From time to time, I’ve complained here about the folly of operating trains on a less-than-daily schedule. Amtrak has two such trains in its long-distance system: the Sunset Limited running between New Orleans and Los Angeles, and the Cardinal, which takes a southerly route between Chicago and New York. Both trains run in each direction,…
For me, planning a trip is almost as much fun as the actual travel itself. I enjoy putting together itineraries, coming up with interesting routings for the train portions, looking over hotel options, and considering what attractions I should visit once I get to wherever it is I’m going. There are three trips under consideration…
This is one of my favorite rides. The Cardinal runs between New York and Chicago, but it takes a meandering southern route that makes it, without doubt, one of the two or three more scenic Amtrak rides in the eastern part of the country. After the westbound train leaves New York’s Penn Station, it heads…
(The following is an account of one of my several trips on the Cardinal. It was originally published in the Columbus Dispatch. Part 2 on Monday.) The Cardinal isn’t a big train – a locomotive, a baggage car, just one sleeping car, three coaches, and a diner. And it runs only three days a week…