jamiel

Net:net--though long distance train travel is fun, it's become too compromised in the East to be truly pleasurable or useful; more daylight makes for a better trip.

For a recent trip to Washington DC, decided to return home on the Cardinal. (Flew there on a mid-day WN flight--quite rough; no service; only about 2/3 full so had nice elbow room). International Spy Museum was great. Salamander (!) Hotel (formerly Mandarin Oriental) was nice though oddly located, although no all-day restaurant (they did offer a breakfast room and in-room dining) and tough to access via automobile (entirely different egress paths at different elevations via auto depending on if you were heading to reception or to the banquet areas). Pro tip: if you need to park but don't need the car while there there's a public lot near the reception area for $15/day flat rate on Sat/Sun.

The Cardinal is the slow-route from New York through Washington to Chicago, via the C&O through Virginia/West Virginia/Ohio/Indiana. One stop is White Sulphur Springs (near the Greenbrier) and it goes through some spectacular sights in the 24h from Washington to Chicago. Unfortunately, during the shorter days, the entirety of West Virginia is traveled in the dark (basically from 5 pm to 10 pm) so you miss most of the scenery. We boarded a roomette (there are 1 1/2 sleeping cars on the train now; as there's a combination baggage/sleeper and a full sleeper car) right on time. We'd checked one bag (we needed both casual and formal clothes for the trip...a little nostalgic packing a old Hartmann garment bag) but there's only limited space inside the roomette but we made do (my husband's paranoid about leaving luggage in luggage racks). We were welcomed aboard by the room attendant and briefed on the new health and safety requirements (meals served in rooms; shoes in all corridors/public areas; etc). We were in one of the "new" sleeper cars (where they removed the toilet but not the sink from the room). I got the top bunk; my husband the berth. We were advised that we could eat when we wished but were strongly encouraged to do so in the room...

The main dissatisfaction, I think, was that we were actively discouraged from congregating/using the diner/snack car, so were effectively stuck in our rooms for the entirety of the trip. The crew spread out over the "sleeper" half of the diner/snack car to do their paperwork, go on breaks, etc; and the diner/snack attendant was really pressed for time to heat all the meals so the room attendants could deliver them.

Meals were Amtrak's version of a premium coach product, with 5 (identical) selections for dinner and lunch (beef w/mashed potatoes; chicken with vaguely italian sauce and pasta; fish and shrimp with pilaf, vegan thai noodles with Impossible meatballs, and one other which escapes me). Best choice was actually the fish or the thai noodles. Breakfast was 4 choices (continental selection of 3 items from the snack bar, omelet, pancakes, french toast). The train serves 2 breakfasts, lunch and dinner from NYC to Chicago. One alcoholic drink is offered at lunch OR at dinner (and it was accounted for...)...apparently a tip to the room attendant will get you a dinner drink for free (they apparently have one drink ONLY per passenger permitted and have to do the accounting to attribute your drink to a teetotaler). It was filling (comparable in quality to what you'd get in the ready-made deli case at a chain supermarket) but nothing more.

The discouraging of using the tables in the diner/snack car was the most disappointing thing, TBH---to enjoy the scenery and get out of the room. It was also weird; with only one cafe attendant there was a certain amount of juggling going on (they announced through the train that the snack car was closed during mealtimes and for an hour mid-afternoon, but also discouraged us (and prevented coach customers) from utilizing the tables (the Amtrak version of socializing behind the curtains on an airplane).

Sleep was difficult, tbh--jiggling and rocking; narrow bed, noise. Shower in our car was not functioning.

We stopped for about 40 minutes at 87th Street in Chicago for track work--took us from 10 minute early arrival to 30 minute late arrival.
Connection to the Michigan trains worked fine; they have 4 trains/day to Battle Creek/3 to Detroit, so there's actually usable service. The high-speed segment (110 mph) between Niles and Kalamazoo is, dare I say, fun?

Net:net: Amtrak long-distance travel in the East just isn't a good enough experience to recommend realistically. Corridor travel works well, but there's not enough service (typically 1 trip/day; the Cardinal is actually an every-3-day train) to be useful. We did Detroit-Chicago-NYC for my birthday 8 years ago and Washington-Chicago-Detroit this year, and both times were left with "and we coulda just flown in a couple hours". here are few places in the East so remote that 1 train per day "cuts" it.

I'd consider one more trip on the Cardinal during the summer/autumn (to stay at the Greenbrier), but with that I'm done.

We thoroughly enjoyed taking the Empire Builder about 5 years ago out to central Montana (again, Glacier National Park...the kind of place where 1 train a day isn't appreciably worse than, say, 2 connecting flights on CRJs a day) and would do that again (but again, strategically--with the limited connectivity our preference would be to fly into Minneapolis in the early evening and catch the train there rather than take it all the way from Detroit and connect in Chicago).

WeekendTraveler

Your experiences are similar to mine in the Crescent.

I also don’t understand why Amtrak lets employees take over the cafe car and shoo passengers away. Airlines don’t allow employees in uniform to even enter airport lounges (other than while working) and railroads other than Amtrak don’t allow employees to take over the cafe car.

The Crescent’s schedule southbound is pretty ideal for regular commutes but the abrasive staff and dinky conditions and dinky food are too much, so I fly.

boat stuck

Any one have any recent experience on the Zephyr?

nequine

That does seem to suck that you have to spend all your time in your cabin. Does seem to differ from another train TR someone did in the west coast I think it was?

WeekendTraveler

Since Amtrak is so focused on reducing losses from food service: it seems basic to me that letting customers visit and spend time in cafe cars would increase sales. When customers get shooed away by Amtrak staff who take up all of the tables, doesn’t that reduce sales? I’ve also been yelled at for approaching the cafe car counter from the coach side (when I’ve been in a sleeping car, and the line was on the coach side); treating people like that doesn’t help generate business, either.

JAXPax

I hate being "that guy" but sometimes I just put the Amtrak folks back in their place when they make up their own rules. Because of the nature of the organization, Amtrak's manuals and such are all a matter of public record and can be received via a FOIA request. I have all 960 pages of their Service Standards manual on my phone and a couple times I've referenced it when met with a "I cannot do that" or similar. Oddly enough, nobody has taken offense. They all must have a copy of them, either electronically or paper, or the train has a communal copy that's supposed to be kept in the cabinet above the microwave in the cafe/lounge cars on most trains.

WeekendTraveler

That’s fantastic!

After one crew member on the Crescent screamed at me when I boarded the train through another car, then refused to let me off the train at my stop (and screamed again) and then on the next trip told me to get out and change rooms because he refused to provide customer service, I did print part of the sleeping car service manual, to be prepared. But then the staff member on the next trip was nice so I didn’t get to whip it out.

jamiel

In researching, apparently the Cardinal has always been a "stepsister" train (it's a 3 times/week train so not daily service). Amtrak West has the double decker Superliner cars and has both dedicated dining cars as well as dedicated lounge cars and doesn't have the same access/timing/multitasking problems as the east coast trains. Amtrak Unlimited is a good forum for what's going on.

TheFlyingDoctor

Nearly a year ago now, but yes, on my transcontinental trip on the Zephyr dining in your room was an option, but in no way mandatory. In fact, the staff seemed to find it stressful bussing meals to rooms, so certainly weren't encouraging it. COVID rules acted as a slight dampener on interacting with strangers - when dining, at most two travel parties could be combined at a table, so I often ate alone anyway. But one evening I set up a boardgame with I think six people from four groups, so socialising was definitely possible!

TheFlyingDoctor

I'm flying in to Cincinnati on BA's inaugural flight in June, and had been considering the Cardinal out to New York before flying back home from there. I'm aware of the horrendous departure time from Cincinnati, but would you say the scenery is worth it on that stretch of the route in summer?

Bear96

I've done the Cardinal a few times. It is pretty - but only by the standards of the Eastern US, so nice hills / low mountains, and very lush dense green foliage, if that is your thing. It is nothing like the Western US or Alps, etc.

Plus you'll have to deal with Amtrak's abysmal on-board service these days, and on-time record (even if it is on time, it also has a horrendous arrival time in NY of almost midnight, IIRC). It is slowwwwwwww.

I would say do it if you have patience and time to kill and are a train buff, but don't go out of your way for it. And definitely get a sleeping car room.

jamiel

that's the difference between the eastern trains and the western trains--the western trains are better-staffed in the dining car/snack car so can do a reasonable job serving and relieving and allowing people to linger. The eastern trains seem to want to do the minimum necessary (minimal equipment, minimal staffing) and so limit the offerings in multiple ways.

WeekendTraveler

The quickest way to turn a train buff into an aviation buff is to have the train buff take Amtrak.

Bear96

Sad but true.