dogbert617
OBS Chief
A week ago, I rode one way eastbound on the #50 Cardinal from Chicago to Culpeper, VA. That was the first time ever riding that route of Amtrak, and aside from too much food running out in the cafe car (thank goodness I brought my own snacks onto that train), it was a great experience! Like others had noted, the scenery between Charleston, WV and Staunton, VA was really great. Plus it was cool to see what the Lafayette, IN and Staunton, VA stations looked like, and also the Indy and Cincy skylines at night. Also thought it was interesting the train ran through several different tunnels(albeit not as long as the Moffat Tunnel the CA Zephyr goes through), in WV and VA.
Now that the mods moved this thread here, I'll expand on this post some more. Anyway, I was very impressed the train ran on time throughout the first part of the trip(into Cincinnati). And that it didn't lose much time at all going through Kentucky, and honestly I think this train was never more than 5-10 minutes behind its regular schedule for the WV and VA parts of this trip.
My favorite part of this trip for sure, was going through West Virginia east of Charleston through the small towns such as Montgomery, Alderson, and Hinton to name examples. To be honest when I looked up Hinton, WV on google street view and looked at that town, I almost would someday consider doing a trip east to that town and do an all day trip there. Then go back west to Chicago, at the end of that day! Ditto with possibly using this train, to do an all day trip to either Huntington or Charleston. Too bad the Cardinal only runs 3 days a week in each direction, and isn't a daily train. Also I loved the look of the depots in Alderson, Hinton, and Thurmond myself. They were so nice, and historic to look at! And I take it looking from both street view, satellite images, and maps that Prince, WV doesn't have a lot around it, and has to mainly be used by those in and around Beckley, WV as a nearby station to drive to and catch the train from.
I will post some train pics in a follow-up post(mainly from the WV part of the trip, and what I was most excited to see on this route), very soon. For July, I may do an Empire Builder trip from Chicago to Glacier National Park for several days, but we'll see. Fingers crossed!
Now that the mods moved this thread here, I'll expand on this post some more. Anyway, I was very impressed the train ran on time throughout the first part of the trip(into Cincinnati). And that it didn't lose much time at all going through Kentucky, and honestly I think this train was never more than 5-10 minutes behind its regular schedule for the WV and VA parts of this trip.
My favorite part of this trip for sure, was going through West Virginia east of Charleston through the small towns such as Montgomery, Alderson, and Hinton to name examples. To be honest when I looked up Hinton, WV on google street view and looked at that town, I almost would someday consider doing a trip east to that town and do an all day trip there. Then go back west to Chicago, at the end of that day! Ditto with possibly using this train, to do an all day trip to either Huntington or Charleston. Too bad the Cardinal only runs 3 days a week in each direction, and isn't a daily train. Also I loved the look of the depots in Alderson, Hinton, and Thurmond myself. They were so nice, and historic to look at! And I take it looking from both street view, satellite images, and maps that Prince, WV doesn't have a lot around it, and has to mainly be used by those in and around Beckley, WV as a nearby station to drive to and catch the train from.
I will post some train pics in a follow-up post(mainly from the WV part of the trip, and what I was most excited to see on this route), very soon. For July, I may do an Empire Builder trip from Chicago to Glacier National Park for several days, but we'll see. Fingers crossed!
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