Midwest/Northeast loop - Wolverine/Cardinal/NER/LSL

[thully]

I'm taking a trip that is basically a "loop" - no overnights or stops longer than a few hours. The reason is I've been wantingd to take some LD trains (particularly the Cardinal), but didn't have time to plan a trip around it. Also, the Card's schedule makes it hard to plan anything around it.

My trip is as follows:

#351 Wolverine - ARB-CHI

#50 Cardinal - CHI-WAS

#66 Northeast Regional - WAS-BOS

#449 Lake Shore Limited - BOS-TOL

Thruway bus TOL-ARB

Anyway, I began my journey from the Ann Arbor station around 8am, at which point I boarded #351 to CHI. Lots of passengers boarding at ARB as usual, most of them headed for CHI. At the station they were making announcements to alert everyone of the Norfolk Southern delays that will likely add 90 minutes to our trip. I of course knew about this - if not for the delays, I'd be taking #353 to CHI to connect to the Cardinal rather than #351. The trip has been rather uneventful, except for the aforementioned Norfolk Southern delays - I've been in the cafe/lounge car most of the time (a sightseer lounge would be really nice about now - unfortunately all of my trains this trip are using single-level equipment and as such won't have the SSL). The Wolverine does seem to be using its usual Horizon consist on this trip - not surprising, though I was hoping they might still be using some Superliners as they sometimes do in the winter months (though the last couple weeks hardly qualified as winter, even before the official start of spring- temps have been as high as 84 degrees here!).

More updates to come...

 

[Bob Dylan]

Looking forward to your Reports on the Really Good Routes that you have upcoming! ( Ive ridden the Wolvernine between CHI and Detroit many times, find the 2x1 Seating in the Cafe/Biz Class Car to be well worth the $$$!!)

 

[thully]

Just left Chicago on the Cardinal. During my layover, I went and grabbed some pizza at Giordano's (which has been mentioned numerous times on this board) and proceeded to check out the Sears/Willis Tower Skydeck. Unfortunately, it was foggy, so hard to really see anything. After killing a little more time, I finally made my way back to Union Station to prepare to board the Cardinal. We lined up 15-20 minutes prior to departure - as I boarded the train, I noticed that what appeared to be 353 (Wolverine) had arrived right before we boarded the Cardinal. As that train is usually given as a connection for MI passengers to the Cardinal, it's a good thing they are putting connecting passengers on 351 instead now that Norfolk Southern is forcing them to slow the trains once again.

As for the Cardinal itself, the train is pretty full - the passengers around me all seem to be headed to NEC destinations. I tried to do an on-board sleeper upgrade, hoping that someone no-showed at CHI (when I booked, there was nothing available). No such luck - though I've slept in coach plenty before (my final leg will be a sleeper, though). The single-level coaches are more spacious than the Horizon cars on the Wolverine (and generally quite similar to a Superliner save for the lack of a second level). I do really miss the Sightseer Lounge, though - wish they would make them for single-level trains...

 

[thully]

Just finished dinner in the Cardinal's diner-lounge - I must say that that thing definitely seems tiny (at least the space used for dining) compared to the full diners on the western LD trains and even the CONO's diner-lounge (which was basically only used as a diner, since there was also a cafe/SSL car on the train). They didn't come around and take reservations from the coach passengers as they normally do on the western LD trains (at least the SWC and SL, which I've been on).

However, when I went down there under the impression that it was first-come, first-serve (like the CONO), they wanted a reservation - and when I told them that they never asked in the coaches, they basically implied that the diner was for the sleepers and maybe they'd be able to fit me in. They were able to, but I overheard someone talking negatively about coach passengers wanting to eat. They did seem to be short many items (which may perhaps be the reason for this) but in any case they should have handled it better...

Right now, we're between Rensselaer, IN and Lafayette, IN right now. Quite a bumpy ride at the moment - if this was an airplane they would definitely have turned on the seat belt light by now. In any case, that's it for today - tomorrow will come the more scenic part of the ride,as well as Washington DC and the #66 Northeast Regional (I'll be in BC on that one, so I'm hoping it will be a nicer sleeping experience than in coach).

 

[Tony]

Thully,

What time did you arrive in Chicago? Neither the Amtrak Status website nor the Amtrak website show an arrival time. Was there a problem after Kalamazoo, or is this just a reporting problem?

Enjoy your trip.

Thanks.

 

[thully]

No problems after Kalamazoo - we arrived in Chicago around 12:30 CT (actually making up a little time between KAL and CHI)...

 

[thully]

An update from #50-

I slept OK in coach, but not great (as usual). I don't remember any stops from when I was sleeping, which is a good sign (on the SL back in January I remember how noisy the Tucson stop was.... In any case, the trip today has been good, with the exception of the dining car (or lack thereof for coach passengers). They do let a few coach passengers eat in the diner-lite, but it is an unorganized free-for-all that basically makes it the luck of the draw whether you will get in (I did for dinner, didn't for breakfast, and passed on lunch after a few items sold out).. Saw some other people in the same predicament - most of us just ended up using the cafe car.

The New River Gorge was great - we saw some good views of it out the windows in the lounge car. I can imagine that it would be great to ride this route when it has the Dome car on it (or when the route ran CHI-WAS with Superliner equipment including a SSL)! I took a few pictures of the river/rocks while we passed.. Right now, we are outside Staunton, VA - delayed quite a bit due to various issues and having to wait for several trains to pass (including the WB Cardinal #51). At this rate, we are going to be delayed a couple hours at least heading into DC - right now were looking at around an 8:45 arrival. Hopefully I make the connection to #66 at WAS - if not, it sounds like I'll end up staying on this to NYP and making the connection there over the layover (unless we're REALLY delayed).

 

[thully]

The rest of the ride went pretty much the same - we suffered a few more delays, though. I thought about trying to get dinner in the diner, but decided not to bother due to the fact that they seemed to be running out of options fast (and it seemed like I'd practically have to talk them into letting me eat). I wasn't alone in my frustration about the dining situation - I saw at least one other coach passenger visibly complaining about it (and I don't blame them). I was hoping to just get something in the station at WAS, but as the delays dragged on I decided I'd best just get something from the cafe car. At 6:30, still well outside of WAS, I got there and found they were almost out of hot food items - I had their very last serving of chicken tenders. Soon after this we started moving much faster than before - it felt like I was riding a NE Regional instead of the usually-slow Cardinal (which is parttially explained by the fact that there are Regionals that run on this particular section between CVS and WAS).In the end, we were about 3:15 late into WAS - arriving 45 minutes before #66 was due to depart.

As such, I basically made my way from the Cardinal to the gate at which #66 passengers were waiting (that being the only train departing any time in the near future). We boarded on time and made our way to the train - I was in the 2/1 business class. I then went to sleep (as best I could) for most of the duration of the trip - laying down somewhere around BAL and waking up somewhere around Route 128 (though I briefly woke up at Providence before that). I slept OK, but not great - basically in line with how I sleep in LD coach. Not sure how coach would have been...

After arriving at South Station, I made my way to the ClubAcela, where I'm waiting for my sleeper on the LSL to Toledo (where I connect to a thruway bus back to Michigan). All in all, I was a bit disappointed by the Cardinal - the gorge was neat, but the service on-board was a huge letdown. That's basically the opposite of my trip on the Sunset Limited - where the scenery was pretty barren but the service great (even in coach!) If I do take it again, I'll probably have to go sleeper and/or do it when they have a dome car (I want to catch that when they start operating it again - unfortunately its trip on the Wolverine last fall was at a bad time).

For future EB trips I'll probably stick with the LSL and CL - the scenery is still nice (particularly on the CL eastbound when experienced from the SSL), they have a full diner, and it is a far more direct trip from ARB (the extra time for the Card would be worth it if the train experience were better, but it isn't...). I figure my next trip will likely be sometime around Memorial Day, and I think I'll likely take the CL east and LSL west (as that is best for timing to/from ARB/TOL on the current schedule - the 5 hr layover for LSL EB is killer).

 

[thully]

All in all, the LSL was a good way to end my trip - particularly in a sleeper. Boarded on-time at BOS, and soon after made our way to the cafe car for lunch. The choices were likited, so I just picked whatever sounded best. I ended up bein seated alone for this meal (and dinner too), which was a little disappointing. After a few hours of rolling through Massachusetts, we pulled into ALB a full hour ahead of schedule. I just sat in my room for the duration - it was weird to feel the pulls and pushes as they moved the train around.

Eventually, we finally got moving, at which time I (as well as all the other BOS section passengers) went to dinner. It was definitely a long walk - had to go through the BOS coaches, the cafe car, and the NYP coaches before finally reaching the dining car. The car looked very unlike any I remember seeing before - it had green chairs and looked liked it may be a bit older than the usual diners. I had the steak, which ended up being pretty good. After dinner, I had my very first AmShower and had the bed made up to go to sleep early (I wanted to get as much sleep as possible given the 5:55am arrival into TOL). I slept reasonably well - not as good as in my own bed, but definitely better than coach.

After waking up, I checked and saw that we were in fact running on time into TOL - evidently this one did not live up to the "Late Shore Limited" nickname. A little delay would have been OK, honestly - if we had one, I would have been able to eat breakfast in the diner (on my last LSL trip, this is what happened). I got off the train on time and onto the waiting bus to ARB, which waited a while for some further connecting passengers (from the sounds of it, the CL was late and had not yet arrived in TOL when we got there). At 6:30, we finally left for ARB, though the LSL was still sitting in TOL (word was that something happened in IN with a freight train that was delaying departure). So maybe it would be the Late Shore Limited after all - just not for me... The driver gave us a mini-tour of Toledo on the way out, which I found somewhat amusing.

All in all, a decent trip, though it could have been better (particularly the segment on the Cardinal). I will say that I am still partial to the Superliners (and particularly the accompanying SSL) - I think my next trip will likely have to involve one...

 

[railbuck]

I got off the train on time and onto the waiting bus to ARB, which waited a while for some further connecting passengers (from the sounds of it, the CL was late and had not yet arrived in TOL when we got there). At 6:30, we finally left for ARB, though the LSL was still sitting in TOL (word was that something happened in IN with a freight train that was delaying departure). So maybe it would be the Late Shore Limited after all - just not for me... The driver gave us a mini-tour of Toledo on the way out, which I found somewhat amusing.

More details on the freight derailment and its impact on Amtrak ops:

http://www.trainorde...d.php?4,2724593

Looks like your train ended up taking the MI detour. The CL did depart TOL before you arrived, but terminated in Bryan.