A Train Odyssey, Part 3: Amtrak "Cardinal" Train
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- This video is part three in a series of four videos that I call "A Train Odyssey". Please be aware that when I was shooting the video, I
envisioned a three-part series, instead of a four part series, and some of that my spoken dialogue still references Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, out of three videos, but it was too late to re-shoot those videos once I realized it would actually be a four-part series. I have tried to correct all TYPED text and add pop-up text correcting myself when my voice is referring to the original three-part series.
Part 1 is a combination of the Chicago Metra train trip from my home in the suburbs to Chicago Union Station to catch the AMTRAK "Cardinal" train, which I was taking as far as Washington DC, although the train continues from there to its terminus. Once I arrive at Chicago Union Station, I do an extensive tour of that station, the immediate surrounding area in downtown Chicago, and the Metropolitan Lounge in the station. This video was taken on Saturday, September 24, 2016.
Part 2 is the first day on board AMTRAK's "Cardinal" train, ending before the scenic video portion starts. The majority of this is taken
up with my 'Viewliner Roomette Tour', similar to my two well-received 'Superliner Roomette Tours'. I tried to be as thorough in this video as I had been in those other videos. This video was taken on Sunday, September 25, 2016.
Part 3 is the second day on board AMTRAK's "Cardinal" train, starting from first light somewhere near Cincinnati and ending at Washington DC's Union Station. This route mostly follows various rivers upstream from the Ohio River up into the Appalachians and then over into that mountain range's eastern foothills in western Virginia.
Part 4 is a trip on the AMTRAK "Northeast Regional" train, from Washington DC's Union Station to Petersburg, Virginia, a couple days after the trip on the "Cardinal". This video highlights AMTRAK's recently added "Business Class" service. I end this video with a brief
shot of a nice rainbow taken from a car in northern North Carolina right after a massive rainstorm, and then some pretty video taken from my commercial airline trip from Richmond, Virginia back home to the Chicago area. This video was taken on Tuesday, September 27, 2016.
Not part of the four video series, but shot during the same trip, is my video taken at both of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museums
(National Mall and Steven Udvar-Hazy locations).....see my UA-cam channel. These museums were not the purpose of my trip, which
was mostly to visit friends, but I thought I would share them with UA-cam viewers. These museum videos were taken on Monday and Tuesday, September 26 & 27, 2016.
Nice video, as usual. Looks like the train was fairly empty. I’m intrigued by this route even though, as you mentioned, the Capitol Ltd would be much quicker
Like your videos very informative. About your comment around 1:10:03, the guy in the video is the Conductor, the Engineer is on the right side of the cab, as a rule, most freight engineers do a maximum of 200 miles per trip. There are a few exceptions to this the one that comes to mind is the Florida East Coast Railway were road freight crews run between Miami and Jacksonville, FL. I do know a few of the Amtrak employees on the Sunset Limited down here in Texas. The Engineers run between San Antonio, TX, and Beaumont, TX and return. The Conductor/Brakeman(s) run between New Orleans and Houston and return. The porters or car service attendants, cooks and such run between New Orleans and Los Angeles they get 24 hours off in LA and return home and I think it is like 48 hours off when they get home. The Sunset Limited only runs three times a week so they would be off those days regardless. I am an engineer for BNSF here in Galveston, TX our longest run is Galveston, TX to Corpus Christie, TX around 274 miles. I do know the Houston to Shreveport, LA run is around 302 miles. Regardless of what the actual run might be in miles, 12 hours is the hours of service law you will work per day. Only in extreme conditions are you asked to work over 12 hours. In over 30 years I did once to shove our train back into a siding that allowed us to get to an area that allowed the transport van, limo in railroad speak, after a train, we were waiting for derailed. The only other option was walking to the rear of the train and wait for a wheeled pick up truck, or high-rail vehicle to pick us up, that was 1 1/4 mile behind us and a horrible walking surface or walk out 3 miles to the main highway carrying 45 pounds worth of rulebooks and personal gear through a cow pasture and woods. Neither I or my conductor was happy with any of that. So we talked them into backing us up to the siding in Milano, TX. So my conductor dismounted and I pulled the rear of the train up to him, once he was on and ready we backed into the siding in Milano, a distance of about 23 miles. Both of us went exactly 25 minutes over the 12 hour Hours of Service Act doing that maneuver. That 25 minutes cost the railroad $15,000 dollars per person in fines from the Federal Railroad Administration(FRA). I saw our division General Manager a few days after that he told me if he had known it would be that much in fines we would have walked. I gave him a big grin and said we would have taken a 20-minute break every quarter mile. He shook his head and walked off. Those guys in the office have no idea what it is like in the field. From other people, I have talked to in different careers that are an epidemic in this country anymore.
Hello fellow train fans, I took the Cardinal on August 11, 2017 from DC to Chicago the views were great, not so much the food and crew. I had one of those attendants that would disappear for large stretches of the journey only to reappear about an hour before we made our final stop and acted like he was my best friend in order to secure his tip. This was the middle leg of a cross country and back (almost) by train. I left Hollywood, FL on August 10, for DC, then DC to Chicago, left that same day on The Southwest Chief for Los Angeles. I arrived in LA the morning of August 14th and left on the Texas Eagle/Sunset Limited that night about 10:30 pm. My train odyssey ended in Dallas. Union Station in Dallas connects to The Hyatt by a tunnel that goes under the tracks and my room overlooked Dealey Plaza. I flew home to Miami on August 20 and made it in time for Game of Thrones. I was lucky as I was on a 777 (American Airlines) on got a text that morning that they could upgrade me to First Class for $127.00!!! The original first class price was $1,100.00 so I went out on a high note.
Cardinal.............my favorite route! I love the New River Gorge the best. I wish Amtrak ran this route daily instead of tri-weekly. But anything is better than nothing.
I absolutely loved this trip you brought us through UA-cam! Thank you so very much. Will be following along on Part 4 A Train Odyssey :-)
Having watched a few of the eastern Amtrak videos now I can say I think the Cardinal might have one of the best Eastern/ southern scenic routes.
I just looked up the Amtrak fleet - their ex Milwaukee Superdome "Ocean View" was retired last year - disposition unknown. It did run on the Cardinal on occasion, which would have been great for viewing the scenery on that route.
I've only done trips west just because I love being on the Superliners. Been looking at taking a trip east. The Cardinal looks like it would be a nice chance. Thanks for your video
Thanks for the ride, the United States is a beautiful country.
Late to the party but you have the most fascinating videos on YT- very informative and entertaining- thank you very much for posting these awesome videos! Good job! 🚞
Not to be picky... the "turnstile" is actually a "turntable"
You should have taken some footage in DC's Union Station it truly magnificent.
regarding pronunciation of the rier "Kanawah". I once asked a "local" how to pronounce it , he said "kuh NAWW".
Thank you for the Cardinal train video. 15:50 I went to Electrical Engineering school at West VA Tech in Montgomery WV even though I was from Northern VA from 1982-88. The 3/4 miles west of the Montgomery bridge on the non river side of the tracks is basically all school, though the campus was closed down around 2018. The main buildings are still there. It's not of great architectural merit, but it does stand out as different especially with the 10 story Hi-Rise dorm standing tall which also housed the school cafeteria. I liked the idea in concept of going to a smaller engineering school and Virginia Tech, the only well known engineering school in my home state of Virginia, had quotas on how many students they'd except from N. VA and a friend and I were not treated encouragingly when we visited there.
One of the perks of the WV Tech area was the rugged terrain with equally rugged freight rail lines running through it along with other civil engineering feats. Most of these aspects were not that appreciated by the locals. A couple miles west of Montgomery is the town of Hanley, which was specifically built as the western division point of C&O railroad for switching in their mountain grade locomotives for the New River and Allegheny mountain grades that lay directly east. This included the most powerful steam locomotives ever build the C&O Allegheny H8's (about 7,500 Hp Vs. 7,000 hp of a Union Pacific Big Boy). The importance of the Kanawha Valley in the bigger scheme of things seems to be in the WWI WWII period which these large steam locomotives were designed and built to serve.
If I happened to be up when the Cardinal was scheduled to make its Montgomery stop I'd frequently make take a break from my homework to go out to see it. I did get several occasions to ride that train between Montgomery and D.C. and looked forward to the experience and enjoyed it greatly. I would typically spend the majority of my time in the lounge car sightseeing and occasionally get into some traveler discussions, even if it was 1-2 in the morning. The lounge car was of more modern design than the other cars and combated the ruff tracks much better and was quieter. On my last return trip to school on the Cardinal I was very pleasantly surprised to get to ride on the new concrete ties I'd watched being installed for about 3 miles east of Montgomery. The ride on these was dead smooth. There was only the sizzle from the wheels running on the rails that let you know you were moving and this was for coal train traffic!.
I used to go through Staunton Va. and the locals corrected me. It is pronounced Stanton. BTW the Statler Brothers singing group is from Staunton.
Of all your rail journeys do you have a favorite route, route direction and best time of the year to take it?
I just finished your excellent part 3 on The Empire Builder.
Thanks for another great tagalong!!! I used to drive trucks hauling freight. I dearly hated goin through West Virginia. It is much better on AmTracK. Thanks so Much!!
About 1 mile before the Charlottesville station, you passed thru the grounds of the University of Virginia (my alma mater). I wish your camera had beenrolling.
Beautiful video. I love these train videos on your channel. Keep up the amazing work! I hope to take the Cardinal someday, it's just been cheaper and more convenient to to take the Lake Shore Limited and Capital Limited these days.
Nice video, But, we HATE THE FLAT WHEEL...The luck of the draw. Great video. I stayed with you to the end.
BRAVO!!! You have produced another Fantastic Tagalong Trip!!! Thank You so much!!!
Great video! I ride the Cardinal often from Ashland, KY to Hinton, WV. Runs parallel with the New River Gorge National River. Always ride business class. I've also ridden from Huntington to Chicago to catch the Southwest Chief to LA, and I've taken the trip from Ashland to DC. Again, great video!
I'd like to know where you got that copy of each towns history along the route. Another good reference guide beside the road atlas.
When you crossed the Big Sandy River you were in West Virginia. Konova is in West Virginia.
The cardinal I remember that train from America by rail Winter Wonderland Which is the third installment of the America by rail DVD series Which was made in 1996
Love all your videos, I watch them while I am riding my stationary bike, my only wish, they where longer!
That's a great idea...I hope to at lease make half way.........
I cannot believe the Cardinal didn't make a stop in Charleston, their capital city of all things. Or did I miss something?
It's Kenova, W.V. not Kenova, KY.
There's been many comments in these various train videos on UTube about dirty windows from the sleeper compartments. I must have really lucked out on my 2 trips from Chicago on the CA Zephyr because I took all my photos back then with a 35mm still camera through my sleeper windows and after the photos were developed they couldn't have turned out more clear, beautiful...no glare....in fact most of them showed no evidence of having been taken with a window in between scenery and camera. Even I was overjoyed at the results.
Want to add that #3 of your video much more enjoyable due to finally seeing the beautiful rivers and hills of the southeast.
Wonder if there's good fishing in these many rivers.
What's the best side for viewing going West?
Best video of the Cardinal I have seen! I lived as an infant in Lewisburg, went to camp on the Greenbrier, took trains in and out of Clifton Forge, did graduate school in Charlottesville and rode this route when I was 15 and 16 as part of two trips from LA to Hot Springs VA, so this was a happy run through my memories. It is pronounced “Stan ton” by the way.
You have a great voice for narration, very resonant and clear with good diction.
Thurmond has a population of 5? wtf is the point of stopping there? why is there even a full town with just 5 people? just make it a neighborhood of a different town.
Kevin Howard, it is an historic area, maybe a national park or state park or something like that.
Well Wikipedia says much of the town is owned by the National Park Service for the New River Gorge National River. I really don't know how a river can be a park but ok.
The track on The Buckingham Branch is notoriously horrible (the PC Tracks were probably better haha). Food in the viewliner diners are cooked using sous vide method.
Lots of recreational folks go to the area for camping in the New River Gorge area up there. New River is extremely popular for kayaking, rafting and other whitewater sports too. The river gorge is a protected area.
@@kevinhoward9593 CSX leased the track to BBRR and all that jointed rail yet CSX still runs the hell out of empty coal, grain and chemical trains over it, i've seen welded rail on branch lines with one train a day yet this line I don't know how many it gets, but it warrants upgrades no doubt!
I love this did you ever take a walk outside the train to breathe some fresh air? before you go to your destination? Actually when was this video taken, I don't believe it was in Nov? On that New River Gorge Bridge people do base jumping from that bridge.
Very scenic route that cries out for a Budd dome car! Does Amtrak still keep a few that they inherited from the railways when they took over the passenger business? I know they have a superdome (full length dome car) that they used during the summer months a few years ago on the Adirondack NYC to Montreal, or perhaps they still do.
Kenova is in WV not KY
The New River Bridge is partly closed one day a year for base jumping and bungie jumping.
Kenova, named for the 3 intersecting states. KENtucky, Ohio and VirginiA.
Its a cafe car not a dining car. It just serves dining food. A real dining car would have a full kitchen
Amtrak is going to add the new Viewliner diners to this train soon, if they haven't already. The Cardinal should have a diner. All of the overnight trains with sleepers should have a diner. Everyone of them Amtrak...
Heritage Diner aka a inherited from Amtrak takeover in 1971, NCL, CB&Q, GN
@@ronclark9724 forget that.............all the eastern trains are getting the airline style meals as of year 2020. So much for the use of the new Viewliner diners, they will just be a car for the sleeper patrons to chill in, but no full course dining.
Looks like they have a few people grabbing a sleeper up to new york , or more like a day room
"...don't think they'd let that happen, though," uh, no you are correct sir, the RR doesn't allow the passengers to drive the train around. I think we'd want to leave that one in the hands of the experts. Great trip. I enjoyed it a lot.
Turn table
Another great video
if you have ever heard of John Henry, then look up Big Bend Tunnel
Thanks for another great video
I select train travel based on scenery encountered first and destinations second. Your video provided authentic insight in consideration of riding a portion of the Cardinal’s route. Well done! I truly enjoyed witnessing the Amtrak passenger’s viewing perspective. I am now aware that when the Station platform at White Sulphur Springs appears- there is no dramatic appeal gained not being able to see any architectural elevation of the renowned Greenbrier resort let alone Dorthy Draper’s signature style (at least in this century). The segment that captured a view pulling out of Clifton Forge included the C&O Railway Heritage Center’s trackside features being showcased. Hidden by rolling stock, sadly sits C&O 4-8-4 No. 614 painted green as the “Greenbrier Presidential Express.” Moreover, the town of Crozet located west of Charlottesville is pronounced “Crow-zay.” Amtrak’s Cardinal does have a dramatic ending for riders as they look up at A. Saint-Gauden’s sculpture in Washington DC’s Union Station.
I am from Charleston
What is that tracking program you were using?
its pronounced staunton
Thomas Churchwell, your comment is not very useful. WHAT is pronounced that way (approximately where in the video timeline?) and you would need to provide a clue to the pronunciation, perhaps a phonetic spelling or a 'rhymes with' clue.
@@youtuuba from what I have heard, most people call it StANTon, but I don't live there.