Cardinal in March

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savoirfaire

savoirfaire

Train Attendant
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
68
Location
Bowie, MD
Hello AU!

So, I am a veteran of quite a few different routes, but in March the intrepid spouse and I are going to take the Cardinal WAS-CHI to go to CHI-town for St. Patty's day. We have a bedroom (thank you AGR points :D ). Aside from the lousy diner-lite (with lousy french toast) and the propensity for the Card to run very late, what should I expect? BTW, this will be my first Viewliner sleeper experience (but not the wife's).

TIA,

Jerry
 
Other than a brief journey on the Card from Culpepper to Charlottesville, I have never ridden the Card either. I also have a trip on the Card scheduled in March from Staunton to Chicago and then back the next weekend in a bedroom. I am looking forward to the responses.
 
You should expect a great time. My experince on the Card was good and I thought the diner-lite food to be better than the consensus of posters here. I had a crappy no-show SCA but the diner crew was very friendly. The toilets froze in the sleeper and were out much of the trip, still I really enjoyed the trip.

Enjoy the sounds of the jointed rail on the Buckingham Branch section of the trip, you don't get to hear that much anymore.

There won't be any crops in the fields in March so the famland section of the trip should provide some long horizon views, the part that is along the Ohio River is both beautiful and industrial. The Card has a slower pace and a less stressful environment, in my opinion.

Enjoy that top window in the viewliner and enjoy the ride!!!
 
Big Iron said:
The Card has a slower pace and a less stressful environment, in my opinion.
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Seconded. The laid-back attitude aboard this train (shared by its crew, in my experience) is a very nice vacation from the attitude one might encounter aboard a commercial flight, or even a Northeast Regional. The only other train this laid back is a weekend Downeaster, in my experience.

My trip on the Cardinal was easily one of my very favorite Amtrak experiences - and I was in coach the whole way, plus we were four hours late.
 
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Acela150 said:
Lately the card has be running early!!!! But don't get your hopes up. Since your going east get up early and look at the New River Gorge in the morning. Well worth it!
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Um, they're going west on the Card. That means that they hit the gorge hopefully before sunset, but it will be close.
 
Personally I had good service on the Cardinal two years ago, rode it on the way home from Gathering IV in St. Louis. We ran late, but the crew was pretty good. And while the diner-lite isn't the nicest car for dining, the food that I had was pretty good. In fact, I've had worse on a Superliner with a full kitchen.

IMHO, the Card has the best scenery of any Amtrak train east of the Mississippi. That alone makes it worth doing this trip at least once, even if one laments the lack of a full dining car.
 
Thanks All! I am so looking forward to this trip. Alan, I hope the sunlight lasts long enough for me to see the Gorge as well! Maybe a dramatic sunset wouldn't be so bad either...

-Jerry
 
I loved my trip on the Cardinal (October, 2010). I had a great SCA (he was pretty new too) and dinner was was tasty ( I slept through breakfast!). The scenary through Virginia was great and the view in the gorge was amazing, though it got dark pretty early on for me. I turned the lights out in my roomette and blocked all the gaps of light from the corridor that I could, and I could see well enough for way longer than I would've been able to if I were in a lighted room.

I don't know what the bedrooms are like but I love the viewliner roomette, I sleep on the top bunk and have a little living room below, plus the extra space for bags is great, it's like a teeny little house. In general I prefer the superliner, but the viewliner roomette layout would be awesome on a 2 night trip.
 
What is the dinner schedule for the second night of the eastbound Cardinal? I'm ticketed next month MSS-NWK, scheduled departure 4:46pm.
 
I still rate the Cardinal as having the best scenery on the Easy Coast - and it really compares equally to about any Amtrak route in the US. Just no Sightseer - but for that reason, you need a bedroom, or at least a roomette. Then you will at least have a very large picture window - plus a second window above the picture window, which is especially nice in the mountains - you can look up through the second window to see the rocks above you, as well as hawks, mountains, sky, etc...

And I really think that the best scenery on the Cardinal route is from the Culpepper & Charlottesville area to White Sulfur Springs, WV. In fact, I recall reading in a C & O book that I have - that it was along the route near Charlottesville, that the original Railroad (The C & O RY), would often use scenic photos of their passenger trains that were photographed in this region for a lot of their travel and promotion photos. You have nice Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance, with lavish horse farms and cattle grazing along the route.

But I guess that the highlight of the trip is the New River Gorge - the gorge is a very rugged wilderness area, only to be seen on a train - or by whitewater rafting. Certainly plenty to see through the Gorge. There are really no real highways down there - just a few access roads, that go down to the New River.

One other note - just east of Afton, VA - on the crest of the Blue Ridge, there the Railroad is about 1,000 feet above the valley below - a great view. It is rare view from a train, to be riding so high up above a valley. And it is an impressive view. So overall, I most enjoy the ride from the West Virginia line (Allegheny, VA) to Charlottesville, VA,, and my favorite segment is from Clifton Forge, VA to Staunton, VA.
 
abcnews said:
and my favorite segment is from Clifton Forge, VA to Staunton, VA.
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As I will be boarding in Staunton and headed west in less than six weeks, that is nice to hear. Looking forward to it.
 
Acela150 said:
ttSta said:
What is the dinner schedule for the second night of the eastbound Cardinal? I'm ticketed next month MSS-NWK, scheduled departure 4:46pm.
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Dinner starts at 5pm.
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Boarded at CVS at 2:58pm; for this second dinner on board the Cardinal, the first, last and only call is at 4:30. The crew wants the diner vacated (and cleaned) for the 6:06 arrival into Washington.
 
I am taking the train east in Aug, getting on in Indy at midnight (if we don't knock out a bridge again) and am hoping daylight will hit early enough to see some of the things discussed here...
 
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