boxcarsyix
Service Attendant
Another dumb question. Does the Cardinal serve dinner after leaving Chicago? :unsure:
dinner on the Cardinal
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greatcats
Engineer
Yes. The time I rode it out of Chicago they made announcements for one dinner seating for sleeper passengers.
Yes, and as I recall, no reservation needed.
Ryan
Court Jester
Yep, that matches my recollection.
That has always irked me. There has been more than one time I have experienced a dining car announcement that excludes coach passengers. Either an announcement isn't made in coach, or the announcement specifically says "sleeper passengers only". Isn't their money as good as anyone else's? Or does the dining car crew want to work as little as possible? If the dining area wasn't meant for coach, there should be no prices on the menu and that would be that.
JoeRids: not to be an apologist for Amtrak,but the Card needs a regular Diner with a Food Service Crew as well as the sometimes Second Sleeping Car made a regular part of the consist!
Currently the Diner Lite has two OBS, an LSA that runs the Cafe half of the car, and an LSA/Cook/Wait person/Busier/Janitor for the "Diner" half of the Car! ( no grill, just a convection oven, limited storage space and tables and a limited menu for the Dinner,Breakfast and Lunch served between CHI and NYP))
I have no idea how one person handles one Sleeper, let alone two, and if Coach Passengers are included this single person would be on duty for like 20 Hours during the route!
Currently the Diner Lite has two OBS, an LSA that runs the Cafe half of the car, and an LSA/Cook/Wait person/Busier/Janitor for the "Diner" half of the Car! ( no grill, just a convection oven, limited storage space and tables and a limited menu for the Dinner,Breakfast and Lunch served between CHI and NYP))
I have no idea how one person handles one Sleeper, let alone two, and if Coach Passengers are included this single person would be on duty for like 20 Hours during the route!
The Cardinal being only six to seven cars long and having only one engine, is Amtrak's smallest long distance train. It only has half of a café car that serves as the "diner lite" and lounge. There is but one chef/server onboard to prepare and serve meals for all the sleeper passengers. Occasionally the SCA will help with table service but not always. The point is that there is not enough help to serve sit down meals for everyone on the train. When the Card runs two sleepers the work load on the food service person can be overwhelming.
Coach passengers are free to purchase sandwiches, salads and beverages on the cafe side of the "diner lite" .Food is available to everyone but not diner service. On LD trains where there is full diner service; I agree that at times there is no announcement to coach passengers that the diner service is available. We've seen this on the Capitol Limited several times.
Coach passengers are free to purchase sandwiches, salads and beverages on the cafe side of the "diner lite" .Food is available to everyone but not diner service. On LD trains where there is full diner service; I agree that at times there is no announcement to coach passengers that the diner service is available. We've seen this on the Capitol Limited several times.
TiBike
OBS Chief
I'm in coach on the LSL right now (2+ hours late getting into Chicago so far). No announcements were made regarding dining car meals for coach pax either for dinner last night or breakfast this morning.
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