The Amtrak Cardinal : 24 hours in a Roomette through the Appalachians during fall 

You had the golden crew with Mama J being your attendant, the Conductors being Claytor, and the now-retired Glass along with Nick at the controls, all of them together is close to 200 years of railroading. I also like how you decided to do your train review on the North Mountain Sub which is known as the roughest section of track for any Amtrak passenger train. If you want to do something unique try the Autumn Color Express (Ex: New River Train) it runs the same route as the Cardinal through the New River Gorge in the peak of fall colors and you will get to ride in private cars that can be a dome or even the private car you saw in Washington.

Great trip report Thibault! Also bringing a tablecloth on the sleeper train to eat is the Frenchest thing ever haha

Don’t know if you noticed but as you left the train in Washington, you passed one of the rarest passenger cars ever built in the USA, a Seaboard line sun lounge car built by the Pullman company. I believe only three were ever made. Btw, have you caught the California Zephyr between Chicago and Emeryville (San Francisco) yet? In my opinion, it’s far and away the most beautiful Amtrak route.

It's pretty hard to imagine that 76 years ago there's steam trains reaching more than 160km/h and now it's just restricted to 127km/h

When i see this Glorious Station , I'm Disgusted by the fact New York doesn't have the Old Pennsylvania Station built in 1910 .

A couple of comments on your Cardinal video. 1) You commented on the toilet in your Roomette. This was/is not an uncommon feature in US/Canadian sleeping cars. Prior to the Viewliners the most common sleeping car on Amtrak was called a 10/6 car. This car had 10 roomettes and 6 bedrooms. The roomettes had the same type of toilet as your Viewliner room had. These cars were withdrawn from service because they had direct dump on the tracks toilets which were outlawed in the 90's. Amtrak was provided with funds to replace those cars with the Viewliners. The new Viewliner 2 sleepers (25) do not have the toilets in the roomettes. They have only 11 roomettes instead of the 14 in the original cars as this allows for two more toilet rooms to replace the toilets in the roomettes. This was done as passengers complained of the smell from the toilets which use a closed loop chemical system as opposed to the old dump on the tracks system. The bedrooms on the Viewliners and Superliners have enclosed toilets. Speaking of Viewliners, the original order was for 50 cars with an option for 50 more which Amtrak had planned to take. Unfortunately the company building the cars went bankrupt and had to be taken over by another company to complete the original 50 car order. This take over cancelled the 50 car option. Because of this Amtrak has always been short of sleeping cars on the eastern trains as just 50 Viewliners replaced over 100 10/6 sleepers. With all the problems CAF has had building the Viewliner 2 fleet some people say the Viewliner program is cursed. 2) On board food service has seriously gone down hill of late on Amtrak. As cost cutting measure full dining service was ended in November 2018. Sleeping car passengers get pre made microwave meals that generally aren't much better than what you might find at your local Carrefour or now that you're in the US .... Kroger. The microwaved meals are only for sleeping car passengers. Passengers in coach (US term for 2nd class) get snacks in the cafe car. As for the western trains Amtrak claims it will return full dining service once the pandemic is over. We shall see. 3) You mentioned two videos back in your METRA video about the use of stainless steel in US passenger cars. This has been the case since about the 1940's. It looks better than carbon steel cars and add structural strength. Another important point is the fact that paint doesn't stick to stainless steel. American passenger cars aren't painted so much as they're decaled. The fact that paint doesn't stick to stainless steel means that US passenger trains don't look like those of the SNCF, DB, NS, FS or just about any eastern European operator. Any graffiti painted on the side of a US passenger train just washes right off as soon as the car is run through a high pressure car wash. You might see some leftover paint on the rubber gaskets around the windows but that's about it. I look forward to seeing more of your rail trips around north America.

I been through Chicago's station numerous times with Amtrak. The layovers are long but at least there's something here to keep you occupied. (Also, they still haven't done a thing to those ceiling titles in the hallways yet. They've been like that as long as I remember. And I've used Amtrak for about 8 years.)

Having been to Chicago's Union Station, I concur with that annoyance. But it's such a beautiful station and a great route to take.

Those track announcements at the Chicago stations sounded like a traumatized person, who is driven crazy by echoing thoughts in his/her mind, as shown in movies😂😂

I love the professional way you film these videos👍 keep up the good work

NGL, the toilet next to the bed sleeves me out.

I have a genius idea for April fools. Review the Chicago L or New York subway. Or maybe even a a streetcar network. The Pere Marquette is a route with an unexpected fleet.

I like that you don’t talk but use captions

I love Simply Railway's videos, they are very amazing. I would love to see him do reviews on trains in Asia (Japan, China, Russia .etc) after the pandemic is over. Great videos tho 👍

As a former Amtrak On-Board Service employee, let me emphasize that unlike Europe, tipping the service workers is expected in the U. S., including the Red Caps. While they say it's a "free" service, tipping them is the norm. The jointed rail territory the train covered after Clifton Forge, VA is the short line Buckingham Branch Railroad, which operates the former C&O Mountain Subdivision under lease from CSX. Also, after Charlottesville, the Cardinal swings away from the BBRR onto a short section of CSX track to Orange, VA, and joins the former Southern Railway/NS mainline to Alexandria, VA. So the intermodal train you saw near Manassas, VA was a NS train, not CSX. Nice trip report.

Makes me remember my trip on the Empire Builder. Smoking/Jazz/Drinking car. White linen tablecloths and rainbow trout for dinner in the Vista Dome through Glacier National Park. Great train. Great route. I would get a neck ache on the Cardinal. Beautiful scenery and so many fishing spots to roll by. West Virginia is a looker.

Great review and video. I have ridden the Cardinal riding coach to Baltimore from Ashland, KY. This was back in 1979. Too bad you couldn't have ridden the Cardinal when is was in it's glory days back in the late 1980s to mid 90s. In the mid 80s, the train was reequipped with rebuilt heritage equipment. The consist was F40PH, baggage, 2 10/6 sleepers, diner, lounge, and 4 or 5 coaches. At this time the train was normally running to full capacity. Amtrak even had to turn people away unless there were enough customers for another car to be added. When another car was added, if it took the train over 10 cars, then another engine was needed to keep it on schedule. In the early 90s, the train was reequipped with Superliner equipment. The train consist was an F40PH/P42, 2 sleepers, Diner, sightseer lounge, 3 coaches. This held about the same number of passengers as the previous set of equipment. After the change, ridership increased and the train regularly had 9 or 10 superliners. This changed after the Amtrak Autotrain had a wreck and they need the equipment to replace the losses. The Cardinal went back to lower level equipment, but the rebuilt heritage equipment had been retired, so it was equipped with Amfleet and Viewliner cars. Before this the Cardinal did not go to New York. The schedule was also different, one hour earlier westbound, and two hours later eastbound. I used to watch the Cardinal go through Ashland, KY all the time. I went to the station and was there with some of my friend. They were there every time the train came in. My one friend photographed and videotaped the cardinal and kept a list of which locomotives were on each train, which cars were in the consist, and how many passengers got on or off the train every time it came in. He and his father started this back when it was the George Washington back in the late 1950s. He has a list of almost every train that came through town since then. He still keeps a list today.

Man train travel is sooooo underrated. Good thing some trains like this are still around

33:12 that intermodal train was actually NS. You were traveling on the NS Washington District, which goes between Lynchburg and Alexandria.

We took the Cardinal westbound out of Washington back in 1999. Full dining car and observation car back the. We had a great time and had so much fun in the observation car, the bartender gratised our drinks. He said he had never laughed that hard on an Amtrak trip.

I guided on the New River for many, many years and I just wanted to make a correction to your video: you can drive down to the New River underneath the bridge on the old Hwy 19. It's an adventure in itself!

Staunton (pronounced "Stanton",), is actually a "smoking stop", which provides a challenge to fresh air".

Great trip report! do you have videos of the trains in portugal? It would be a good idea if you don't have.

A few things: The noise you did not like is for the visually impaired. It is only activated when there are people within proximity to the gate. By having you line up across the gates rather than facing the gate it pretty well guaranteed you'd here the announcement a lot. My experience with the exhaust in Chicago's Union Station is so long as you are not near the locomotives it is not too bad. If you are rather close though you will breathe in a lot of diesel exhaust. Chicago Union Station has most platforms as departing north or south and acting as a terminus. But the east most platform is actually a pass through and I believe there is a second, non-platform pass through track as well (that let trains get from the north side to the depot on the south side). I believe both the Amtrak Hiawatha and Empire Builder depart north as they both stop at the Glenview train station. I fully agree that the sink / toilet situation in the roomettes is less than ideal. The full bathroom / shower situation of the bedrooms is much better. Generally speaking I don't think there are any observation cars on the non-Superliner trains. There used to be dome cars, at least up to the 1990s. Those were a lot of fun when heading east from Chicago.

Amtrak *did* have fresh fruit. In fact, free apples and oranges (and sometimes bananas) were offered in the sleeper cars for anyone to pick up on Superliners, next to the coffee machine, and could be asked for in Viewliners. Fresh fruit was another casualty of COVID. I don't have a lot of experience with the Viewliner, but I believe that those sliders control output from the space heater, and if you have them closed then the thermostat won't work correctly.

I Don't like the idea of having to eat in the same room as the toilet...

3:13 the LA metropolitan could use refurbishment, it’s definitely not as good as this 5:05 All Amtrak trains depart from the south I believe, even the empire builder (boards at the very last track which is a through track). The only train I see departing from the north side is the Hiawatha 13:11 You are the only one who has ever called a flex meal amazing. 31:24 that’s awesome. You have some good luck 35:40 Sometimes the Cardinal will use superliners and terminate/begin at WAS. When it has superliners, it might have one

great video! I have one thing to point out, for future reference: 8:47 being a railfan/enthusiast in general, I want to point out that an NPCU (Non-Power Control Unit) or cabbage is an F40PH that has been converted into a Cabbage by removing all internal combustion engine pieces to make a hollowed-out shell where the baggage compartment is. the only pieces that remain of the original locomotive are the frame, cab & controls. there is one exception to the cabbage rule though Amtrak NPCU F40PH #406 has a smaller engine inside it so it could run a HEP generator for the museum train ut hasn't used it since. other than that love the video! keep up the good work!

3:12 Well the refurbished ones are stunning, the older ones like at DC are...not stunning, to say the least

these are the best RU-vid Amtrak videos I've ever seen thank you this is Isaiah Wiley from myrtle Beach south Carolina responding saying thank you and may God bless you.

Really, really excellent video. I loved that you brought a tablecloth!!!!! I'm hoping to travel from Toronto to Edmonton Canada in 2022.. I'll check and see if you've done any Canada routes. If not, I hope you will!

The Capitol Limited's route segment East of Pittsburg also has stunning scenery.

Brilliant trip report Thibault

If you want to go on a rail adventure, you need to take the Trans Siberian Railway.

0:32 Easter egg on the P42 engine!

The food service on the Cardinal has clearly improved, compared to the snack (lounge) car they use to have. (But they may - post-Covid - bring it back.) But a lot of people, particularly Millennials, do not like to eat with strangers anyway, especially with Amtrak so-called "community seating" on its real diners. The Cardinals previous food service was unique in that it was just a lounge car. But for a 24 hour ride, that sucks. Still, it's better than no food service at all

You've evidently have never experienced or in known about traditional North American trains sleeper accommodations. With private rooms including even railroad-owned "slumber coaches", riders had their own toilet, which is I for one feel is at least one thing the "New World" has over European accommodations. If the resulting smell is unpleasant, well , that's the fault of the patron, no? Solution? Always bring a deodorizer! Both Pullman and Budd built them that way. The only exception was the relative ancient "section" accommodation, which had the old fashion heavy brown curtain one sees in old films.

I love the idea of rail travel around the US (rail travel in general) - but I am not too impressed by the Amtrak rooms. If you are "larger than average", the roomette seems very claustrophobic, but the bedroom seems a bit better. The toilet in the room thing is just far too weird - but I saw the excellent comment on this down below. I don't like the ridiculous opulence of some "luxury" trains (shirt and tie for dinner, gold paint everywhere etc), but my ideal would be a modern very comfortable room with two lower beds (top bunk only works if one of the two parties are actually physically able to get up there - but that's not so different from many rail lines. I would hope that they bring the proper dining service back, as cr@p microwaved meals are not appealing. Still my best ever train journeys have been on the Japanese Shinkansen - although I have never travelled a night train in japan :) Great video as always and definitely my #1 railway channel !

so cool! 🚄

370$ for 24h train ride? That's insane! No wonder Amtrak has such low ridership.

How the flatware was correctly arranged after luncheon is officially observed and noted.(But it really isn't necessary in one's private abode. But it is all for the camera.)

Oh wow. The scenery is stunning! I’ve only done the Capitol Limited (which was still really enjoyable had had some pretty scenery) but will have to add this train to the bucket list. ✅

I'm watching this from my bed in Scotland , it's 1-4 -21, 22:53 pm , great stuff !

I really enjoy your vids. I never drove in a sleeper train till now, but i would like to try it some time. And 1.87m arent that tall how you think, I am 17 years old and just round about 1.835m - 1.85m.😋🤣🤣👍🏼 And a question, was their two train "drivers" ( Idk how to say that in english, my "main" language is german) or was their one who has droven 23h43min? I hope you understand my English. Just make more that awesome trips like that one!👍🏼👍🏼

I very much enjoyed this video review. Great view on that route. It's been over 15 years since I took an Amtrak trip, and I went coach, for two days. I've been wanting to do another long trip, with a sleeper or roomette this time. But it will have to wait until after this stupid face diaper nonsense is ended. I refuse that tyranny. Thanks for the thorough review of the train and roomette, good and bad. Interestingly, your car was 62016, the zip code of a town near me.

Haha. I think the song was Country Roads take me home but hey. Great video. This train is on my list.

i only have ridden the Capital Limited. To me it's a very scenic train as when going East into Washington D.C it rolls along the C&O Canal state park from shortly after sunrise. absolutely gorgeous scenery imo.

Another great video. We don't get to see your face, except for the occasional glimpse in a mirror. It's nice to put a face to these fine videos.

Love your videos! You should try (once the service starts again after the pandemic) going from Montreal to New York and back. Going down there’s Lake Champlain and returning there’s the Hudson River. Always sit on the left side of the train!

Still waiting for you to step foot in Japan. Can't imagine your excitement by that time

An impression I had right at the beginning: an awesome looking station on the inside, but not full of life. I guess even at a small town station I've never seen so few people at the station's main hall. Surprised about the platform width, doesn't seem to be layed out to handle large amounts of people Also surprised by the platform in Charlottesville ... it's probably the very first train I see where they place a seperate step on the platform for easier access to the coach with the steps high up ...

The biggest tragedy of American rail is that most tracks in American aren’t electrified. The Trans-Siberian is electrified for god’s sake! Can’t we get rid of these dirty diesel locos on our passenger trains at least?

Minute 08:37 an Heritage F40PH Cabbage Veterans unit

Perhaps you could add a voice over. I find it difficult to read the narrative and watch the scenery at the same time.

Never been to Chicago...seems so big! Spring 2022 will be my first trip there and on to Washington D.C. Thanks for the preview 😀

About the microwaved food...you're not the only one, people taking high speed trains in China only gets microwaved ones and the traditional dining on slower trains are slowly fading out and left with terrible microwaved rice and meat(40 yuan isn't expensive but still, you get served scallops on GWR HSTs and hot soup on ICE3)

Hi!

Imagine being blind and figuring out which track your Metra train is on, for your DAILY commute. I think the voice echo is cool just like at ohare "the moving walkway is ending, look down"

A great, informative video. So glad you didnt add the usual music and instead kept it simple and full of quiet info and scenery. Thank you!

Great

Can't wait! Riding this from NYC to Chicago in a couple weeks, plus in a roomette!

I'm a big fan of the view liner roomette with the toilet. Being an older person who has a need to use the facilities at least once a night I appreciate the convenience. On a superlunar I get a full room even though you sleep cross wise which isn't as comfortable just for the toilet convenience. Perhaps the fact that I sleep in very few clothes makes going to the restroom outside of my room less convenient as I then need to bring extra clothes just for this task.

My grandfather was one of the first engineers on the MKT (KAt y) railroad back in the 19th century so I really enjoy watching your videos

I took the Capitol Limited several times. From Chicago it was always an overnight departing around 6 pm. Went the cheap way in coach and slept most of it. I will have to go the scenic route next time.

Thibault, have you tried the "COASTER" traind between oceanside and san diego ? Because i heard that it is nice to ride with them mostly of the seaview. Please do it

Till this pandemic has passed, and it may not be for a while yet, people are going to have to get used to the idea that Amtrak trains will not be rolling hotels, and that includes china, linen and flatware food service. And yes, they will be charging the same rates.

Is it me or I like having the toilet in my room seriously during these Times I rather have a private bathroom then a public

If you are ever in Chicago again, you should ride the Rock Island from LaSalle to Blue Island, it's a very historic route in the city.

I love trains. I haven't been on one since the late 70s but I loved it. From Livingston Montana to Seattle Washington. It was wonderful.

I’m a new subscriber, so maybe these suggestions won’t be new, but it would be helpful if both the left and right margins were about 8-10 inches narrower, and the bottom of the text were moved up at least the width of the line. Right now there’s text missing on all three sides of any text more than one line long. Also, if you could turn on RU-vid’s closed captioning, it would help people with hearing aids. Greatly enjoy your reports, keep up the great work.

I really like yout trip reports and I like you writing comments. I am sitting here in Norway in my favorite relaxing chair, reading great trip reports fra USA and if it hadn't been for my old age I would definatly have considered one or two of your suggested trips. And to me Amtrack has a good website for planning, best regards from Norway, Harald K

Sleepers in the USA are so expensive because passengers don't have to share room with strangers who would produced additional revenue for Amtrak. I paid for First Class room on Trans-Siberian Railroad train but had to share it with a delightful Russian.

"5:16pm, it's a bit early for an European" to eat dinner? Excuse me, but in Poland we eat our main meal around 13:00-15:00! Europe is not only France! :D Funny to write it to a non-American :D

Dirty roomette? Blame the coach cleaners at CUS. But then, due to Covid, many retirements, and a ban on hiring, plus often tight turnaround times, it all too oftenleaves them with inadequate time to do a thorough job. Then too, like others, there's still an element of laziness, especially if one can get away with it.

Did you notice you caught an excellent piece of history when going over the New River? You could still see all the old telephone (and telegraph before that) wire attachments to the bridge and the antique glass insulators where still there. When I was a kid telephone poles still paralleled all US railroads and had active copper wire on them. By my teenage years they were almost all converted to underground fiber optics. You can still see the old poles and occasional insulators along many US railroads, hidden in the trees alongside.

11:22 I honestly hate this configuration. Your room will smell if you do a number 2 on your in-room toilet and it still will if your number 1 squirts everywhere especially on your bed.

Did you ever consider that the "annoying sounds" next to each track entrance were to help blind people? Spare us your juvenile emojis, please.

I just changed my trip to the Cardinal from the Capitol Limited. Sad I won't get to see DC, but if these views are half of what they are on this video I think it will be worth it!

Amazing that a Frenchman would like an American "entre". (All French people are gourmets, it is true.)

So Amtrak has stopped its dining car service on all routes? And this was done in 2019 before the pandemic?

I definitely prefer the Viewliner II that you reviewed (first video of yours I saw) - don't like the idea of the toilet in your romette, especiall in situations when sharing with a friend or spouse.

No dining car on the Cardinal? I rode it in June 2019 and ate in a dining car then. But there was no full dining service, just the cafe car to buy food which I then carried to the dining car.

I enjoyed the ride, but no Amtrak train carries an observation car. None have been built since the 30's and 40's.

Those sounds are for the visually impaired.

@Simply Railway I Rode This Train Back In July Of 2018, I Was Coming Home From Chicago. And The Reason They Can't Do An Observation Car Is Because It Continues On To New York And The Tunnels On The NEC Are Not High Enough For Them. Lastly, At 33:12-33:22, That Was A Norfolk Southern Intermodal Train, Not A CSX One, CSX Doesn't Go To Manassas.

You need to get a polarizing filter for your camera, or a lens from a pair of polarizing sunglasses. Put it front of your lens and turn it, the reflections from the window will go away.

Although I absolutely LOVE Amtrak and would take it hands down over a plane ride if the travel times were better for some routes; I am incredibly sad at what the Metropolitan Lounge looks like. They got rid of the true character of the lounge which used to be done up in rich dark redwood tones. There is nothing to this now! It is a glorified lunch room.

Nice video again. I'll definitely like to make some trips in the US, although I do have other plans with higher priorities now. They should definitely do something to reduce plastic waste by the way.

Quite a normal compartment with a washbasin and a bio toilet! Convenient in case some passenger is bad, he is sick and you should not rush to the toilet to blew.

Wow the noise when crossing between the carriages is crazy, that must be some really messed up rail track!

People bungee jump from the New River Gorge Bridge, you know. Not me!

I like so much American trains ! Hello from Ukraine 💙💛

True, the Cardinal has the best fall colors. But you went a few weeks to soonm

Woo! The cardinal needs more love its one of my favorites ❤

I went through union Station 60 years ago boarding the CA Zephyr. Quite an experience. The service was excellent in those days - porters, dining.

It's great, The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad in Bryson City, NC, where I grew up, The Nantahala Outdoor Center is where me and my friends went when I was 4 years old before I started preschool. It was Dele Hoffman's 4th Birthday, and we celebrated it during Spring Break 2006. I didn't start preschool until August 19th, 2006. We went again on the Polar Express during Winter Break 2010 when I was 9 years old. 15 years later, I still remember my old friends by my heart. Signed, Angela. P.S. You should try the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad! It's nice and has a breathtaking view! The outdoor seating car near the diesel locomotive is so good that the horn makes my ears ring. I went again with Amy Rose and her family when I lived in Wilkes County, in Boomer, NC. I went back to my hometown, Bryson City, NC, with them for my spring break vacation.

That voice he hears saying the track number, is what is called a voice-over! Whoever records those for Amtrak, gets a paycheck every time you hear it!

I love the Viewliner sleepers. I always sleep up in the top berth as well. It’s the best! Also, Amtrak doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

Thank you for these lovely videos. I doubt I will ever travel by train so I live vicariously through these episodes

One of my fondest memories from this train when we arrived in Washington was coming out of Union Station and seeing the lighted dome of the Capitol. I like trains but I get so excited I cannot sleep so I arrive partially exhausted. If you wish to enjoy the scenery take the EB train #50. The WB train #51 will go through a lot of the scenic areas at night. Maybe they’ve altered the timetable so check before booking.