen but one I would totally use) Run a new NYP to CHI train Via the Pennsylvanian rout but run it approximately 12 hours off the Capitol schedule. Tat would give a lot of busy station en-route service at a reasonable time. Boston passengers would be able to connect with 66/67 at New York.
Granted I would also love to see a second Lake Shore limited run but the is even less likely then this impossibility.
I don't know whether this is a system-wide cost-saving measure, but in the Viewliner II H-rooms, I did notice a thinner mattress on the lower berth the last couple of trips.We rode the Capitol Limited, DC to Chi, from Friday afternoon May 31 until Saturday morning June 1 in a family bedroom.
First, the good news. Cliff, our attendant, was terrific.
Now, the bad news. The bunk/mattress combo in the family bedroom [room 15] was hard as a rock. We have ridden in the family bedroom Austin to LAX and back and never experienced the sleeping to be painful. Our older photos show the same leatherette seats on the Sunset as we had on the CL, so perhaps it was a difference in the mattress.
Question: should I include this as a comment to AMTRAK? Anyone else with an experience about this?
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