Joining friend on Cardinal

[Linda T]

Okay, I have another question. In a couple weeks a FB friend will be taking the Cardinal from CHI to CVS. I'm planning on joining her from HUN to WSS and bring the 51 home same day. My question is, how easy is it to get seats together on the Cardinal on a Sunday morning? Is there anything we can do to improve the chances of sitting together, like maybe have her mention to the conductor at the start, or later on down the line? How many coaches are there on the Cardinal? If someone's going from CHI to CVS do they sit in a different car then I'll be boarding? I've also not traveled coach much, is it possible if there are two seats somewhere else, that we can get up and move? I mean, I know we can walk around, but I mean actually move our stuff to a different seat. I'm also hoping that we can get breakfast (I should be boarding about 7:05 AM), I'm assuming we just get up and walk to the dining car and wait further instructions?

She's probably more experienced at coach than I am, but I'm asking cause I'm just doing this trip to see if we're compatible to share a roomette (and AGR points) on LD trips, well... it's also nice to put a face to a name, but...

TIA,

Linda.

 

[the_traveler]

I have never taken the Cardinal in coach, so I don't know the seating procedure. I believe the Cardinal operates with 3 coaches. (At least the last time I took it.) I might have her ask the car attendant when she boards about getting 2 seats, because you'll be joining her later. I have no idea if they will or won't.

i wish you (and her) good luck!

 

[City of Miami]

Today both 50 and 51 had 2 coaches. Short trains.

 

[Linda T]

Thanks for the answers so far.

 

[kentuckian1977]

I rode the Cardinal in coach from Clifton Forge back to Ashland at the end of a much longer trip last month, and that was my first time in coach on it. They assigned us seats when we got on, asking at the get-go if anyone was traveling together. They already had it figured out who they were putting where, based on where we would be getting off. So, based on all that, my guess would be it would be best for her to let the coach attendant in Chicago know from the start what y'all would like to do, as the coach attendant does the seating in the coaches and will be there for the whole trip, whereas the conductor in Chicago won't be. When I rode, the train had three coaches but they were only using two of them, and kept the other one closed at least for that portion of the trip.

 

[kentuckian1977]

Oh and on the breakfast thing - coming from Chicago to Clifton Forge I was in a roomette, and they opened the diner between Ashland and Huntington and we were still eating breakfast well after it left Huntington. When I was coming back in coach that evening, I didn't ask to be seated in the diner portion of the cafe/lounge for dinner, and opted for a sandwich at the lounge counter instead. I would guess that if you want breakfast they would most likely sit you in the diner, once the sleeper passengers have been served, as this is normally the case. Just go to the lounge counter and tell them you'd like to be seated in the diner portion for breakfast if possible.

 

[rrdude]

You'll get a better view, such as you can with Cardinal's lack of Superliner gear, if you grab a table in the so-called "lounge" car. That way, u can both have a window seat, if the scenery outside the train is of any concern.....

 

[Notelvis]

Adding to what Kentuckian said - Your friend should let the coach attendant know that she has a friend boarding in Huntington and that she would like to be able to sit together with you if possible.

I would suggest that your friend touch base again with the attendant around Ashland, KY. Huntington is a large enough stop that odds are there will be several pairs of seats opening up by people getting off there. Odds are good that your friend, with the coach attendant's OK, could slide into one of these pairs of seats and be waiting for you as you board.

 

[Linda T]

Great answers, thanks! I've done the Cardinal sleeper numerous times, and coach from HUN to CIN (start of new zone), but by the time one boards in HUN for CIN everyone's starting to think about sleeping. Scenery isn't a big deal for me, though I told her for her benefit that the right side is best going east bound.

My problem is that my husband is the one with mal de debarquement, so he can't do several multiple day trips. I feel guilty doing too many two and three zone roomettes and using all the points since he still enjoys doing one or two day roomette trips with a few days in the middle to prevent feeling too 'ill.' I figured if I could find someone to split points with it would be a great way to still make 9 day trips in first class and yet not use all our points up (I'd pay one way, and she'd pay the other). When I saw that she was coming east on the Card (only 30 minutes from my home), I thought this may be our one shot to meet face to face. I sorta hate the idea of just assuming from FB posts we'd be compatible and meet for the first time on a 9 day trip.

 

[Linda T]

Just got back from a daytrip from HUN to CLF and let me just say I could not be more pleased! Smooth, quiet trip (despite being 4:30-9:30 PM), attentive and helpful car attendants, who were also energetic, and enthusiastic. Clean bathrooms, at worse the trash was slightly overflowing, but the toilets and floors were clean. The 51's attendant (Frederick) got my attendant of the day praise sent in to Amtrak's contact us. John, the server on the 50 got my dining car praise for the day. He had the unfortunate job of telling me that Amtrak removed the citrus berry cake from the menu that was half the reason I take the Cardinal! But he convinced me to try the New York style cheese cake. He put a strawberry on top with what tasted like a raspberry topping of some sort -- Gaul darn that was OUTSTANDING! Far better than my old standby.

I spent the day at CLF at the C&O Heritage Center. I wish it had older rolling stock, but it was cool! I paid the $8 admission and got to see everything I wanted to see, plus buy two tee-shirts with Chessie cat on them! :giggle: And then walked the other way to Dairy Queen and got a salad and then waited at the station.

The best part of the trip was meeting a fellow FB Amtrak fan and going from HUN to CLF with her. We had a great time! We celebrated at Thurmond my 20k mile, that's actual rail miles! I'll hit 30k by the end of the year! I know I'm just a youngin compared to many on this board, but that's a lot for me!

The 50 was pulled by engine 156 Phase 1 Red nose, from what I've been told. Cool paint job! I was so interested in getting a picture of the 50 coming in I didn't even notice it had an unusual paint job till I got home and reviewed my pics. I was like, what the heck? And a friend explained what I had and sent an article about it. http://condrenrails.com/JDI/Amtrak/ Just a random, last minute trip to meet a friend and got this treat too. Cool!

 

[Linda T]

We didn't actually get to sit next to each other, but it worked out cause we had breakfast and lunch in the dining car and sat in the other half the rest of the time. So we were able to meet and talk to our heart's content, or the train reached CLF. :giggle: