Electrical Outlets at Every Seat?
 

I will be going from CHI to PHL at the end of November as one of my twin sons is now going to be the father of twin girls! My question is which train has electrical outlets at every seat - the Capitol Limited or the Cardinal? There's a 9 hour differential between the two trains and I would opt for the Cardinal with the shorter time if there are outlets at each seat as I work extensively on my computer. But, if necessary to be able to work, I'd take the Capitol Limited and endure the extra hours and not having to change trains. Thanks for any advice!

Welcome to FT! :)

I take it you are going coach. If you had a sleeper, you would be guaranteed to have an outlet in your room! If the coach is refurbished, you should find an outlet at each seat. If it has not, there are only 2 per coach. (I've had both on my trips this month.)

When the coaches were built 30 years ago, not everyone had laptops, cell phones, iPods, DVD players, etc... - so 2 per car were enough for the cleaners.

If you find there is not a plug at your seat, you can find some in the Lounge car - but remember every other person in the train may be trying to do the same thing!

Where do you get this 9 hour difference? The Cardinal (train 50) is a lot slower to DC than the CapLtd (train 30): approx. 23 hours vs. 18 hours. A 9 hour difference implies that you'd be sitting in DC or Pittsburgh for an eternity. Perhaps you picked the Pennsylvanian, which would have you sitting in PIT for about 8 hours?

Trains 30 (CHI to WAS) + 156 (WAS to PHL) can do CHI to PHL in about 20 hours (7pm Central to 4pm Eastern). Train 50 does it in 25 hours (6pm Central to 8pm Eastern). Train 50/51 only run 3 times a week.

If you want to get work done, get a roomette (a bit more than $200 extra each way). They have outlets, meals, and solitude.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8100/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Data point: none of the 3 Cap Ltd trains I've taken (including the one I'm sitting in) have had at-seat outlets. You never know exactly what equipment you're going to get, tho.

Wirelessly posted via my owm fancy WiFi connection
They should have outlets in the sleepers.