# ganddaughter's first trip



## granddad (Jan 5, 2008)

Hi folks

I am a granddad who took his granddaughter on her first train trip after the new year.

We started with regional service from the tidewater area of Virginia.

Phase 3 cars and P40 motive power?

We tranferred to a bus at Richmond and sped to Charlottesville where we boarded the "Once Mighty" Cardinal for a short trip to the west.

All personel were friendly and courteous and we had a great time.--Let me emphasize that.

My question to one and all is--What has happened to the "Once Mighty" Phase Four Superliner Cardinal?

No diner, no big Passenger cars, this train runs to Chicago-- *What Happened???*

Regards

A train lovin' Granddad


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## MrFSS (Jan 5, 2008)

granddad said:


> Hi folksI am a granddad who took his granddaughter on her first train trip after the new year.
> 
> We started with regional service from the tidewater area of Virginia.
> 
> ...


Glad you had a good trip.

Some years ago when they changed The Cardinal to a New York City - Chicago train they went to low level cars as the Superliners won't fit in the tunnel system in NYC.

So, it has been low level for quite some time.


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## AlanB (Jan 5, 2008)

MrFSS said:


> granddad said:
> 
> 
> > Hi folksI am a granddad who took his granddaughter on her first train trip after the new year.
> ...


Actually the change occurred back when Amtrak was on the "Glide path" to self-sufficiency and not repairing any damaged cars in an effort to save money while on that glide path. After two bad derailments, the Auto train and the Capitol Limited, Amtrak no longer had enough available Superliner equipment to run all of the regularly scheduled trains. So the Cardinal lost its Superliner equipment and went to single level Amfleet II coaches and Viewliner sleepers.

A year or two after that point was when the Cardinal was extended from its old terminus of DC to its current terminus in NY.

PS. That would have been a P42 locomotive, as all the P40's have either been mothballed, sold, or leased to commuter agencies.


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## granddad (Jan 5, 2008)

MrFSS said:


> Some years ago when they changed The Cardinal to a New York City - Chicago train they went to low level cars as the Superliners won't fit in the tunnel system in NYC.


But the consist included phase four sleepers==where were they added, Washington?

And no diner for the 1st class?

Regards

Granddad


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## granddad (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks to all for the info

And I will learn how to use the message system soon-I promise


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## AlanB (Jan 5, 2008)

granddad said:


> MrFSS said:
> 
> 
> > Some years ago when they changed The Cardinal to a New York City - Chicago train they went to low level cars as the Superliners won't fit in the tunnel system in NYC.
> ...


The sleeper, should have only been one unless they were deadheading a few, would have been put on the train in NY's Sunnyside yard located in Queens just across the river from NY's Penn Station. If they were deadheading some sleepers, then it's possible that they were added in DC, or Indianappolis assuming that you rode that far.

And sadly no, no diner for the 1st class on that train. The train now runs with something called Diner-Lite, which is basically a marriage of a cafe car and a dining car into one car. No food is cooked to order on board, all meals are basically pre-plated and warmed in a convection oven. While the meals don't compare to what you might remember getting say 50 years ago on a train, they aren't half bad assuming that the crew follows the proper heating directions.

Ps. One reason for the Diner-Lite cars isn't just to cut costs, it's because Amtrak is having trouble keeping the now 60+ year old single level Heritage dining cars on the road and they don't have the money to buy new dining cars. So they converted some of the Amfleet II cafe cars into Diner-Lite cars.


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## racer1735 (Jan 5, 2008)

granddad said:


> MrFSS said:
> 
> 
> > Some years ago when they changed The Cardinal to a New York City - Chicago train they went to low level cars as the Superliners won't fit in the tunnel system in NYC.
> ...


The train had a dinette or club car in the consist (I believe Amtrak has another name they call it) which provides meal service which is included in the 'first class' sleeping fare.


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## AlanB (Jan 5, 2008)

granddad said:


> And I will learn how to use the message system soon-I promise


No worries, I've cleaned up things a bit for you. Next time when you want to quote someone's post, first click the reply button. Then you should see the typing box just like you do when you made the post that I quoted above, only the typing box won't be empty. It will be filled with the text of the other person's quote. You just need to roll down to the bottom of the typing box and start typing your reply after the last [ /quote] at the bottom of the text that is already there.

Once you understand that properly, you can get creative if you want and only quote certain parts of the other person's text by deleting sections that you don't need to refer to.

And welcome!


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## AlanB (Jan 5, 2008)

racer1735 said:


> The train had a dinette or club car in the consist (I believe Amtrak has another name they call it) which provides meal service which is included in the 'first class' sleeping fare.


Diner-Lite.


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## Green Maned Lion (Jan 8, 2008)

One other thing. I think I noticed something. I think you inferred that the sleepers on the Cardinal are Superliners. They aren't- they are single level sleepers called Viewliners, but they have a second set of windows for the upper-bunk sleeping passenger. They are short enough- were designed to be short enough- to fit into the Penn Station tunnels.


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## Konrad (Jan 12, 2008)

granddad said:


> Hi folksI am a granddad who took his granddaughter on her first train trip after the new year.
> 
> We started with regional service from the tidewater area of Virginia.
> 
> ...



We traveled on the Cardinal in early October 2007. Came down from New York on the Acela and joined the Cardinal in Washington for Chicago. Strange way to get to Chicago but there were no bedrooms available on the Capitol Limited.

The train was comprised of to pre-Amfleet coached (I think) the Amfleet Dinette and our Viewliner sleeper. We sent our heavy luggage on the Capitol Limited.

We found the route far more interesting than the Limited as we had more daylight hours to appreciate the scenery. The Dinette was an interesting experience - the service was 'eccentric' (to say the least) but the menu was well presented and far more interesting than the SDS menus we had experienced on the western routes.

The Viewliner sleeper was a vast improvement, in terms of comfort, over the Superliners as the upper berth gives greatly more headroom and a view at night. The Superliner upper berths feel like mobile coffins. The upper, sloping, window almost compensates for the lack of a lounge during daylight hours.

The long stop in Indianapolis, where two coaches were added to provide Hoosier State service, kept me awake but it also meant that there was enough slack in the timetable to enable an ontime run into Chicago where we were connecting with the Southwest Chief.

Overall an enjoyable experience if you have enough time to waste - 24 hours is a long time to get from Washington to Chicago!


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