Amtrak's Cardinal.

[Anthony]

How many Amfleet Cars does the Cardinal have?

Figure a few coaches and a lounge car. I imagine it varies based on the time of the year - e.g., more coaches during peak season.

 

[Amtrak Railfan]

One question when is the Peak Season for the Cardinal to have more Coach Cars?

 

[Anthony]

One question when is the Peak Season for the Cardinal to have more Coach Cars?

While I don't have specifics as to the numbers for that individual route, generally, peak season is the summer, and also the time immediately before and after holidays and special occasions.

 

[AlanB]

And the peak season for the Cardinal is also the same for all of Amtrak's trains. All trains are generally busiest in the summer and around the holidays.

 

[Viewliner]

And the peak season for the Cardinal is also the same for all of Amtrak's trains. All trains are generally busiest in the summer and around the holidays.

One general exception would be Silver Service, particularlly the Meteor, which has 3 sleepers in the winter months, and only two in the summer. Obviously this is because of the Florida weather. Be nice if we could double the sleeper fleet and have even more sleepers throughout the year.

 

[battalion51]

Actually the Meteor was running with sleepers for quite a long time. I believe it began running with three in June of 2002, and didn't give up that third sleeper until September of 2003. Of course now we're back to three sleepers, the way it should be.

 

[Guest_F59 PHI]

More than sleepers, what amtk needs is slumbercoaches. If they got slumbercoaches, then they could move some sleepers onto other lines... EG, One of the meteors sleepers and one of the LSL's sleepers is substituted for a slumbercoach, and a slumbercoach is added to the crescent. The displaced slkeepers could go to the Palm and federal.

 

[Amtrak Railfan]

I think is a good idea F59 PHI to bring this Slumbercoach Cars to service.

 

[Viewliner]

I disagree, I don't know that Slumbercoaches would be necessarilly economical/practical in new construction today, or if it would generate enough revenue to be viable. I've never ridden in a slumbercoach, but from what I understand, the accomodations seemed kind of cramped. The bottom line is we need a new and larger fleet starting with Sleepers, Dorms, Diners, and Baggage Cars, then moving on to Coaches, Lounges and maybe even Deluxe Sleepers.

 

[Amtrak Railfan]

When was the first run of the Cardinal?

 

[P40Power]

Well the earliest Amtrak ancestors to the Cardinal were the James Whitcomb Riley and the George Washington, these two trains were renamed the Cardinal in 1977.