Cardinal WB trip planned for late May - what to expect?

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jshell

jshell

Train Attendant
Joined
Sep 16, 2013
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56
Location
SLC
It's been about a year and a half since my last cross-country train trip and I got itching to do a new one and came up with a plan that I hope works out: taking a red-eye flight from home (Salt Lake) to DCA airport via Charlotte NC. It should get into DCA by 9AM and the flight has a good on-time record. From there I plan on taking the metro to Union Station to catch the 11:05 am Cardinal to Chicago with a roomette, traveling alone. This is on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend.

I chose the Cardinal as it's been a long time (and only through the windows of a moving truck) since I've experience the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, so a chance to revisit my old state of Virginia but see parts I haven't seen at all or haven't seen in 15+ years seems nice.

So what to expect of the train? I understand it's a small one and is a Viewliner. Have the long expected Viewliner II's started showing up yet?

More importantly - what to expect of the lounge/diner? The last Viewliner I did was from Florida and the meals were fine but I didn't spend much time lounging (spent most of my time in my car recuperating from a wild weekend in St Pete). If my roomette is on the wrong side of the train for views, is the lounge area decent enough to cover for it? I'm mostly used to Superliners here...

Anyways, it should a be a fun trip, including my third Zephyr trip out of Chicago (plus a few more times from Denver to Salt Lake).
 
I realize that you may have a time limitation on your travel, but the idea of connecting from a red eye flight and with only a couple of hours to the train in DC is a risky idea. If you are really intent on doing this, you could also board that train in Alexandria. Otherwise, you are making me tired thinking about it. If it was me ( and I am retired ) I would leave a day earlier and stay a night in DC. I have ridden the Cardinal twice eastbound, which is usually agreed to be the better direction for scenery, although I hope to ride it westbound sometime. The food service isn't all bad, but it is a minimalist diner. No, the new Viewliner sleepers are not on the scene yet, which apparently will be awhile longer. The existing ones are comfortable, but in need of a rehab. The train rides of the Cardinal and CZ are certainly worthwhile, but I would avoid putting yourself through the wringer.
 
Nice trip, everyone should ride the Card while they can! Hopefully your flight will be on time. You might want to consider catching the train in Alexandria if time is tight!

The Cardinal only carries one Viewliner I Sleeper ( the new IIs won't be around until at least 2016) so chances are the consist will have the Sleeper with the Vestibule facing forward towards the Diner Lite. ( combo Diner and Lounge car)

The Diner Lite serves as both Diner and Cafe/Lounge with 1 Attendant for each half. The Diner LSA serves as LSA, Wait person,Cook and Busperson. The food is heated in a Convection oven and is OK, nothing special. I found lunch to be the best meal served on the Card!

The Cafe/Lounge half of the Car does neither job well. The few tables that are in the cafe are usually full and the small windows make sightseeing difficult!

Your best bet is to use your Roomette as your sightseeing venue since the double windows give you more light and viewing area. You didn't indicate which Roomette you had ( odd or even) so hopefully you'll be in the left side for the New River Gorge. Hopefully the train will run on time as it gets dark West of the New River Gorge.

This train used to run Superliners which had the Sightseer Lounge, and in the fall it occasionally has Ocean View in the consist, Amtrak's only Dome Car, which is much better than the current consist!

FYI: Eastbound #50 from CHI- WAS is the best direction to ride this train, you get more daylight in WVA and VA.
 
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All I can say is that I personally would not cut it that close. It takes 30 minutes just to get from the airport to Union. Say 15 minutes to get from gate to the subway. And then maybe 5 minutes to get from the subway to the train. You're only leaving an hour and ten minutes leeway. I'm all for taking chances and cutting it close when it comes to traveling, but that really seems a bit close. And if you're checking a bag on either the plane or train, I don't think you have much of a chance.

Assuming you're flying USAirways, at least consider taking the flight that gets in to DCA at 8:01am. Same departure from SLC, but earlier departure from CLT. I see that your actual arrival is 8:41, but still, I wouldn't chance it. Fly the CRJ instead of the A319, and get in earlier for the same price. That's what I would do.

Just remember that if that is the one day the flight is delayed, or there's issues with the metro, and you miss the train? You lose every dollar you paid for the fare, unless you manage to cancel the ticket before the train departs, and then you may have to pay a higher fare the following day. I wouldn't risk it!
 
I tried purchasing a ticket from Alexandria to Chicago for that same day but I swear that the Cardinal didn't show up as an option. Is there any problem with catching the train there even though my ticket is for WAS-CHI?

I know it's pretty risky to do this, but that's part of what makes it stupid fun. I just didn't want to spend $150 or so for a night in DC but not have time to do anything in DC.

I have travel insurance on the flight. Should I get some for the Amtrak? My thinking is that I could always fall back on the Capitol Limited, somehow.
 
I never leave home without travel insurance... and if my memory serves me and correct me if I am wrong -if you don't get on at your point of origin rest of you trip is cancelled so when you board at the later stop you no longer exist,,,, change the reservation,,,, and as for direction,, west beats east,,,,i would fly to dc and work my way back to chi,,,,,enjoy your trip
 
Oh yeah, I forgot that one has to transfer Metro trains between DCA and Union Station. Screw that, I'll go for Alexandria. I must have done my original search query wrong as the Cardinal showed up today when searching for ALX-CHI on that day (May 22).

Better option: modify reservation by phone or cancel reservation online for an e-voucher so I can re-purchase with travel insurance?
 
I'd say call to modify and ask if you can add the travel insurance too. Otherwise you may be paying a higher rate for your room if you cancel/rebook.
 
I do hope you enjoy your trip. I've done some crazy things in my time, too. I would go out of Alexandria, which is a nice station. Good luck.
 
jshell said:
Oh yeah, I forgot that one has to transfer Metro trains between DCA and Union Station. Screw that, I'll go for Alexandria. I must have done my original search query wrong as the Cardinal showed up today when searching for ALX-CHI on that day (May 22).

Better option: modify reservation by phone or cancel reservation online for an e-voucher so I can re-purchase with travel insurance?
Click to expand...
I just want to point out that the transfer from a DC Metro Yellow Line train to a Red Line train at Gallery Place is easy. Just have to go up 1 level on the escalator or elevator to the Glenmont destination side platform. However, given your seriously tight connection, taking the Metro from National Airport to King St via the next Blue or Yellow Line train is the far better option. Gives you an extra 30 minutes or more for your connection buffer.

From the King St Metro stop, you will have to walk on the sidewalk under the bridge and then up the sidewalk on the north side of the tracks to the Alexandria train station. Double check which platform the Cardinal will be boarding from before the Cardinal pulls in.
 
The Cardinal is a three day overnight train to Chicago. It's single level and probably Amtrak's smallest long distance consist and as Jim said, has a café car set up to substitute for a full diner and only one sleeper. We took a trip on it last year and have a trip booked to CHI later this year. The food menu may not be up to par with the full diner menu but for a breakfast (2), lunch (1) and dinner (1) , we find it acceptable. It also depends on the chef/food server. Last year he was a guy named Craig and did a marvelous job with the convection oven and limited resources that he had to work with, providing fresh fruit and other sides that made the meals good.
 
So what is the viewing experience like? Is there a lounge car or does the diner/cafe car serve that purpose? Is it then all booth tables or are there lounge chairs like on the Superliner? Doing some reading it sounds like the Cardinal sometimes gets a fancy lounge car in the fall for leaf viewing, but what shows up in spring?

Any which way it goes, I'm excited to take this route. I adjusted my reservation last night to get on in Alexandria instead and am excited to see some different scenery past Alexandria (I used to live in Fredericksburg VA and took many NE Corridor trains up and back from DC on the weekends; and had a kick last year passing through Fredericksburg on a Silver Something sleeper from Florida).
 
No lounge car, just the diner/cafe with booths. 1/2 car is diner, 1/2 car is cafe. Unlikely to have a dome car in the spring.
 
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