Amtrak's Other Cardinal: The Kentucky Cardinal 

Me:about to go to sleep Amtrakguy365:makes a video about some ramdom amtrak service Me: *Sleeping was never an option*

My name is Mark Parker and I was one of the most frequent regularly assigned sleeper/coach attendants assigned to this train for most of its run. Most unique to this route as an attendant, was that we were assigned both the coach and the sleeper. However, most runs would have 3-4 rooms occupied, and south of IND, perhaps 10 coach passengers. Each overnight trip several hours were spent sitting at the IND station in the middle of the night. The schedule for the single attendant aboard was 3 days on, 2 days off. What I remember most was most of the trip seemed to be manning the IND platform alone for several hours both nights. No conductors were on duty until 45 minutes before departure, so it was me, the train, and about a dozen passengers. The slow ride, appearance of virtually every seat empty, and only oreo cookies passed out, was enough of an embarassement that I bid off the run. This was not a train for someone as myself that likes to keep busy as there was nothing to do. And eventhough we would have the Cardinal attached 3 days a week providing a diner and lounge, the deplorable Washington crews made sure the train was still an embarassment by their unprofessionalism. They did a great job at treating the passengers like crap, as well as the one Chicago attendant. I have moved onto new and better things from Amtrak, and when I think of the ungrateful, overpaid, uneducated, and unreasonable coworkers on this train, I am delighted the dining cars were eliminated as these crewmembers could never get a good job again. Most likely they are working in a factory, or at a gas station and NOW I bet they regret taking Amtrak for granted! I never did this, and perhaps that forced me to better myself. Good luck to Amtrak as a whole. Management has made very foolish decisions that have taken a toll, but until its crews and frontline employees learn how to treat people, they can count on more cutbacks, being more miserable, and hopefully not even being able to keep thier job. Amtrak is a perfect example of how not taking personal responsibility has consequences.....in this case, the consequences worked out affecting the correct people.....people that no longer have anything close to a steady career. That must suck, but, as I was told by so many Amtrak employees "thats not my my problem", my statement to them now is just those words back to them!

A very interesting story. Always sad to hear when a train is discontinued. Thanks for sharing. As always, great video. Hope you are safe and healthy.

Great coverage! 🚂👍

Hey Jared, I’m a proud Kentuckian and I had no idea this existed, rip. Anyways good vid a.

Shortly after this video came out, Amtrak announce that they're planning to restored service to Louisville from Chicago via Indianapolis

Just saying. When he was Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell and his wife (the Secretary of Transportation under Trump) could have obtained funding to make those track improvements and revive passenger service to his state of Kentucky. The fact they did not, perhaps, demonstrates how terrible they are to his own constituents.

I rode the Kentucky Cardinal northbound from Louisville in 2003. I rode Greyhound from Atlanta to Louisville, and then Amtrak to Minneapolis. Taking the train saved a day and sleeping in a day coach beats riding a bus. There was no cafe, but the soda was free. Everything was very casual up to Indianapolis, with the crew and me riding together and sharing the soda and bottled water. Indiana made a terrible mistake not saving the daily train.

Always nice to see new content from a favorite creator of mine. As a Hoosier who lives along the line it's interesting to think of what it would have looked like if the train had survived. Really it didn't work IMO because of 2 things, 1. Lack of stops after Indianapolis and 2. Low track speeds. If the train had stayed then Columbus would have been added as a stop in 2003 (Mill Race transit center was constructed specifically to act as a bus and train hub, and that would have been ~40,000 people and anyone going to Cummins HQ) and other stops could have easily been added (Seymour still has remnants of the old PRR station platform across from where modern day Crossroads Park is , right in the middle of town, and Greenwood, Franklin, and Scottsburg would have been good additional stops). When it comes to the other one, well in an ironic twist exactly 10 years later CSX footed the bill to completely upgrade the entirely of Louisville and Indiana's right of way, mainly to do directional running between Louisville and Cincinnati (with Cincinnati bound trains going over the L&I and switching to the Indiana Sub in Seymour, and Louisville bound trains going over the LH&STL Sub). Lastly based off of Amtrak's 2035 map, Amtrak hasn't quite let go of Louisville. As I see it the Hoosier State/Kentucky Cardinal may be dead right now, but it will inevitably return, all the train needs is time and attention.

As a Kentucky resident living in rural-nowhere county, I found this very interesting

I actually rode this from Louisville to Indianapolis in the spring of 2003, shortly before the route was discontinued; I had taken the bus from Atlanta to Louisville and I was bound for Minneapolis-St. Paul. I was the only passenger in the coach. It was me and the train crew rolling along for a night. I don't think we waited five hours in Indianapolis. Like the video says, we just rolled along at 30 MPH for hour after hour. No big deal, I always sleep comfortably on Amtrak. What made this ride truly unusual to me was that, instead of a cafe car, there were a few cases of Coca-Cola and water, and we could have all we wanted. Like I said, just me and the crew.

I’m loving this series!

My Grandpa used to live in Louisville! I heard about the Kentucky Cardinal a few years back, but never knew this much about it until this video! Great coverage! I actually got emotional watching the end of this lol. Louisville is a wonderful place!

The ex-Pennsylvania line between Indianapolis and Louisville is now in pretty good condition.

Excellent recap. I do remember the Kentucky Cardinal and a lot of trials and tribulations during it's short tenure. Mainly that I was a resident of Nashville at the time and was hoping for the continuation south and then hopefully east. Following the long lost Floridian (first Amtrak train I had ridden) route to south Florida where I was born and raised. That first trip on the Floridian triggered my love of rail travel. And since I have made many cross-country excursions on Amtrak. Sadly, early on it required a 3-hour drive to Fulton, KY from Nashville to catch the City of New Orleans to connect at either Chicago or New Orleans. My first westbound trip on the California Zephyr set my sights on Denver and the Rocky Mountains as where I wanted to live. What surprised me in your video was the relationship between Amtrak and UPS partnership (so-to-say). I worked for UPS for 33 years and was never aware of it. I was lucky that UPS promoted me to a manager and gave me the responsibility to open a truck hub in Denver back in 2006. That was where I retired and living out my years. I actually watch the California Zephyr pass by my window regularly. I know there was chatter last year about attempting to reinstate service from CHI- IND- NAS- CHA- JAX- MIA and points in between. But I haven't heard much since. It would be nice and my thought is it would be well patronized. Anyway, enjoyed the video. Keep 'em and stay safe.

Straight to the start of the video. I love this. No long drawn out intro. Awesome

i love how Indiana's state animal is the cardinal and Amtrak choses Kentucky out of no where

I never rode it, but I road the Cardinal in 2001 and I remember joining up with the Kentucky Cardinal in Indianapolis and seeing how weird our train looked. i remember having a P32BWH added to our consist as well as a few roadrailers.

We need to reinstate the Hoosier State

I find these sorts of discontinued rail services very sad yet interesting. I for one would love to see one on the Pioneer Line, but I doubt I would have any influence on that.

Funny how 164 was used on the final Kentucky Cardinal, and now it's the Phase IV heritage unit.

living alone the Louisville & Indiana I wish that not only this train would be brought back but with many more stations added along the route. Would be nice if they could get Greenwood, Franklin, Columbus, and Seymour in Indiana added, especially now that the LIRC now has greatly improved tracks

There also is a silver lining to Amtrak service returning to Nashville. Amtrak conducted a feasibility study in late 2019 for a train to split off the Crescent and travel up to Chattanooga and eventually up to Nashville running up CSX’s Chattanooga Sub. There is also a questioned extension to Memphis but that’s all that’s come of it so far.

lovely train video! i really enjoy your narration and the mario galaxy music takes me back to my childhood, subscribed!

Amtrak has have the up and downs with in the last 50 years. But there still going strong!

One of the Few things that I like about Young Joe as the prez is that he supports Amtrak.

Very interesting vid, can't wait till the next one!

Being a native from Middle Tennessee near Nashville, this was the closest we got to having intercity/Amtrak passenger service since the Floridian in 1979. There have been talks about Amtrak trains from Nashville to Memphis and Atlanta, but knowing CSX, the efficiency of these lines, and Amtrak’s worsened state from COVID, there’s virtually no chance of that happening. Anyways, this train had potential but again poor decision making by Amtrak screwed themselves over and thousands of potential passengers in Kentucky and Tennessee. I didn’t know Nashville had a test train in 2001, but that was before my time. Thanks for the great informational video, as if reaching the right people can help us learn what to do differently and possibly try new services like this again and make it successful.

I rode this train in march 2001 and again in 2019, and I was actually impressed! Too bad it doesn’t exist anymore.

Amazing video man!

On December 8th, it was announced that Amtrak services between Louisville to Indianapolis/Chicago were a step closer to coming to fruition. With future plans to expand to Nashville and possibly beyond. I am excited and hopeful that these plans will happen.

why does the “rabbits outrunning the train” bit made me laugh with an napping anime bunny? that’s perfect. But I think those rabbits had too much Red Bull

This was great you make the best videos

It's pretty silly to think that Indiana won't pay a small subsidy for the Hoosier State service, claiming there isn't enough ridership, even though there's plenty of ridership to justify multiple trains per day to St. Louis, which is smaller and further away than Indianapolis. But the have found plenty of money to subsidize air routes.

My friend got a group together on the last ride of the Hoosier state. He got two private cars hooked on the back of the Hoosier state

I’m heavily enjoying these videos about lesser known Amtrak routes, I genuinely feel as if I have learned something each time. Any chance for an episode about the North Coast Hiawatha or is that just my optimistic hope?

I was on the old Floridian a few times. It used to arrive and leave at Union Station on Broadway in Louisville but it was later moved to the AutoTrain depot on the west side of Osborne Yard. If Amtrak is going to use Union Station again it's going to have to have substantial work first. All of the track except for one small section was pulled up years ago. Also the line between Louisville and Indianapolis isn't good. It would be better if Amtrak used CSX track between Louisville and Cincinnati but that's not going to happen. If there was a New York to St. Louis train it could stop in Louisville and would probably work out better.

Notification Gang! :D

Nicely done

5:13 This is the regular Cardinal passenger train in Montgomery WV about 30 miles east of Charleston WV where the left side of the tracks is greatly composed of the 1980s named WV Tech! Far field left of the tracks the six story building was called the community college, but had classes for engineering as well. The closer modern looking building was the new science building that was never occupied due to a strange infection taking over the ventilation system making it unsafe for students. The campus was closed about 2019 making Montgomery WV the lowest used Amtrak station in the USA which it likely was before the closing of the campus. The Kentucky Cardinal lacked speed. The track alignment is probably up to fast track speeds, but the track structure was not, but was greatly upgraded just to make it passenger train viable. That track might be able to be increased with a large upgrade to 110 mph along much of its route. It would be good to have fast passenger train connections to Nashville. It might be good to restart a Chicago Florida passenger train along this route, but with much faster track than it had before.

3:07 Yuru Camp, I see... nice.

The 48km/h speed restriction due to track conditions suck, if you've never experienced it before, it's the most soul sucking feeling in the world. VIA Rail trains going from Toronto to Sarnia go via Kitchener and Stratford, ON, and between London and Stratford, the train is limited to 50km/h... with cars passing us at 80-100km/h. A journey that takes 2 hours via Hamilton takes 4 hours via Kitchener

Also Congrats on 49K

Good video! I like the mario galaxy music

I got to ride this train from Louisville to Jeffersonville, just to say that I did, when I was in high school. I was so disappointed when it got shut down. I was looking forward to taking a future California trip, originating in Louisville, but that never happened. Now I have to catch the train in St. Louis to go west.

Yea I remember hearing about a Amtrak Train posing my house, I’m on the CSX Ex-L&N Mainline in Bowling Green, Ky, in 2001 my aunt told me about aim how a Amtrak train just passed the house and never saw any again. The Amtrak Floridian did go by the Mainline a lot in the 1970’s with the E8’s.

Amtrak should do some Mail/Express Freight on the NEC.

It's nice to know that something amtrak related came through lafayette, IN Still with there if im right Classic Wabash Depot Still standing there waiting for the AMTK cardinal.

I love the super Mario galaxy music imma background 🔥🔥🔥

Wow - crazy to hear that states couldn't even be bothered to pay $800,000 together to keep the train lmao. Wonder how the new plans will work out... I'm not too optimistic. Thanks for the video it's great.

I feel really bad for the passengers who enjoyed the train. 6:48 6:49 8:01 4:47 8:08 6:37

Great Video. You Should Do A Video On The Three Rivers Or Maybe The Auto Train.

Hey Jared, not sure if you remember me from back in the day but we used to talk in hangouts, glad to see you’re still making videos. Congrats on the channel doing so well man.

love the smg/spm music. two of my favorite games ever

Good video I had no idea about the train even existing

AmtrakGuy: Shows obscure Amtrak train. Me who watched 15 retired Amtrak trains: lul.

This is pretty how it came to flourishing also love the Mario music

It's sad how we could've easily turned Amtrak into one of the largest, most self-sufficient, and modern high-speed rail networks in the world had we allocated our tax dollars to funding it instead of Wall Street and the military industrial complex.

Good morning. You produce some really good videos. Way back in January of 1978, while I was serving as a Sgt. in the Marine Corps, I had the opportunity to travel via Amtrak from Barstow, Ca., to Bloomington Indiana. I rode the Floridian, overnight from Chicago to Bloomington. I know the Floridian was discontinued in 1979 and I have read the wikipedia article on it. Please consider discussing this train in more detail. Also... has Amtrak ever considered running an Auto Train type consist on the Sunset Ltd.? My wife and I live in Texas, are retired, have kids and grandkids in California. We'd love to go visit and do some train watching out West, but would like to take the car as well. Thank you.

I hear that Super Mario Galaxy music, very nice!

Cafe car with automats - is full cool

Had the Kentucky Cardinal live much longer if there was much demand for a direct train to Louisville back then.

Honestly I wish I would’ve known this video was gonna be published because I have a lot of videos of the Cardinal service

I’m sure they must have a split off from the New Orleans and Chicago route that goes through Fulton where it interchanges with Cn.

Very nice 👌 👍 👏 😀

0:17 so were you inspired by vaporwave Aesthetics or just bill wurtz

I do still think there’s potential for amtrak to run mail services for usps, but as it stands we have better corridor services and new long distance routes to focus on and thats probably for the best

>Amtrak. >”Self-sufficient.” Lol. Good luck with that.

Great video!! Can you do the Three Rivers? Always curious about it!!

8:35 As of Present Day 164 was Repainted as the newer Phase IV Heritage Unit after 184's Repaint in 2023.

You should do a video on the Amtrak Arrowhead/Northstar in between MSP and DUL, and for a time CHI to DUL

Never made any sense however I would like to see a Chicago to Florida route again that would restore service to Louisville and also Nashville.

Now this is intresting.

I kind of wanted to see where they were going with the whole freight thing could it have worked?

Cool

I have a request, could u do a video about the Silver Palm/Palmetto?

What route will you talk about next?

116 likes in 30 minutes. Not bad. 1:14 It looks like there were plans to restore service to Las Vegas after the Desert Wind was cut... Also if they were planning on a service extension to Nashville, maybe a further extension to Atlanta would make sense too.

I remember this train

Note the Kentucky Cardinal's 12 plus hour time between Chicago and Louisville for 312 miles, over twice the trip time for Chicago-Carbondale in Illinois. Note the long stop northbound in Indpls, as tr 851 had to clear the line before 850 could proceed south. Note it passed through Columbus, IN within stopping even though the town offered to add a train platform to its city bus terminal along the line. Amtrak boss David L Gunn ended mail and express citing low revenue and much needed investment beyond Amtrak's means. Gone were the Kentucky Cardinal, the Lake Janesville Country Cannonball Limited, the Three Rivers and a couple mostly mail trips along the Northeast Corridor. A NY-Chicago train named the Skyline Connection, included in the late 1990s timetables, never turned a wheel. The Pennsylvanian quit its long day into night schedule Philadelphia-Chicago and went back to its better performing day run NY-Pittsburgh. The Palmetto was cut back from Miami to Savannah in time for the winter rush to Florida. Besides the material cars and express trak reefers shown, Amtrak got 50 and 60 foot boxcars and modified truck trailers called RoadRailers. Amtrak also rebuilt some 40 Heritage fleet coaches built between 1950 and 1961 into specialty baggage cars, mainly to move mail.

yeay new vidoe

I feel like I am the only one who knew about the Kentucky Cardinal

Amtrak with f40s be like never gonna give you up

What's the song (intro) that you used at 0:17?

In USA no gouverment or president seems to be intrested to really invest in rail transport, except for the North - East corridor.

I love the soundtrack from super mario galaxy

Their is a good chance that a new service from Cleveland,Columbus,Dayton, and Cincinnati will happen with three trains daily

You should make a video on how Amtrak carried mail and express as well as road raiders and why they stop running them

I’ve ridden the Cardinal before. I rode it in January 2020

Hmm, I wonder how we could bring back service to Louisville... 🤔 Ooh, I know! Restore the Floridian!!! Not only would this reconnect Miami and Chicago, but th following are major undeserved cities in the Amtrak network this train would visit: -Orlando -Jacksonville -Atlanta -Chattanooga -Nashville -Louisville -Indianapolis Why would Amtrak not have this route, seeing that numerous population centers sit along it that either don't have service currently or see just a few trains per day?

This is tragic.

ya know he is going to hit 50k

Can you do another of these but with it about the Gulf Breeze

Ayyy Indianapolis my hometown

Super Mario Galaxy nostalgia 😭

Please do a video on the Carolinian.

Do the Desert Wind!!

Amtrak: aim da best xd CN: NO.....

For some reason, Dave Dunn thought that mail lost money and killed it

Wow