I found myself with a free day and thought I would take advantage of the double points promo and do my very first points run. Doing a points run is not that easy for me because my closest station only has a train three days a week. So, I drove over to Charlottesville and booked a NER from Charlottesville to Culpepper (the next stop) and the return on the Cardinal from Culpepper to Charlottesville. I had never ridden the Cardinal because it is usually more expensive than the regionals, but booked it today because it provided a shorter turn around time (25 minutes) than the regionals.
As usual, lots of people boarded at Charlottesville on a very sunny and crisp morning. It arrived and we left pretty much on time and as soon as they took my ticket, I tried out the wifi. Worked pretty well in Charlottesville but had spotty coverage as we sped into the countryside. The day was very pretty and though past peak, there was still lots of color to see on the trees. We pulled into Culpepper right on time and I was the only person getting off, but there were about twenty people getting on. The train left and I explored the area around the station. It is very nice area and the station looks very good. Right on cue, we heard the Cardinal approaching and it pulled in with about five people boarding. I went ahead and sat in the lounge (diner-lite) and stayed there for the short return since I could not find an open window seat in coach and I wanted to grab some lunch. Off we went and I was surprised that the Cardinal does not follow the same route as the regionals between the two towns. I did not know that but it was a pleasant surprise as I got to see much prettier scenery, in my opinion. I did notice that it does run a little slower on these tracks.
The crews on both trains were very nice and pleasant, not at all surly. I overheard lots of interesting conversation including a man telling a woman that Amtrak was a subsidiary of CSX
hboy:
It was a pleasant way to spend my free day. Here is a video of the ride on the regionals and the Cardinal pulling into Culpepper, if you are interested in seeing what the countryside looks like in Central Virginia. Sun glare was very bad today, so video is not great quality.
As usual, lots of people boarded at Charlottesville on a very sunny and crisp morning. It arrived and we left pretty much on time and as soon as they took my ticket, I tried out the wifi. Worked pretty well in Charlottesville but had spotty coverage as we sped into the countryside. The day was very pretty and though past peak, there was still lots of color to see on the trees. We pulled into Culpepper right on time and I was the only person getting off, but there were about twenty people getting on. The train left and I explored the area around the station. It is very nice area and the station looks very good. Right on cue, we heard the Cardinal approaching and it pulled in with about five people boarding. I went ahead and sat in the lounge (diner-lite) and stayed there for the short return since I could not find an open window seat in coach and I wanted to grab some lunch. Off we went and I was surprised that the Cardinal does not follow the same route as the regionals between the two towns. I did not know that but it was a pleasant surprise as I got to see much prettier scenery, in my opinion. I did notice that it does run a little slower on these tracks.
The crews on both trains were very nice and pleasant, not at all surly. I overheard lots of interesting conversation including a man telling a woman that Amtrak was a subsidiary of CSX
hboy:It was a pleasant way to spend my free day. Here is a video of the ride on the regionals and the Cardinal pulling into Culpepper, if you are interested in seeing what the countryside looks like in Central Virginia. Sun glare was very bad today, so video is not great quality.
