Amtrak Cardinal # 51 from Washington DC to Chicago Union station
Nervously I have watched Amtrak’s website for the last days. There were announcements of delays and cancellations because of winter storms along the entire eastern part of the Union. Amtrak’s cardinal leaving Chicago for Washington a couple of days earlier hads been canceled. Will my train to Chicago leave from Washington at all? When the train did not arrive from Chicago, how would it be able to go back?
Inner Courtyard of the apartment complex in Washington where I stayed on the morning before departure
If the Cardinal is canceled for my departure date I have a problem. The hotel for Chicago is booked and already two nights after my arrival from Washington I am supposed to board the California Zephir from Chicago for Sacramento. The Cardinal only runs three times a week. There might be other connections to get to Chicago via New York or Pittsburgh but I expect complicated rebooking operations.
The street in front of the apartment
The day before departure the weather in Washington DC has improved. Snowfall has ceased and there were few train cancellations. When I walk into Washington Union station all the trains are on time except the Acela high speed trains, which are all canceled.
The US Capitol in the snow storm
I already have slept badly in Washington because of all the mess with the room access codes. The night before the planned departure of the Cardinal # 51 at 10.59 am I regularly check the Amtrak website. It promises a departure right on time. Could there be a last minute problem?
Columbus fountain in front of Union station
In the morning I receive a push notice from Amtrak. The departure of the Cardinal # 51 from New York will be delayed by 30 minutes. However, the real time schedule reveals that it departs right on time at 6.40 am. Relieved I get my stuff together and with all my luggage go for breakfast at the friendly place TED at the corner. I don’t want to take any risk of delays because I might not get into the apartment again when the entrance code does not work.
Front of Union station
The friendly Colombian waiter is there again and seems to be glad to see me. There are few other guests that early in the morning. Two women at the neighboring table talk about therapies and abuse.
Already at 8.30 am, more than two hours before departure, I am on my way down the icy street towards Union station. According to the app the Cardinal is still on time and at the moment is about to arrive in Philadelphia. It will arrive in Washington at 10.14 am. There is a long stop to change the engine. The northeast corridor is Amtrak’s only electrified line. All other trains run with a Diesel engine.
Under the arcades of Union station
The ticketed waiting area in Washington belies the grandeur of the station. It is modest and cramped with a low ceiling. Only one of the three display screens is working. The announcements are barely understandable. Although they are also displayed on the screen I am unable to read them. The screen is too far away.
Ticketed waiting area in Washington - compare to the one in New York Penn station (6) or Chicago (11)
Next to me, an African American is busy with his luggage. Something must have spilled. He tries to clean everything properly, asks the attendants for housekeeping, napkins and plastic bags. At another location, outside the station, I would have thought he was homeless. He rearranges his few belongings, just a plastic bag and a small backpack, several times. Then he asks me whether I can watch his stuff for 15 minutes. He walks away, comes back, repacks again. Then he asks me again to watch his stuff, disappears for a while. Comes back to rummage in his stuff again and again. Is it nervousness?
Entrance to the lower through part of the tracks
10.14 am has long passed but there is still no announcement to board the Cardinal. However, according to Amtrak’s real time train departures it has arrived in Washington. In the waiting room the number of people with big suitcases has increased. The train must be somewhere down there in the bowels of the station.
The main concourse of Union station
In 1901 two of the biggest railway companies serving Washington, DC, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad decided to build a common new station in Washington. The proximity to the Capitol asked for a fancy design. Chicago based architect Daniel Burnham built a station “monumental in character”.
The side halls
The construction of the new station allowed to eliminate most of the railroad tracks from the National Mall. Instead, a tunnel was dug under Capitol hill which allowed through traffic in north – south direction to access originally 12 tracks on the lower floor of the station while the terminal upper part originally accommodated 20 tracks for trains arriving from the north.
The modern shopping area
Burnham heavily relied on classical architecture for his design. The exterior main facade based on the Arch of Constantine is full 180 m long and the waiting room interior of a height of 29 m is based on the vaulted spaces of the Baths of Diocletian. The station is oriented along two of Pierre L'Enfant's, avenues facing the US Capitol five blocks away. For the safety of the president there was a designated Presidential suite.
The statues in the main hall
Like similar buildings decorations in Beaux-Arts style a lot of marble, granite and gold plating are used. Above the main cornice of the central block, six colossal statues modeled on the Arch of Constantine were created by the sculpter Louis St. Gaudens. They are entitled "The Progress of Railroading" and represent Prometheus (for Fire), Thales (for Electricity), Themis (for Freedom and Justice), Apollo (for Imagination and Inspiration), Ceres (for Agriculture) and Archimedes (for Mechanics).
Centurions
The station main hall is decorated with 26 centurions modeled after Roman soldiers representing a symbolic protective force for the travelers. In the original design they were naked. After reservations all were provided with a shield hiding their private parts. At an angle they are still visible behind the shields.
Upper part of the station with the local trains
The first B&O passenger train arrived on October 27th, 1907. Union Station originally served the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, Pennsylvania Railroad, Southern Railway, Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad. For long distance traffic Amtrak took over their role, but the station also serves the local carriers MARC (Maryland rapid transport) and VRE (Virginia Railway Express).
The electric engine has brought the cardinal from New York
After the 1960’ies the station fell into such serious decay that the main concourse had to be closed off. Eventually the station was closed for renovation after 1981. It reopened in 1988. Meanwhile the shopping center, which today has to be part of every renovation plan, is half abandoned and therefore a new renovation is planned.
Comparison of a Cardinal Viewliner to a normal coach of a Northeastern Regional
Eventually around 20 minutes before the scheduled departure somebody announces the boarding of train # 51 to Chicago at gate J, track 24. Most of the people in the waiting area get up and file along dark winding corridors which have left nothing from the original grand design of the building towards the escalator leading down to the icy platform where a train of 3 coach and 2 sleeping cars is waiting. The electric engine from Siemens which has brought the train from New York is uncoupled and waits to be replaced by a Diesel engine.
Ticket check
I have to present my ticket when I get to the platform and then I am shown to my roomette which will be my home for the next 30 hours to Chicago. There are two seats facing each other which can be converted to the lower bed. There is a folding table between the seats with two water bottles. The upper bed is stowed away above and can be lowered when it is time to make it up. Two steps up lead to the upper bed. My dayback just fits under the lower step. A little sink folds down on the upper step when needed. There are 4 electricity sockets, reading and area lights above each seat and a mirror. The upper bed when lowered has a view outside from low separate upper windows and there is a net for glasses or phones. The ventilation can be closed and a belt can be closed around the coats when the coat hangers are used. There is a set of towels and the hotel type little bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. On the table wait two bottles of mineral water.
Aisle in the Viewliner
For one person the roomette is far more luxurious than a comparable sleeping car in Europe with the exception that communal toilet and showers at the end of the car have to be used. After the upper bed is lowered and made up there still is plenty of space and head-room to sit in one of the seats and read at night.
My compartment
The whole set up gives the impression hat the designer is familiar with traveling on a train at night and has adapted the car accordingly. For example the number of the bed is illuminated with a blue night light so that the occupant can find his compartment back when he had to go to the restroom at night.
The stairs to the upper bed
The sleeping cars on the Cardinal have only one floor. The double deck cars used on Amtrak’s transcontinental trains to the west coast cannot be used along the east coast since the tunnels leading into Penn station in New York and Union station in Baltimore are too narrow.
Looking outside
There is some confusion in the room next to me. An elderly lady seems to have been fallen and has a bad bruise. An Amtrak police agent boards the train and tries to convince her to stop the trip here and go the hospital to get the wound stitched. A stretcher is already waiting next to the car. Eventually the old lady is brought outside and the train departs almost on time.
Meal and beverage menu
Finally we are leaving Washington. I cannot tell how glad I am. The tense atmosphere full of police in the town was unpleasant. The apartment with doors to be unlocked by an app on the phone always made me afraid to never get in again. And after the severe winter storm of a couple of days ago I had the feeling that this train would never leave.
The lunch food bag has arrived
What will be inside?
There is a menu on the table in my compartment and after the departure the conductor takes my order for lunch which will be brought to the roomette. It later comes in a big paper bag. I had chosen butter chicken as a main course and, on recommendation of the conductor, butter cake for desert. The main course comes sealed in plastic with a lid of Aluminum foil. A hot roll is also covered in aluminum foil. I have chosen ice-tea as beverage, but one alcoholic drink is free with every meal. The ice tea even comes with a beaker of ice cubes. It is definitely better than the dinner experience of the airline in part 1.
Dinner glazed salmon
Many of my friends had no understanding when I told them that I would go on a train trip for 30 hours. Some told me to take the plane. Others found it boring, a waste of time. I see it like a movie. You sit in your comfy chair like in a movie and watch the landscape passing by while you enjoy the food brought by a servant. They don’t need a screen here like on a plane where the only thing you see is air, or on a cruise where the surrounding is the ever-blue sea.
Alexandria, VA
The trip will take me through 6 states, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and finally Illinois. To give an impression of the distances: to traverse Virginia alone will take more than 5 hours. There are only brief stops in Alexandria, Manassas and Culpeper. People at the snow covered railway crossings take photos of the waiting train. In Manassas a traveler could walk from the platform right into one of the cafes or restaurants in the old town.
The wooden platform of an old hotel with direct access to the trains
In North Gordonsville the wooden platform of an abandoned but pretty old hotel reaches right to the track. In between the stops an agricultural countryside with villages of little houses with big porches where snow covered rocking chairs wait for the next summer. Most yards are filled with car wrecks. In contrast to human bodies it is allowed to bury cars in the yard. Above the houses many have pulled up the star spangled banner. It peeks listlessly down at what is below. At the horizon the chain of the Appalachian mountains shines in the mild winter sun.
Stop in Charlottesville, former C & O track, checked luggage is loaded and unloaded
In Charlottesville we have a scheduled stop of 9 minutes from 1.43 pm to 1.52 pm. Since we arrive early the stop is even longer. Little steps are set down to allow passengers to board or leave the train. It is cold, platform and town is covered in snow. Only few people take the chance, but one even in shorts.
Charlottesville Amtrak depot at a previous visit in summer
Northeast Regional train in Charlottesville Southern railway part of the station
A little electrical cart delivers luggage to the train. For each train Amtrak offers the possibility to check excess or oversized luggage for free. The luggage compartment is in the back of our sleeping car. They also take bicycles.
Diamond crossing between the C & O and the Southern tracks
Charlottesville was an important railway junction. The east-west tracks formerly of the Chesapeake & Ohio railway cross the north-south tracks formerly of the Southern railway in a spectacular so-called diamond crossing where the tracks virtually cross in a right angle.
Northeast Regional pulls into Charlottesville Southern part of the station in summer 2016
Today Amtrak runs trains on both lines. The Crescent and northeast regional travels on Norfolk Southern's dual north–south tracks. Our Cardinal runs on the east-west single track.
Monticello, the estate of Thomas Jefferson just outside Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville was the home of two American presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. Jefferson’s country estate Monticello is only 5 km Charlottesville. Jefferson was a universal scholar and founded the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1819, one of the oldest in the country. The beautiful original academic village is preserved. Both Monticello and the historic buildings of the University are UNESCO world heritage sites.
The historic part of University of Virginia, Charlottesville
In the recent elections Charlottesville’s citizens voted 83 % democratic. After the civil war statues of confederate Generals Lee and Stonewall Jackson were erected in the city. After 2010 the city’s attempt to remove the statues led to protests. During one incident a nationalist drove his car into a group of people protesting for the removal of the statues and killed protester Heather Heyer and injured 19 others. Eventually the city removed confederate statues in 2021.
Approaching the Shenandoah mountain ridge
The old mainline of the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad crossed the Alleghenies between Charlottesville and Staunton, an area of great natural beauty where bear and deer roam dense deciduous forests. Shenandoah National Park is to the north of the C & O line. In the steam era specifically developed engines were used to master the grades with heavy trains (see part 8). The cardinal crawls slow but steady through the narrow curves. The summit, the blue ridge of the mountains, is passed through a tunnel at East Afton.
Stonewall Jackson hotel in Staunton in 2016, now Hotel 24 south
The next stop is at Staunton. It is always interesting to look for changes when you visit places again. When the Cardinal pulled into Staunton I was looking out for the gigantic sign above the beautiful old Stonewall Jackson Hotel. I could not find it but I was sure to see the building. Looking into google it turns out that they have renamed it. The name reminiscent of confederate general Stonewall Jackson has been changed into “Hotel 24 South”. In the 2024 elections 55 % of Staunton’s inhabitants voted democratic.
Downtown Staunton
Staunton has a beautiful historic town center full of brownstone business buildings and Victorian mansions. More than 200 listed buildings were designed by Victorian architect Thomas Jasper Collins (1844-1925). The Hotel 24 South is the last operating of originally 10 hotels. However, most of the buildings are still standing.
C & O platform in Staunton
The platform roof of the old Chesapeake & and Ohio station curves in a grand arch along the tracks. A wooden pedestrian bridge crosses the track. A couple of old cabooses still bear the name of the railway which built such beauty.
The pedestrian bridge across the track
The last brief stop in Virginia is at Clifton Forge. Here a little museum is dedicated to the history of the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad. Their main exhibit is visible from the train. In the era of steam, engine #614 would have been responsible for pulling the Cardinal across the mountains. CSX, the railway company which absorbed the C & O, still has an engine maintenance facility in Clifton forge. There is well maintained turntable and the Cardinal slowly pulls out of the station along the maintenance shop full of modern Diesel engines hauling freight across the mountains around here.
C & O steam engine # 614 in the C & O museum in Clifton Forge, VA
Turntable of the former engine shed in Clifton Forge
However, while steam engines were changed regularly on the long route from Washington to Chicago our Diesel will be able to operate for 24 hours in a row. There is no scheduled change of engines on the route. I have doubts that a European railway company would be able to do such a long passenger run with one engine.
CSX Diesel engines in the workshop in Clifton Forge
At 17.08 we have reached White Sulfur Springs, the first stop in West Virginia. A state which seems to be covered in endless deciduous forest. The settlements are small. The state once was important for its coal mines and heavy industry. It has all disappeared. In Lovington a big paper mill deals with all the wood from the mountains. But most of West Virginia is rural and groups of Amish families slide and stumble along the icy platform to board the train.
Tree covered mountains of West Virginia
It is already dark around 6 pm when I get my dinner bag not far from Alderton. Dinner is BBQ glazed salmon. After I have unbound it from all the packaging it is a treat. Amtrak also offers a selection of beers. I have brought my own bottles, but no opener. The twist cap seems to have disappeared from this country. Eventually I even manage to open the bottle with Amtrak’s plastic knife.
Paper mill in Lovington
The conductor comes at eight and makes up my bed. I stay below for a bit longer while reading my book and staring into the darkness. Eventually I retire under my covers upstairs. The last thing I see before I fall asleep is the bridge across the Kanawha river in Charleston, the capital of West Virginia. It is too dark to see anything of this beautiful riverside town full of historic landmarks. Satisfied I stretch out looking forward to a comfortable night of sleep.
Mountains of West Virginia
Usually my sleep on a night train is quite restless. On the Cardinal I slept very well, probably from the satisfaction that all my travel plans worked out. When I wake up I hear somebody talk quite loud on his phone. The train stands still. I peek out of the little upstairs window and realize that we are stopped at a station. After waiting for a while for the train to continue and the madman on his phone to stop I am about to get up to complain when the loudspeaker starts blaring.
Stop in Charleston West Virginia
“Good morning dear Passengers. It is 3.20 am. We are still at Cincinnati Union Station. Our journey ends here. The engine had a failure. Please get your luggage together. The train has to be evacuated. We will give further information later. You either are brought to a hotel for the night or the trip might be continued by chartered bus.“
Cleaning away snow somewhere along the line in Virginia
When I talk to the conductor he tells me that the engine failed 10 miles after leaving Cincinnati. That was blessing in disguise. An engine was available here to pull the train back into Cincinnati Union station. If it would have happened in the middle of the forests of West Virginia it could have taken hours until another engine was available. Outside it is -12 °C and Cincinnati Union station station still has a heated waiting room available with sufficient space for all us.
Main street Culpeper (VA)
The toilets do not work and there is no electricity on the train any more, only the emergency lights of the cars work. And of course there is no heating. Fortunately I had charged my phone before I went to bed.
Country road crossing in Virginia
We have to get out. I have to get my stuff together in the dark and check several times to not forget anything. The yellow step is set down below the car’s door and we all get out. The lift to the waiting area of the station only fits half a dozen people. The train is evacuated car by car. Everything runs in an organized and calm manner.
There are already quite a number of people in the waiting room. We are those who could sleep the longest. Many are Amish, the men dressed in black suits, the women in long black robes and head scarfs. Most of them keep standing, some with their children in their arms. The older children wait patiently and without complaining about their fate. Some of the young men are dressed in fashionable black silk suits and keep their styleful hats on.
Two older Amish people sit down next to me. I ask the man where they are heading to. They tell me that they were bound for Indianapolis by train and then to Bloomington, Indiana. There, relatives of his wife were supposed to pick them up with a cab.
They are not allowed to use mobile phones and therefore he has no way to call their relatives to inform them that they will be late. They use the train or bus because they are not allowed to use a plane. The rules are determined by the elders or bishop, he tells me when I ask. Interesting enough the couple speaks a kind of Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch.
Evacuation plan of the viewliner combination car
The problems with the train seem to confirm the rules of his religion. They would not have had any problem if they would have stayed home, leading their simple, self reliant life.
The conductor and his stranded train
Suddenly a furious young Afroamerican woman dressed in colorful garment complains loudly that one of her bags has disappeared. She seems to be convinced that somebody in the room must have taken it. After some time a couple of cops arrive, look around, shrug their shoulders and detect “there is nothing criminal” before they disappear. The angry woman walks away scolding.
The stranded train at the platform in Cincinnati and passengers waiting for the lift
To my other side is an elderly lady. She is looking for drinking water. I have taken the water bottles from the train compartment and give her an untouched one. She is on her way from Culpeper, where she has visited her daughter, to Kansas. In Chicago she was supposed to connect to the next California Zephyr at 14.00. It is questionable whether we will be there on time. She takes the train because it is more convenient since the stations are closer to her and her daughter's home than any airport. She never had a failure before.
Waiting room in Cincinnati Union station
In Kansas she lives with a man of 100. “We take care of each other”, she tells me. The centenarian is a former military who seems to still be very fit. He had been married to a German woman and was stationed in Germany for a long time.
Main concourse, Cincinnati Union station
Cincinnati Union station was one of the last great railway stations to be built in Beaux-Art style in the 1930’ies. It was finished in 1933. The Rotunda's interior dome has a diameter of 55 m, with a height of 32 m. One of the railways participating in the construction and operation was the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. The rail yard and buildings of the Union Terminal complex covers an area of 116 hectares with 150 km of track. The Western Hills viaduct spanning the area of the station is more than 1 km long.
Main cupola, Cincinnati Union station
The mosaics in the concourse represent 15 local businesses of piano manufacturing, radio broadcasting, roof manufacturing, leather production, airplane manufacturing, ink making, laundry-machinery manufacturing, meat packing, pharmaceutics, printing, steel manufacturing and rolling, soap making and the manufacture of machine tools.
The local businesses
The station was designed to accommodate 17,000 passengers and 216 trains a day. However, passenger train service ceased at Union Terminal on October 28, 1972. On July 29, 1991 Amtrak began operating at Union Terminal again. However, the Cardinal is the only train stopping here. In each direction it runs only three times a week.
Today most of the station is a museum. Amtrak only uses a waiting hall and ticket counter which meanwhile is manned by an Amtrak employee. Upon arrival she has announced that busses will arrive in a couple of hours to bring us to our destinations. Water bottles and snacks are distributed.
After a while the Amtrak employee comes back with the Afroamerican lady who missed her bag and accused the waiting crowd of having taken it. She wants to make an announcement. The bag has reappeared. She apologizes to the whole assembly for taking them suspect.
On the bus
After 3 hours of waiting the buses arrive. There are separate busses for those travelers going directly to Chicago and those stopping at destinations on the way. The luggage disappears in the hold of the bus and we depart around 7.30 am. The planned arrival time of the Cardinal in Chicago was 9.35 am. The bus already arrives in Chicago at 11.20 am. Considering the crossing of the zone between eastern and central time the bus covers the 294 mile (470 km) distance to Chicago Union station in 5 hours. The cardinal would have needed 8 hours.
Departure with sunrise over Cincinnati
But that is the only advantage of the bus. There is no leg space on the bus and neither space for even small backpacks. There are no usable toilets and neither food nor water. There is no way of getting up and stretch the legs. It is not even possible to write. It is even too cramped to sleep. But the snow covered hazy landscape of the flat plains south of lake Michigan is as beautiful in the early morning from the bus as from the train.
Flat countryside on the way to Chicago
We arrive at Chicago Union station only 2 hours after the planned arrival of the train. The emergency handling of Amtrak was exemplary regarding the fact that Amtrak only runs 6 trains a week through Cincinnati. The next scheduled train would have been 3 days later. Two hours of delay were worth seeing the imposing art-deco Cincinnati Union station.
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After a couple of days I get an e-mail from Amtrak. Without even asking I get 20 % of the ticket price back on my credit card account. And I get a voucher of 200 $ valid for a year for a future booking.
Union station Chicago
Sources:
On the walk from station to hotel in Chicago. On the pillar the home of a homeless
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