Passenger Trains > The Cardinal #51 of 12-23

Amtrak's westbound Cardinal #51 of Sunday 12-23 operated with 4 coaches, but without a Sightseer lounge car. I'm sure there were some disappointed passengers.

P42 locomotive
working baggage
sleeper
sleeper
diner
coach
coach-smoker
coach
coach

Was that lead sleeper a dorm, or was the crew using a regular sleeper? Also, I think I heard somewhere that the Cardinal has occasionally been operating with _just_ a trans dorm and no sleeper, and paid guests are riding in it. Was that ever true?

Help a rookie fan out, please. I've never been able to
afford sleeper accomodations. What's the difference
between the normal sleeper and the trans-dorm units
you're referring to?

jameslong wrote:
>
> Help a rookie fan out, please. I've never been able to
> afford sleeper accomodations. What's the difference
> between the normal sleeper and the trans-dorm units
> you're referring to?

Sleeping Cars: 14 Standard Bedrooms (1-10 occupy half of upper level, 11-14 occupy much of half of lower level), 5 Deluxe Bedrooms on the upper level, and an Accessible Bedroom & Family Bedroom at opposite ends of the lower level. See http://trainweb.com/crocon/sleeperplans.html for an illustration.

Transition Sleepers: (I think) 20 Standard Bedrooms and a crew office upstairs, crew lounge downstairs.

If you're a coach guest on a long-distance train, simply ask and a crewmember would be happy to give you a tour of the Sleepers.

Both sleepers were standard Superliner I sleepers.

The Cardinal uses Superliner I cars; occasionally a Superliner II car can be found in the consist.

I suspect the crew operated the rear half of the diner as the lounge car.

Because one end of the car has a stairway to single-level floor height.