September 21 through October 13, 2024
Los Angeles to Alexandria, VA and return – Amtrak’s Southwest Chief and Cardinal.
Visiting family in Southern Maryland and sightseeing Civil War sites in Eastern Virginia was the purpose of this trip. This was our third rail trip to Southern Maryland. This trip was booked in February, is all sleeper bedrooms, and was paid entirely by an AGR points redemption – about 240,000 points total.
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PART 1 – The trip east.
Saturday, September 21 we arrived by our personal vehicle and parked in the garage on the east side of Los Angeles Union Station. We headed to the front of the station and got comfortable in the Metropolitan Lounge. A rail safety event was taking place at LAUS that weekend so I headed back to the east side of the station to view the restored ATSF 3751 steam locomotive and other displays. A stop at Subway was made to procure something to eat prior to boarding the train for the 5:22 PM departure.
We were called to board the Southwest Chief and settled into Room C in the 430 Car. We were originally booked into Room E in the 431 car but recalling Amtrak’s shenanigans regarding the 431 car in the past couple of years I quickly called AGR and had us moved to the 30 Car Room C. As it turns out, there was no 31 car on this train – just our 30 car and the transition sleeper which was in revenue service. Our sleeper was 32081 and SCA was Traci. Our room was on the left side of the train. The car had the new upholstery but the same old dingy carpet “wallpaper”. The new upholstery interfered with opening and closing the closet door.
The power on the point was AMTK 75 and AMTK 824 (a P40). The remainder of the consist was baggage, transition sleeper, regular sleeper, diner, Sightseer Lounge, and three coaches.
We got comfortable in our room and I set up the scanner and GPS which ran for the entire trip east. The Garmin GPS antenna was hanging on a suction cup hook on the window and the scanner antenna (Smiley 5/8 Slim Duck) on an old Radio Shack suction cup antenna mount also mounted on the glass.
We departed Los Angeles a minute late at 5:23 PM. About an hour later we headed to the diner and had dinner. My wife had steak and I had salmon, both were good. The vegetables with my salmon were cold (not room temperature but cold) so I sent it back. Two hours out of LA and the White Chocolate Blueberry Cobbler Cheesecake was not available! They had already depleted their thawed supply for the day; I was told it would be available again tomorrow.
On this train was an onboard “supervisor”, the presence of which I haven’t seen in some time. She noted my cold vegetables. She was also “on top” other issues as they came up including no overhead lights in the rooms in our sleeper.
We passed the Virtual Railfan camera at Hesperia/Cajon Pass at 8:33 PM. I watched our train pass the camera on my phone. After spending time looking out the window into the desert darkness, we finally turned in.
Sunday morning September 22 and breakfast had us ready for our first full day of train travel. A college friend from the Albuquerque area was following my travels on Facebook and saw that I was headed towards ABQ. He and his wife made it to the station and met me on the platform for an in-person meeting. They presented me with a bag of locally grown pistachios! Our college days were back in the seventies in Santa Barbara, CA. This is the second time I have rendezvoused with a college (same college) acquaintance in ABQ! The train was 7 minutes late arriving ABQ and 21 minutes late departing.
The remainder of the afternoon we enjoyed the scenery between ABQ and southwestern Colorado when darkness set in. Somewhere between Las Vegas (LSV) and Raton (RAT), NM my wife spotted a pair of elk, a buck and a doe. After dinner, we spent another night in our room enjoying the ride.
Monday morning September 23 began as we refueled at Argentine Yard and arrived at Kansas City Union Station (KCY) 22 minutes late at 6:48 AM. Departure was 9 minutes late. At our mid-morning stop at Fort Madison (FMD) I stepped off the train and met “Amtrak Amy” (as she is known in the Virtual Railfan chat in Fort Madison). Amy is the station agent at FMD. She was with a representative from the local visitor’s bureau and took a photo of the three of us. I pointed out the Virtual Railfan sign I had in my sleeper window. The remainder of the day was uneventful arriving in Chicago Union Station (CHI) 31 minutes early at 2:11 PM.
Now Chicago! We spent the night there at the Palmer House. There has been a lot of discussion here on AU about navigating Chicago Union Station during the construction and I still wasn’t sure of how we were going to handle it. My wife has very limited walking endurance and uses a folding mobility scooter. It folds to the size of a suitcase, weighs 65 pounds and was on our car in the lower-level baggage storage area. We needed to get from the train, to baggage claim, to Metropolitan Lounge for a “pit stop” and out to the street to catch a taxi.
Well, our guiding angel was there waiting for us as we got off the train – a wonderful Red Cap by the name of Brittany. She took us to the baggage claim and retrieved our baggage for us, then to the Metropolitan Lounge and waited. Then she took (and showed us) to the elevator and door out to Jackson Street and hailed a taxi of suitable size (mini-SUV) for us! The door was at 444 W. Jackson where we would re-enter the station the next day to catch the Cardinal east. Brittany gets even better! She gives me her cellphone number and says to text her when we are headed back to Union Station the next day.
Tuesday afternoon, September 24, on the way to Union Station I texted Brittany and she was there to greet us when we arrived! She checked our two bags and dropped us off at the Metropolitan Lounge to wait for the Cardinal’s boarding announcement. In talking with her, she knew we were coming back through Chicago in a couple of weeks so said to text her with the dates and she would help us out again. For this and upcoming encounters with Brittany, I tipped as I have never tipped before. By far the most I have tipped so far for Red Cap service. I will also be submitting an “Employee Praise” to Amtrak.
When boarding began for the Cardinal, Brittany was not on duty and we had a different Redcap which was ok. Except, and this is weird, he had my wife drive her scooter behind the Redcap cart out to the train while I rode in the cart with three other people and our carry-on bags. There was not enough room for both of us to ride. We were kind of apprehensive about this, but it worked out ok.
We boarded train #50, the Cardinal, and got settled into Room B in the 5000 car, Viewliner II #62516. Our SCA was Bateman who was helpful and courteous. We highballed Chicago on time at 5:55 PM and headed east to Alexandria, VA. We quickly encountered track work out of Chicago and were 52 minutes late departing the first stop of Dyer, Indiana.
On the point was AMTK 519 (P32BWH Dash 8) with AMTK 123 (P42) trailing.
The Flex menu dinner and other meals were nothing to write home about! We ate in our room. I later received a survey from Amtrak about food on the Cardinal and let them know my feelings!
A feature in the Viewliner bedroom, that is not on the Superliner, is the presence of a “grab bar” mounted on the ceiling to facilitate getting in and out of the upper bunk and using the ladder. A feature greatly appreciated as it makes the process a bit safer. I had not noticed that before and I wish it was on the Superliner sleepers too.
We arrived Indianapolis (IND) 25 minutes late at 12:14 AM. While in Indianapolis AMTK 519, the Dash 8, was removed from the train leaving AMTK 123 as the leader for the remainder of the trip. The Dash 8 was likely headed to Beech Grove.
Wednesday, September 25, morning went well with an enjoyable ride through the New River Gorge. Enjoyable except for the filthy windows that prevented taking any good photos!
We arrived in Alexandria, VA (ALX) 57 minutes late at 7:24 PM. ALX is the stop before Washington, DC. A taxi ride took us to the Hilton Mark Center where we spent the night. That hotel has an Avis/Budget office there where we had a car reserved for driving down to our Son’s home in Southern Maryland and for our Civil War battlefield sightseeing in Eastern Virginia.
Los Angeles to Alexandria, VA and return – Amtrak’s Southwest Chief and Cardinal.
Visiting family in Southern Maryland and sightseeing Civil War sites in Eastern Virginia was the purpose of this trip. This was our third rail trip to Southern Maryland. This trip was booked in February, is all sleeper bedrooms, and was paid entirely by an AGR points redemption – about 240,000 points total.
-----
PART 1 – The trip east.
Saturday, September 21 we arrived by our personal vehicle and parked in the garage on the east side of Los Angeles Union Station. We headed to the front of the station and got comfortable in the Metropolitan Lounge. A rail safety event was taking place at LAUS that weekend so I headed back to the east side of the station to view the restored ATSF 3751 steam locomotive and other displays. A stop at Subway was made to procure something to eat prior to boarding the train for the 5:22 PM departure.
We were called to board the Southwest Chief and settled into Room C in the 430 Car. We were originally booked into Room E in the 431 car but recalling Amtrak’s shenanigans regarding the 431 car in the past couple of years I quickly called AGR and had us moved to the 30 Car Room C. As it turns out, there was no 31 car on this train – just our 30 car and the transition sleeper which was in revenue service. Our sleeper was 32081 and SCA was Traci. Our room was on the left side of the train. The car had the new upholstery but the same old dingy carpet “wallpaper”. The new upholstery interfered with opening and closing the closet door.
The power on the point was AMTK 75 and AMTK 824 (a P40). The remainder of the consist was baggage, transition sleeper, regular sleeper, diner, Sightseer Lounge, and three coaches.
We got comfortable in our room and I set up the scanner and GPS which ran for the entire trip east. The Garmin GPS antenna was hanging on a suction cup hook on the window and the scanner antenna (Smiley 5/8 Slim Duck) on an old Radio Shack suction cup antenna mount also mounted on the glass.
We departed Los Angeles a minute late at 5:23 PM. About an hour later we headed to the diner and had dinner. My wife had steak and I had salmon, both were good. The vegetables with my salmon were cold (not room temperature but cold) so I sent it back. Two hours out of LA and the White Chocolate Blueberry Cobbler Cheesecake was not available! They had already depleted their thawed supply for the day; I was told it would be available again tomorrow.
On this train was an onboard “supervisor”, the presence of which I haven’t seen in some time. She noted my cold vegetables. She was also “on top” other issues as they came up including no overhead lights in the rooms in our sleeper.
We passed the Virtual Railfan camera at Hesperia/Cajon Pass at 8:33 PM. I watched our train pass the camera on my phone. After spending time looking out the window into the desert darkness, we finally turned in.
Sunday morning September 22 and breakfast had us ready for our first full day of train travel. A college friend from the Albuquerque area was following my travels on Facebook and saw that I was headed towards ABQ. He and his wife made it to the station and met me on the platform for an in-person meeting. They presented me with a bag of locally grown pistachios! Our college days were back in the seventies in Santa Barbara, CA. This is the second time I have rendezvoused with a college (same college) acquaintance in ABQ! The train was 7 minutes late arriving ABQ and 21 minutes late departing.
The remainder of the afternoon we enjoyed the scenery between ABQ and southwestern Colorado when darkness set in. Somewhere between Las Vegas (LSV) and Raton (RAT), NM my wife spotted a pair of elk, a buck and a doe. After dinner, we spent another night in our room enjoying the ride.
Monday morning September 23 began as we refueled at Argentine Yard and arrived at Kansas City Union Station (KCY) 22 minutes late at 6:48 AM. Departure was 9 minutes late. At our mid-morning stop at Fort Madison (FMD) I stepped off the train and met “Amtrak Amy” (as she is known in the Virtual Railfan chat in Fort Madison). Amy is the station agent at FMD. She was with a representative from the local visitor’s bureau and took a photo of the three of us. I pointed out the Virtual Railfan sign I had in my sleeper window. The remainder of the day was uneventful arriving in Chicago Union Station (CHI) 31 minutes early at 2:11 PM.
Now Chicago! We spent the night there at the Palmer House. There has been a lot of discussion here on AU about navigating Chicago Union Station during the construction and I still wasn’t sure of how we were going to handle it. My wife has very limited walking endurance and uses a folding mobility scooter. It folds to the size of a suitcase, weighs 65 pounds and was on our car in the lower-level baggage storage area. We needed to get from the train, to baggage claim, to Metropolitan Lounge for a “pit stop” and out to the street to catch a taxi.
Well, our guiding angel was there waiting for us as we got off the train – a wonderful Red Cap by the name of Brittany. She took us to the baggage claim and retrieved our baggage for us, then to the Metropolitan Lounge and waited. Then she took (and showed us) to the elevator and door out to Jackson Street and hailed a taxi of suitable size (mini-SUV) for us! The door was at 444 W. Jackson where we would re-enter the station the next day to catch the Cardinal east. Brittany gets even better! She gives me her cellphone number and says to text her when we are headed back to Union Station the next day.
Tuesday afternoon, September 24, on the way to Union Station I texted Brittany and she was there to greet us when we arrived! She checked our two bags and dropped us off at the Metropolitan Lounge to wait for the Cardinal’s boarding announcement. In talking with her, she knew we were coming back through Chicago in a couple of weeks so said to text her with the dates and she would help us out again. For this and upcoming encounters with Brittany, I tipped as I have never tipped before. By far the most I have tipped so far for Red Cap service. I will also be submitting an “Employee Praise” to Amtrak.
When boarding began for the Cardinal, Brittany was not on duty and we had a different Redcap which was ok. Except, and this is weird, he had my wife drive her scooter behind the Redcap cart out to the train while I rode in the cart with three other people and our carry-on bags. There was not enough room for both of us to ride. We were kind of apprehensive about this, but it worked out ok.
We boarded train #50, the Cardinal, and got settled into Room B in the 5000 car, Viewliner II #62516. Our SCA was Bateman who was helpful and courteous. We highballed Chicago on time at 5:55 PM and headed east to Alexandria, VA. We quickly encountered track work out of Chicago and were 52 minutes late departing the first stop of Dyer, Indiana.
On the point was AMTK 519 (P32BWH Dash 8) with AMTK 123 (P42) trailing.
The Flex menu dinner and other meals were nothing to write home about! We ate in our room. I later received a survey from Amtrak about food on the Cardinal and let them know my feelings!
A feature in the Viewliner bedroom, that is not on the Superliner, is the presence of a “grab bar” mounted on the ceiling to facilitate getting in and out of the upper bunk and using the ladder. A feature greatly appreciated as it makes the process a bit safer. I had not noticed that before and I wish it was on the Superliner sleepers too.
We arrived Indianapolis (IND) 25 minutes late at 12:14 AM. While in Indianapolis AMTK 519, the Dash 8, was removed from the train leaving AMTK 123 as the leader for the remainder of the trip. The Dash 8 was likely headed to Beech Grove.
Wednesday, September 25, morning went well with an enjoyable ride through the New River Gorge. Enjoyable except for the filthy windows that prevented taking any good photos!
We arrived in Alexandria, VA (ALX) 57 minutes late at 7:24 PM. ALX is the stop before Washington, DC. A taxi ride took us to the Hilton Mark Center where we spent the night. That hotel has an Avis/Budget office there where we had a car reserved for driving down to our Son’s home in Southern Maryland and for our Civil War battlefield sightseeing in Eastern Virginia.
