# The Cardinal in Coach



## TCRT (Nov 2, 2011)

*Background*

I had always been fascinated by the _Cardinal_ ever since I picked up an Amtrak "America" brochure when I was about five years old and saw a picture of it at Hawks Nest, WV. I had taken the route out of Chicago as far as Indianapolis on a visit a few times three years ago (at which point, being used to the _Empire Builder_, I was intrigued by a five car single-level tri-weekly long distance train), but I had never had an excuse to travel the entire route. Fortunately, I live in Boston now, and I have relatives in Chicago who I decided to pay a visit to over a long weekend. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to work in a trip on Train 50, especially with the chance it offered to see the New River Gorge in mid-October. However, since the _Cardinal_ does not arrive into New York until 9:45PM, getting back to Boston by the end of the weekend would also require booking a separate trip from NYP to BOS on Train 66. While the thought of booking a non-Amtrak endorsed connection scheduled for the middle of the night seemed a bit foolish, I decided it was more foolish to give up one of my few chances to try out this scenic route. To get to Chicago, I booked a very, very cheap one-way flight on Southwest Airlines since I did not have enough time to travel both ways by rail.

Around my graduate student office, I catch a lot of flak for making travel arrangements that my co-workers think are completely ridiculous, but which I think are relatively normal since I like to see America by rail as a hobby. This includes such items as taking the _Lake Shore Limited_ from Chicago to Boston instead of flying and booking the _Acela Express_ for the 43 mile PVD-BOS segment just to go 150mph in a train. There are not many times when I actually start to agree with them, but this time, with an "I can't believe I am seriously going to do this" type feeling as I set off, I started to give in. Fortunately, I had a wonderful trip, and I hope you don't mind me sharing my experiences.

*CHI-NYP, Train 50*

After a very good visit to the Chicago area (including a fantastic nighttime landing at Midway Airport with 30mph wind gusts in a rainstorm), I hopped on the 1:55PM Metra train from Elgin, IL, to Chicago Union Station on a Saturday afternoon. This got into Union Station at 3:12PM, leaving me about two hours before the _Cardinal_ would board for its 5:45PM departure. Upon arriving at the south boarding lounge, I immediately noticed that the _Pere Marquette_, _Cardinal_, and _Capitol Limited_ were all scheduled out of Gate E with departure times at 5:20, 5:45, and 6:10, respectively, while the other gates each had one or no trains in that timeframe. This meant that the waiting space by Gate E was very, very full. This seemed like poor planning to me. Apparently, it also seemed like poor planning to Amtrak, who wisely shifted my departure to Gate C, which required shifting the departure originally at that gate (the 6:00 _Wolverine_) to adjacent Gate D. While one would imagine that this is a relatively easy switch to make, for whatever reason it confused and enraged a few customers waiting for the _Wolverine_. I still cannot figure out why these riders viewed having to go out a different door 20 feet away as some sort of cardinal sin on Amtrak's part, but fortunately they were small in number.

At about 5:15, the preboarding was started for the _Cardinal_, followed by the general call. On my way out to the train, I noticed that the _Hoosier State_ coaches, normally Horizon cars, were replaced by Amfleet I cars for this particular run. Furthermore, instead of the normal three Amfleet II long distance cars, our train sported four, in addition to an Amfleet café, Viewliner sleeper, and baggage car. This made the _Cardinal_ almost look like a normal eastern LD train! I was seated in the first coach, where our attendant Thom immediately greeted me. Since most people boarding in CHI were headed to _Hoosier State_ destinations, seats in this half-full long distance car were not assigned, so I grabbed a window seat on the right side of the train, as I recalled hearing the scenery was better on that side. Thom made a very detailed and nicely humorous pre-trip announcement, covering items such as the quiet hours, café hours, and alcohol policy, and we were soon bound for New York City, 27 hours and 1147 miles distant.

I had seen the first part of this route before, and because it was mid-October, it was dark anyway, so I spent most of the evening working in the café. We kept to the schedule through Rensselaer, and then lost 30 minutes due to yard activity outside of Lafayette, which stayed constant throughout the night. I hopped off in Indianapolis to take a quick break and noticed that a very large travel group was boarding, perhaps explaining the fourth coach. I also gained a seatmate in IND, and in fact the entire coach was full upon departure, which I thought was rather impressive for a tri-weekly train. Despite my copious experience with low-budget grad student redeye airline flights, I found myself to be quite bad at sleeping in Amtrak seats (I also found this out when I took the _Lake Shore Limited_ earlier this year, so this time I was armed with a neck pillow, which helped a bit). I slept on and off through Cincinnati, and then fell asleep for good until Maysville, KY, where I woke up briefly as we pulled in at 5:29AM, or 40 minutes late. I then fell back asleep for two more hours, but when I awoke, we were still stopped at the Maysville station! Apparently, a CSX freight had encountered major mechanical issues in front of us. This plus a subsequent 30 minute delay shortly thereafter suddenly made us a solid three hours late.

After a trip through a fog-filled Kentucky morning and a service stop at Russell, KY (I wonder how many routes do a service-only stop like this), we crossed into West Virginia, where I detrained for a break in Huntington and noticed that my coach was a stimulus-funded rebuild. To my surprise, there was a very large group at Huntington, and even more surprising was the reason they were there: we had gained a private car in Cincinnati, which they would take to Washington. We stayed roughly 3 hours late for the majority of the trip through West Virginia. Since I was looking forward to the scenery, I didn't mind nearly as much since this meant we would traverse the New River Gorge at midday instead of earlier in the morning.

The _Cardinal_ wound its way along the New River through Charleston (nicely displayed out of the left side of the train) and Montgomery, at which point the New River Gorge began in earnest. As the scenery was at this point on the left side of the train, I grabbed a seat in the café with some fellow enthusiasts and took the opportunity to eat a quick lunch and snap some photos until we crossed the river at Hawks Nest. The scenery for which I had booked this sanity-challenged itinerary did not disappoint. I would certainly rate the views on this route better than just about anything I've seen on any of the Amtrak routes I have been on thus far (with the possible exception of a sunset trip up the coast line from LA to Santa Barbara). The gorge is simply spectacular, especially in the rockier section before the Gauley Dam, and the fall colors did not hurt, either. Once we crossed to the other riverbank, I went back to my seat on that side of the train and continued snapping photos until my camera battery finally quit (though thankfully Amtrak has outlets at each seat now, so I could easily recharge it). After passing the New River Train at Hinton, we exited the most scenic part of the gorge, stopping at the flag stop at Alderson, and then pulled into White Sulfur Springs a solid three and a half hours late. At this point, I was starting to risk missing my connection to 66 in New York if we got too much later, but having finally gotten a trip through the New River Gorge I simply did not care. If the price for the experience was having to stay in Penn Station until the next _Regional_ left at 6:40AM, I would pay it.

As is usually the case for late trains, our late _Cardinal_ somehow managed to lose even more time during its transit of the Buckingham Branch Railroad from Clifton Forge to Orange, VA, at one point being over four hours late. To make up for it, however, the trip down the Blue Ridge Mountains near Staunton was nearly as spectacular as the trip through the gorge (sit on the right side for this). Furthermore, the Charlottesville-based crew that we picked up brought along a box of snacks for each passenger in return for the inconvenience. It's things like this that make a big difference on Amtrak – we might have been four hours late but most people were content thanks to a caring crew.

Unfortunately, the Buckingham Branch Railroad is composed of jointed rail and has a 60mph speed limit (though being a shortline, I can't fault them for deciding this was all the physical plant they required). While I was impressed in August by the riding qualities of an Amfleet II over the 79mph Post Road Branch near Albany, which is also jointed rail, the same cannot be said for my particular coach over the Buckingham Branch. At times, the ride was so bad that it made doing just about anything other than sitting still difficult. Mind you, I am a younger guy and pride myself on being able to drink coffee while standing hands-free on the Boston subway. If I were older and less mobile I could imagine being seriously inconvenienced by this section of track. From a railroading standpoint, I somewhat enjoyed this, just like I enjoyed landing at Midway Airport in a crosswind, but for the sake of the rest of the passengers I could not help but feel a bit annoyed at the same time.

We managed to make up a bit of time once we got off the Buckingham Branch but we still arrived into Alexandria, VA almost four hours late. I was now getting very worried that 66 might pass us going up the NEC to NYP and I would miss it. My fears were somewhat confirmed in Washington, when, as I was standing trackside during the engine switch to electric power, 66 pulled in on the track next to us. Fortunately, our train was cleared to leave first. For the first part of the trip of the NEC, we seemed to be only a few minutes off of the scheduled times for 66 at most stations, but we eventually pulled ahead thanks to our very limited number of stops and despite our 50 year old baggage car limiting us to 110mph. We ended up making a blisteringly fast run up the NEC to New York, arriving a bare three hours after leaving Washington – and some Acela trips are scheduled for 2:55. This was helped by the conductors rounding up passengers for each stop five minutes early to ensure minimum dwell times. Approaching NYP, the conductors told us that one reason they made sure we had a fast trip was because they were based in WAS and wanted to get home on a delayed _Regional_ out of NYP at 1:25 instead of waiting until 3:00 for 67. Thanks to their efficient operations, they ended up making this train by 7 minutes when we pulled in at 1:18AM, three hours and 22 minutes late.

*NYP-BOS, Train 66*

Once we got to NYP I noticed that 66 had managed to accumulate a 50 minute delay by this point, so it was scheduled to arrive at 2:40, the same time as its departure (thanks to 66 having a built-in 50 minute layover in New York). There were a large number of people in the waiting area in Penn Station, but most of them seemed to be taking 67, not 66. Once 66 pulled in (about 45 minutes late), we were boarded and underway in a very short amount of time. At this point, I fell asleep and remember next to nothing from the trip up the NEC to Boston, save for the conductor waking everyone up in Providence to announce that 150 commuters were boarding and every available seat was going to be needed. Despite not booking business class, I was still fairly comfortable and the train was fairly empty until Providence. We arrived at South Station on time at 8:05AM, and I noticed to my surprise that we had swapped our AEM-7 for a P42 at some point (presumably in New Haven). I had noticed that 67 had been leaving Boston under diesel power recently as well - I wonder if Amtrak is running short on reliable electric locomotives. I quickly joined the mob of commuters streaming into South Station, and after a brief stop at my apartment for a shower I made it into my office on time, much to the surprise of very nearly all of my coworkers.

*Impressions*

Despite spending two nights in coach seats, 31 hours in the same Amfleet II car, the stressful late-night connection, and the three hours plus delay on the _Cardinal_, I still find myself very satisfied with this trip and very glad of my decision to take it. Not only did I finally get to take a trip on the entirety of this route, I also got to do it during the peak fall color period. The crews onboard both trains were very good, especially the _Cardinal_ crew, keeping us well informed during delays and going the extra mile to try to make the delays more bearable. I even made it into work on time on Monday morning after getting off of 66.

The only problem is, now I can't think of a good trip to top this one with.


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## jb64 (Nov 2, 2011)

I enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for sharing it with us. I was on the west bound Card on Sunday for a short ride and the coaches were pretty full and there was a large crowd waiting to board at Charlottesville which I expect made the coaches very full. I doubt those folks were able to sit together at all.


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## amamba (Nov 2, 2011)

Awesome trip report!

Did you find that almost every seat was full on the 66 after leaving PVD? My H rides it every day and sometimes has to wake folks up so he can slide into a seat. it is generally pretty crowded with commuters - although 150 of them is a stretch I think.


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## TCRT (Nov 2, 2011)

amamba said:


> Awesome trip report!
> 
> Did you find that almost every seat was full on the 66 after leaving PVD? My H rides it every day and sometimes has to wake folks up so he can slide into a seat. it is generally pretty crowded with commuters - although 150 of them is a stretch I think.


Thanks! Glad you liked it.

As for your question, at least my coach was completely full leaving PVD and I saw quite a few people on the platform walking past to other coaches, so my guess would be that the train was quite near capacity for the PVD-BOS segment.


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## eagle628 (Nov 4, 2011)

TCRT said:


> (including a fantastic nighttime landing at Midway Airport with 30mph wind gusts in a rainstorm)



I don't know if I'd call that fantastic...I landed at the Burlington, Vermont airport a few years ago at night, during a snowstorm, in a little regional jet, and I've been a bit apprehensive of anything other than a smooth landing in broad daylight ever since...


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## TCRT (Nov 5, 2011)

eagle628 said:


> TCRT said:
> 
> 
> > (including a fantastic nighttime landing at Midway Airport with 30mph wind gusts in a rainstorm)
> ...


Sorry, I guess I meant that in terms of a display of technical skill by the flight crew it was fantastic. I agree with you that from a passenger perspective it was a little less than fantastic.


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## VentureForth (Dec 5, 2011)

That's what I like about Southwest. All one-way fares make it the carrier of choice when only taking one direction of rail.


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## TCRT (Dec 14, 2011)

VentureForth said:


> That's what I like about Southwest. All one-way fares make it the carrier of choice when only taking one direction of rail.


Though I prefer SWA, I'm trying Spirit for the non-rail half of my next one-way rail trip, with what is the absolute cheapest airfare I've ever gotten to Chicago from Boston. Based on their reputation, I'm expecting to make it to my destination...and that's really about it.


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