Locomotive Change in D.C.

[Ken]

I rode the Cardinal to New York a couple of years ago and there was a 1/2 hour stop in Washington to change to an electric locomotive. I was looking at the timetable for the Cardinal today and noticed that the 1/2 hour stop is no longer included. Do they no longer change locomotives or is it just built into the time?

 

[Ryan]

It's still there.

Separate departure and arrival times aren't needed because the train is "receive only" headed to CHI (so arrival time doesn't matter) and "discharge only" headed to NYP (so departure time doesn't matter).

 

[Thirdrail7]

It is currently scheduled at 27 minutes. You saved 3 minutes! ^_^

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

If you are curious or fascinated about the change, you can usually walk up to the front of the train and if you stay out of the way of the crew, they are usually happy to let you watch and take pics. Sometimes one of the crew may even explain what is going on.

 

[RPC]

...but be careful. I took the Silver Star from Orlando to Philadelphia last year; got off the train in WAS to watch the engine change. The new engineer checked the fuel levels in the P42s, swung up into the cab, and nearly left without me! It turned out they were changing to electric at Philadelphia.