Second Sleeper Added to the Cardinal in 2 Weeks?

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SubwayNut

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Nov 17, 2011
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Curious if anyone knows how many Sleepers the Cardinal is normally running these days?

I'm doing a quick old AGR redemption dash (flying out there) in a couple weeks ABQ-NYP. I assumed I would be on the LSL most likely, since a sleeper on the Cardinal is impossible to get, although I flirted with going CL to the Star to either SAV or JAX and booking an evening flight that night home (for as low as $60ish one-way from SAV, with its terrible flight times when I looked a week ago, there gone now, $99 from JAX). Hopefully I'll get one more long 2-Zone redemption trip before these end, although I'm looking forward using the rest of my points on Shorter legs like NYP-CHI, I'm much more of a one night on the train at time, liking to make stops kind of guy.

Tonight I tentatively finalized my plans (going to miss the free changes on AGR reservations a lot), checked the website, and low and behind a Roomette had opened on the Cardinal (someone must have canceled, I thought, as of last night it was sold out)! I immediately called and booked. Sticker price was $1,304 6.5¢ per point, quite a good rate.

I was given Car 5001|Room 2, I just checked again and its listing full Roomette availability and 2 Bedrooms (both sold out as of Wednesday night) so it appears I didn't get a cancelation but Amtrak just added another

The sad part is I might me needing to be home the day before and might have to give up that Cardinal Roomette for the LSL (with only dining car breakfast and lunch), hopefully I can still find a last minute sleeper east.

Redemptions and making changes I'm going to miss come January.
 
Thanks for the tip! I just modified my AGR redemption to take the Crescent 50 on my trip from San Antonio to Charlottesville in early Oct. Last week when I made the reservation there was no availability on the Cardinal so I had to take the Capital Ltd. This will likely be my last opportunity to ride the Cardinal in a sleeper due to Cost.

Did Amtrak add a sleeper? I don't know. 50 & 51 have been running with 2 sleepers since beginning of April. Who knows what the end date is supposed to be. Last year they ran 2 sleepers from 4th of July until November.
 
The two Cardinal Sleepers have been a 6 month option for the last few years. While it makes it easier to find sleeper availaibility the sleepers on that train, sleepers are priced exhorbitantly high for an overnight run to Chicago. The old AGR system would make it possible to ride this train at an affordable price ( we always purchased extra points) but with the new AGR system, our next trip on it will be our last. For a small train without a dining car, it overpriced.and the sleepers are really beat up. On our early August trip the bedroom rug was filthy, the light in the toilet/shower was out the entire trip and the A/C went out half way to CHI on the 5100 car. . Its insulting to pay high prices to ride on filthy beat up substandard equipment. .Iowa Pacific where are you?
 
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Yep, Iowa Pacific would be perfect tacked on to the back of the Card!

As for the ratty Viewliners, all of them are getting long in the tooth and need to be completely rehabbed( I have no problem with the Toliet in the Roomettes) if and when the New VL IIs are ever put into service???

Same thing for the Superliner IIs! My last Sleeper on the Eagle had a plaque that said " Lincoln slept here!"
 
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Thanks for the tip! I just modified my AGR redemption to take the Crescent 50 on my trip from San Antonio to Charlottesville in early Oct. Last week when I made the reservation there was no availability on the Cardinal so I had to take the Capital Ltd. This will likely be my last opportunity to ride the Cardinal in a sleeper due to Cost.

Did Amtrak add a sleeper? I don't know. 50 & 51 have been running with 2 sleepers since beginning of April. Who knows what the end date is supposed to be. Last year they ran 2 sleepers from 4th of July until November.
Is 2 sleepers normal for LD trains? How many sleepers are on most LD trains?
 
All single level overnight LD trains except the Card have at least two Sleepers all year round. The Meteor and the LSL have three all year round. Of course of LSL's three one goes to Boston and two to New York.
 
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As for the ratty Viewliners, all of them are getting long in the tooth and need to be completely rehabbed( I have no problem with the Toliet in the Roomettes) if and when the New VL IIs are ever put into service???
We can only hope that a complete update of the 50 Viewliner I sleepers with either new modules or rebuilt modules to match the new Viewliner II configuration will be in the plans and that Amtrak has the capital funds available after all the Viewliner IIs are delivered. With the tight federal funding levels, however, a Viewliner I upgrade program could be stalled for years.

Since the new Viewliner II sleepers will have 11 roomettes instead of 12, we shall see if Amtrak follows through on plans to have attendents support more than one Viewliner sleeper car (mainly, have 2 LSAs for 3 cars) to reclaim a roomette for revenue service.
 
Why would anyone take the Cardinal from CHI-WAS? You've heard of the Capitol Limited right?
Umm, because someone might want to see different scenery, is not in a hurry, or the Cardinal rooms were cheaper than the CL that day.
Besides, the CL is only running CHI to PGH this weekend with a bus running from PGH to WAS due to a CSX bridge replacement or maintenance project shutting the line down.
 
I really did not think about these deep pros and cons, which I think are mostly things to fill up idle minds. :p . I just figured I hadn't been on the Cardinal for a while and so decided to grab the opportunity with a good fare. This trip is entirely just to ride the Cardinal. Got a very low air fare from Orlando to Chicago and from Washington back to Orlando this weekend. Got complementary upgrades on both and got reasonable roomette fare on the Card. So I am all set for the typical long weekend.

I will do a similar trip but to the UK over Thanksgiving (the next long weekend) to mostly ride around on the Eurostar and a few other trains that I have not been on in a while, and also meetup with a few cousins. Long weekends for me are for flying and riding around on trains in various places. :)
 
Why would anyone take the Cardinal from CHI-WAS? You've heard of the Capitol Limited right?
Umm, because someone might want to see different scenery, is not in a hurry, or the Cardinal rooms were cheaper than the CL that day.
Besides, the CL is only running CHI to PGH this weekend with a bus running from PGH to WAS due to a CSX bridge replacement or maintenance project shutting the line down.
Well Subway Nut just paid $1,304 for a roomette on the Cardinal so either the CL really, really is expensive or the Cardinal isn't cheaper.
 
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