Kentucky Cardinal Equipment

[railohio]

I've heard elsewhere that the Kentucky Cardinal has drawn some strange equipment in the past few weeks. On more than one occasion it has run with a dinnette or cafe car and no coach. Anyone out there know if this is a common occurence or just a goof by Chicago? What does it normally run with? I'd assume a long-distance Amfleet coach, but now I'm not so sure....

-Brian

 

[Superliner Diner]

Throughout its relatively short history, the Kentucky Cardinal has ended up with some strange-looking consists. Ridership has been horrible to nonexistant on some trains, so they have been known to throw together whatever is laying around for a particular run.

Back when Superliners were used and when there was a sleeper on the train, the train would show up in Louisville (or Jeffersonville before the extension) with just an engine and one Superliner coach. Apparently not enough sleeper passengers to require adding one to this train. The train was also at least once spotted arriving with just an engine and a Superliner sleeper! Imagine, free upgrades for coach passengers!

Then when sleepers were officially excluded from this train, and the train then eventually went to low-level equipment, it would show up with just one Horizon coach in tow. The Horizon, as we know, is a glorified Bombardier commuter coach used mostly on shorter-distance Midwest runs. That would be quite uncomfortable for a train full of passengers who just took a slow, 12-hour overnight trip -- but again by then ridership had sagged significantly so that one could have literally the entire coach to stretch out in and sleep.

So running just a food service car, while it seems quite odd, does not surprise me. Chances are, that food service car was not stocked with food or an attendant to sell it, and they were just utilizing the seats.....and it has fewer seats than a regular coach, but then who cares when almost nobody is aboard, and the route will cease to exist south of Indianapolis early next month? :blink: :blink:

 

[amtrakadirondack]

Back when Superliners were used and when there was a sleeper on the train, the train would show up in Louisville (or Jeffersonville before the extension) with just an engine and one Superliner coach.

There was a Sleeper on the train? When? And when was it removed?

 

[railohio]

Here's the report from another forum:

Dining car to Louisville 850 - 851

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

The Kentucky Cardinal, which exists only through political pressure like, for example, any of the trains going through West Virginia, illustrates one of the problems with seeking congressional support for passenger rail service. For some odd reason, those who represent us in legislative matters can’t seem to do much of anything without applying their personal touch: demanding a train serve a vacant market. When I write my letters to Congress, I explain that Amtrak management should make the marketing decisions… not Congress. I feel this is a reasonable request now that current management has demonstrated and proved its competence.

I sometimes wonder, for example, why the Southwest Chief goes through Newton and not Wichita. Did Congress have a hand? And what’s the deal with the Sunset Limited avoiding Phoenix in favor of Maricopa (without bus service or even a proper station)? I can’t believe these kinds of odd things that reduce the number of riders have purely technical origins; there must be something else going on somewhere.

 

[amtrakadirondack]

And what’s the deal with the Sunset Limited avoiding Phoenix in favor of Maricopa (without bus service or even a proper station)?

That's from Union Pacific, I can't remember the year but UP abandoned their West Phoenix Division Line, so Amtrak was forced to reroute the Sunset Limited onto a UP line south of Phoenix.

 

[gswager]

That's from Union Pacific, I can't remember the year but UP abandoned their West Phoenix Division Line, so Amtrak was forced to reroute the Sunset Limited onto a UP line south of Phoenix.

Did the shortline RR purchased the line? Also, is it the same West Phoenix Division Line will be used for commuter line? If it is true for commuter line, it has the greatest potential for Amtrak to use it.

 

[Superliner Diner]

There was a Sleeper on the train? When? And when was it removed?

Yes there was definitely a sleeper on the K-Card in its early days. It was an on-again, off-again situation though, since it would lost the Superliner sleeper in the summer months so that two sleepers (figure one northbound, one southbound daily) saved could be used to add short-turn sleepers to the California Zephyr between Chicago and Denver. It would get them back for the after the summer tourist season, but as I illustrated, they often did not operate when they were supposed to. A Viewliner sleeper was originally assigned to the K-Card after the Auto Train accident, since the Superliner sleeper (this was April, so it had not yet moved to the Zephyr) was needed to protect the Auto Train consist. The Viewliner came from the conversion of the Silver Palm to the Palmetto, the latter still lacking sleepers and a diner.

Originally, the Viewliner and single-level coach were going to be hooked up to the Superliner-equipped Cardinal on the days it operated, with a transition car between them. Then when the parent train, the Cardinal, also went to single-level equipment, that became a moot point since the entire combined train would use the same type of equipment. But Viewliners were now in shorter supply as they were needed to run on the Cardinal. Because of this, I am not sure if the K-Card's sleeper lasted after the conversion of the Cardinal to single-level.

 

[battalion51]

That's from Union Pacific, I can't remember the year but UP abandoned their West Phoenix Division Line, so Amtrak was forced to reroute the Sunset Limited onto a UP line south of Phoenix.

Did the shortline RR purchased the line? Also, is it the same West Phoenix Division Line will be used for commuter line? If it is true for commuter line, it has the greatest potential for Amtrak to use it.

I don't think that UP completely abandoned the line, but they downgraded the line to the point where there was going to be a substantial cost to Amtrak to continue to directly serve Pheonix. So in the long run, Amtrak made the right move there. As for commuter service, it takes a lot to get a line in suitable condition for passenger service again. Prime example, Aloma spur here in Orlando. The line is not very well maintained, and is used by Amtrak wye service more often than regular CSX service. The line is in pretty bad shape, rotten ties, jointed rail, weeds, etc. There is talk of upgrading the line for light rail or heavy rail commuter service. The trouble you get into then is the noise thing where residents complain of the noise of a busy mainline running in their back yard (just ask the city of Boca Raton about that), blah blah blah blah. It is a long, difficult, expensive process, but in the end a good necessary process.