The Cardinal

[PA Traveler]

We are thinking about planning a trip from Pittsburgh-Chicago-Greenbrier-DC-Pittsburgh (or vice versa). Has anyone traveled on the Cardinal? This is another train that only runs a few days a week.

We would like to spend two nights at the Greenbrier, but I have no idea if we'll be able to get reservations for the first half of August. There aren't any available on line, but I am hoping I might be able to do some through Amtrak. I'll try to call in the next day or two, I could see on line with Amtrak that if I play with the dates, I can probably still get a roomette. What I have going for me is that I can be flexible with my dates, and I'm willing to spend a day or two in Chicago to get a roomette on the CL. We'll have to spend a night in DC no matter the direction we go, but that's fine. It's easy to spend a day there.

We've also talked about doing this in conjunction with The Gathering in Chicago. It might be easier to get reservations at the Greenbrier, but then I remember a huge snow storm that we barely made it home from North Carolina last year about the same time of the year. That is unusual, though.

This has been a crazy year for planning trips. We had to cancel a big Amtrak trip in September for the birth of a grandson. We then set up a cruise to Bermuda that was scheduled to leave on Friday. The ship caught fire two weeks ago, so that ended that. We then thought we would visit friends in Michigan and then go up to the Upper Peninsula and one of them is having major surgery two weeks before we were going, so we are now thinking of a trip on the Cardinal, which has been on our Amtrak bucket list for a few years.

I could use points for a large part of this trip and I see they are having a bonus sale right now, too.

 

[Bronzeman]

Not really sure what you'd like to know. We've taken it a couple times recently CIN-NWK and thoroughly enjoyed it. On the plus side it probably is the most scenic routing in the East (New River Gorge, Blue Ridge, Charlottesville, etc.). The scenery is probably better EB than WB especially if the WB train is running late as you might not reach the New River Bridge until twilight (which comes quickly in the river gorge). The typical consist is heritage baggage, viewliner sleeper, amfleet cafe lounge, and three amfleet II coaches. The two biggest drawbacks are the absence of a true diner (the diner-lite is strictly heat and eat though the OBS makes every effort to make it feel like a diner) and the BBRR. The track is primarily jointed rail and is not nearly up to the condition of the CSX segments on either side of it. More importantly, the sidings are too short to put freights (primarily CSX empties) into the hole for the Cardinal. To make this work the tracks must effectively be cleared of conflicting traffic on those days when the Cardinal passes through. This all works fine if the Cardinal is reasonably on time and hits its window on the BBRR. If not, it must takes sidings to allow freights to pass. In our experience it routinely runs 60-90 minutes behind but has a padded ayover in DC.

 

[Acela150]

Go East on the Card.

 

[PA Traveler]

Thank both of you very much. My initial plan was EB and your suggestions make that sound right. We have been down in the New River Gorge a couple of times in a car, and it would be a highlight of the trip as would the Blue Ridge.

I didn't realize there was no real dining car, but it's only a day so no real hardship.

 

[Linda T]

I take the Cardinal between Huntington WV and White Sulphur quite a bit (did it just 8 days ago). One thing is the Cardinal had been doing pretty good being ontime a couple months ago, but it's suffered a lot of delays this month. The day I was on it, it ran 4 hours late (held 1 hour in CHI for a western train), down signals in Indiana slowed it down, and after that it just snowballed.

I definitely agree that the scenery is fantastic. From Chicago to just past Rensselaer, IN (you'll have about 3-4 hours of daylight), then darkness till about South Portsmouth, and daylight all the way to WSS. But then after Montgomery you'll pass the Kanawha Falls, then Gauley Bridge, and you'll enter the gorge. Pass the New River Gorge Bridge where they bungee jump from, white water rafters, several little coal ghost towns, Sandstone Falls (which remind me of the Cumberland Gap), and by the time you get to WSS you will have gone through 6 tunnels (including the Big Bend Tunnel, of the John Henry legend). If you don't want to pay the prices to eat at WSS, there is an excellent Route 60 American Grill just down the road that has excellent food, at reasonable prices, we walk there from the train station when we have to get off at WSS. If you take the Cardinal east you'll also have a good chance of having a narrator along the route between Charleston and WSS to point out the interesting points along the way. There is no narration on the westbound train.

When you get back on the train at WSS for DC you'll cross through the Allegheny Tunnel (eastern Continental Divide), the Shenandoah Valley, and then Charlottesville, Civil War sites, and DC.

Delays are not uncommon on the Cardinal, also because the Cardinal only has one sleeper, the rooms on it are very difficult to get. You will need to be flexible, and you may find sleepers entirely booked a month or two in advance, particularly in summer. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. She's my hometown train.

 

[Linda T]

Thank both of you very much. My initial plan was EB and your suggestions make that sound right. We have been down in the New River Gorge a couple of times in a car, and it would be a highlight of the trip as would the Blue Ridge.
I didn't realize there was no real dining car, but it's only a day so no real hardship.

Honestly, the food isn't bad at all. And the cheesecake is to die for.