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B

Bill

Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 12, 2006
Messages
126
Location
Cincinnati OH
Mother in law just brought up a possible trip this winter for us,Cincinnati to Orlando but I know I would take the Cardinal east but where should we,and what train or trains should we take to get to Orlando..and back.An over nite stay along the way is fine as time is not important to catch the next train.We want roomettes only...no coach if possible.
 
Good luck! The Cardinal is sold out the rest of the year! :eek: According to fellow AU member the_traveler. We had that conversation on NTD. But we were wondering if it was just sleepers or coach or both. :huh: Don't know if it's still true or not. Anyway sleeping accommodations are always hard to come by on 50 and 51 unless you book well in advance.

You would have to overnight in WAS on your dime though! As I believe the connection between the Cardinal and the SM is not a guaranteed connection.

My advice pick your dates and see if you can find some rooms between CIN and WAS ASAP! Like I said rooms are hard to come by!
 
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If you take the Cardinal, you will have a Thruway bus connection directly from the Cardinal in Charlottesville (VA) to Richmond (VA) to connect to the Silvers. (I forget which offhand.) The Cardinal arrives in WAS after that Silver train departs, so that is not an option. If you did want to pay for the overnight in WAS (or even BAL, WIL, PHL, NWK or NYP), use the "Multi City" screen to book.
 
the_traveler said:
If you take the Cardinal, you will have a Thruway bus connection directly from the Cardinal in Charlottesville (VA) to Richmond (VA) to connect to the Silvers. (I forget which offhand.) The Cardinal arrives in WAS after that Silver train departs, so that is not an option. If you did want to pay for the overnight in WAS (or even BAL, WIL, PHL, NWK or NYP), use the "Multi City" screen to book.
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Forgot about that option. I would imagine the Meteor as the meteor departs later in the day. Good call Dave!
 
Acela150 said:
the_traveler said:
If you take the Cardinal, you will have a Thruway bus connection directly from the Cardinal in Charlottesville (VA) to Richmond (VA) to connect to the Silvers. (I forget which offhand.) The Cardinal arrives in WAS after that Silver train departs, so that is not an option. If you did want to pay for the overnight in WAS (or even BAL, WIL, PHL, NWK or NYP), use the "Multi City" screen to book.
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Forgot about that option. I would imagine the Meteor as the meteor departs later in the day. Good call Dave!
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It is the Meteor. In November, I am taking the Cardinal home from Chicago (from NOL). Dave is correct, there is a thruway connection that will connect with the Silver Meteor in Richmond (after dinner). I have taken the Cardinal westbound, but not eastbound because of the thruway, but this time I decided to bit the bullet and take a bus ride in exchange for great sceney in daylight.

Try Amsnag to see if there are any roomettes available at any time this year.
 
Acela150 said:
Ryan said:
C-ville to Richmond is a very nice (and short) drive on I-64...
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How short? :huh:
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I'm not driving the bus, so I don't care!
mosking.gif
 
I was doing 72 in a 65, on a clear and dry Saturday morning with no traffic on the road. I was also in my dress whites, having just come off duty on the ship and was on the way to Blacksburg to swear in a good friend who was getting his commission that day in the Army. Even in late 2003, at the height of the "support our troops" movement none of that made a difference to the trooper who diligently wrote me up for being 7 over and bid me a good day.

From what I've been told by others with similar stories, the troopers along that stretch of highway are (or at least used to be) just plain mean. The scenery is pretty nice, though - the rolling hills of Virginia are pretty nice.
 
Ryan said:
I was doing 72 in a 65, on a clear and dry Saturday morning with no traffic on the road. I was also in my dress whites, having just come off duty on the ship and was on the way to Blacksburg to swear in a good friend who was getting his commission that day in the Army. Even in late 2003, at the height of the "support our troops" movement none of that made a difference to the trooper who diligently wrote me up for being 7 over and bid me a good day.

From what I've been told by others with similar stories, the troopers along that stretch of highway are (or at least used to be) just plain mean. The scenery is pretty nice, though - the rolling hills of Virginia are pretty nice.
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Was it a state trooper, Ryan? They were notorious in Farmville/Hampden-Sydney, and I've just always assumed the demeanor propagated state-wide (including Blacksburg/Tech). 64 is one of their favorite stretches, as is 460, at least as far as I know/recall.

Rafi
 
Ryan said:
I was doing 72 in a 65, on a clear and dry Saturday morning with no traffic on the road. I was also in my dress whites, having just come off duty on the ship and was on the way to Blacksburg to swear in a good friend who was getting his commission that day in the Army. Even in late 2003, at the height of the "support our troops" movement none of that made a difference to the trooper who diligently wrote me up for being 7 over and bid me a good day.

From what I've been told by others with similar stories, the troopers along that stretch of highway are (or at least used to be) just plain mean. The scenery is pretty nice, though - the rolling hills of Virginia are pretty nice.
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SEVEN miles an hour OVER? And you got a ticket? What was the fine?
I'll have to keep that in mind when driving in VA. I know I watch my speed when I'm on the Ohio Turnpike too, but some of that comes just from being raised in A2!

I just got back from court for 83 in a 65 on I-95, and was fined $160, but no points, since it was my first moving violation.

I chatted for some time with the trooper, (my wife used to work for the State Police, civilian) and he told me that as long as you were under NINE miles an hour over the 65mph speed limit, it would be "highly unlikely" any MD state trooper would issue a ticket.
 
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Yep, it was a state trooper - amazing that I never got a ticket in 4 years of flying up and down 81 between Blacksburg and Maryland while in college, but get one 2 years after graduation for something as crappy as that.

rrdude said:
I just got back from court for 83 in a 85 on I-95, and was fined $160, but no points, since it was my first moving violation.
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All that for 2 under? ;) I was rather surprised as well - I wasn't looking for a free pass or anything, but when the officer asked me where I was headed, I told him exactly where I was coming from and headed to (I even think that I dropped in that I was freshly home from deployment, which was also true). I got the impression that he'd gladly ticket his own mother if given the opportunity! I think that the fine was under $100, and any points never found their way to my PA drivers license, so it wasn't the end of the world. Just confirmed my opinion of everything of the good commonwealth (with the exception of a 20 mile circle around Blacksburg ;) ).
 
You know - you should be able to tke the Cardinal all the way to Alexandria, VA (no bus), and then hop on the southbound Silver Meteor at 7:45 PM. There is a 2.5 hour window to allow for a late Cardinal. The problem would be - if the Cardinal was really late - then you would need a ticket for the bus. The bus gets to RVR about 4 hours prior to the Meteor.

So the bus bridge gives you a 4 hour safety net, more if the Meteor is running late. The Alexandria idea allows about two hours - maybe 2 and a half.

But I prefer the Alexandria staion, and very nice places to eat right on King Street.

*add to that, I really enjoy the scenic ride on the Cardinal from Charlottesville to Alexandria - at least to Burke Station area (no stop there). From there east is mostly urban scenes.
 
I'd agree with my dad on the Alexandria bit. I imagine if you were more than two hours late, you could get the bus driver at Charlottesville to let you buy a ticket on the spot, and then board 97 in Richmond (it doesn't arrive southbound until 9:40pm). As best I understand, that is a typically 50 seat bus and it rarely carries more than 15 or 20 passengers. If you want, you could call James River Bus Lines, who operates it, and see if they would be willing to sell you a ticket on the spot in a pinch. It cannot hurt to ask, and I bet they would work with you.

Ryan, your ticket story is compelling - I have a good friend who works Louisa and Goochland county on I-64, about half the mileage between Charlottesville and Richmond, and he told me he started writing service members tickets about two years back, because he was so disturbed by having to clean up terrible accidents by navy guys racing to Norfolk at 90 plus. He said that on weekends, especially Sunday nights, the preponderance of DOA's are navy guys headed to Norfolk, often single vehicle accidents, that lose control due to speed and fatigue. It makes him feel worse to hit them, but he's seen such carnage that it feels like its the right thing to do, and hopes that word will get out among them to slow down out there.

I am not implying that you guys are worse drivers - and seven over is a joke (my bud only bothers with over 80mph, which in VA is reckless). Just wanted to pass that along. That is one stretch that the uniform doesn't help a lot.
 
spidersfan351 said:
If you want, you could call James River Bus Lines, who operates it, and see if they would be willing to sell you a ticket on the spot in a pinch.
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While it is true that the bus is owned and operated by James River Bus Lines, it would do no good to call them, as they are contracted by Amtrak to provide this Thruway bus service. You would have to contact Amtrak.

This would be similar (although opposite) to you calling the President of Toyota to buy a car in your home town. Even though your local dealer is a Toyota dealer, would you call Toyota HQ?
huh.gif


Besides, if (for some reason) James River Bus Lines wrote you the ticket:

  1. You would not get the 100 AGR points for the Thruway bus, and
  2. If you had a sleeper out of ALX, you may find it sold as an on board upgrade, since you did not board at ALX and Amtrak did not know you would board down the line. Thus when the train gets to RVR, you may find that you have no sleeper, and if the train is sold out, no coach seat either!
    ohmy.gif
 
the_traveler said:
spidersfan351 said:
If you want, you could call James River Bus Lines, who operates it, and see if they would be willing to sell you a ticket on the spot in a pinch.
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While it is true that the bus is owned and operated by James River Bus Lines, it would do no good to call them, as they are contracted by Amtrak to provide this Thruway bus service. You would have to contact Amtrak.

This would be similar (although opposite) to you calling the President of Toyota to buy a car in your home town. Even though your local dealer is a Toyota dealer, would you call Toyota HQ?
huh.gif


Besides, if (for some reason) James River Bus Lines wrote you the ticket:

  1. You would not get the 100 AGR points for the Thruway bus, and
  2. If you had a sleeper out of ALX, you may find it sold as an on board upgrade, since you did not board at ALX and Amtrak did not know you would board down the line. Thus when the train gets to RVR, you may find that you have no sleeper, and if the train is sold out, no coach seat either!
    ohmy.gif
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Dave, how do you think it would work in the opposite situation. If the Cardinal were on time, and instead of getting off at Charlottesville to take the bus to Richmond, you stayed on until Alexandria and then boarded the Meteor. I may have answered my own question. You run a risk that something will happen between Charlottesville and Alexandria and if you are more than 2 hours late and the Meteor is on time, you are SOL. Do you agree?
 
Besides the risk that something could happen between CVS and ALX, there are 2 other problems I see.

  1. You will not have a ticket to ride CVS-ALX, and
  2. You will nor have a ticket (and a sleeper at that) to ride from ALX to RVR
 
What if you were on AGR - and they permitted the Alexander destination to chg to Silver Meteor? After all - it meets their requirement - over two hours to make a connection. If it is late you simply take the bus bridge - just like on the CS and the EB in Oregon.
 
There is no way to re-ticket you while you're on board the train.

The bus bridge between the CS & the EB is not a regularly scheduled event, it's a special event that happens from time to time when the train is late. Therefore the driver doesn't require a ticket from you when you board. That is not the case here, this is a regularly scheduled bus bridge that has a special fare to use and therefore needs a ticket.

When you board the Cardinal, your tickets will take you through ALX. If things go wrong, there is no way to re-issue new tickets while you're enroute.
 
Ok this is starting to sound complicated,what if we were to just plan on going to DC and spend the night,what's a double go for in DC near the station. This will be in late january or early february of 2012.Which train would we take to Orlando,this trip is for the sake of the train and seeing scenery.No time schedule...just new miles as we have taken the west ld trains many times and would like a change of pace:) to the east and south.
 
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