Passenger Trains > Cardinal sleeper/food question

A quick question about the sleepers on the Cardinal...

For a number of years there was just one sleeper on the train. It seems that there are now two of them, and I saw a pic from today that had a baggage car followed by two sleepers, the food service car, then coaches. From what I understand, this is the new norm, at least for now.

So the question is this: How are the sleeper passengers fed? My last Cardinal trip was a year ago and there was a single sleeper and the food service seemed somewhat difficult for the sleeper attendant and lounge attendant. If you double the number of sleeping car passengers, how can they be sanely accommodated by the meager food service of the Cardinal? And, as I recall, the lounge was closed to coach passengers when sleeper passengers were being fed. Presumably this time has doubled, and coach passengers must get mildly annoyed.

If anyone has ridden the train lately and has some insight, that would be great. I am on board October 3 from DC to Chicago, so I will get my answers at that time. But if anyone has thoughts today, that would be great.

Thank you.

I don't think there are two sleepers. Just one. Even with the new car order for new cars, the cardinal will continue with one sleeper for now, but supposedly will be adding a baggage dorm car. Which will add a few rooms of capacity, but certainly not a whole car.

There are two now. I have reports from other riders as well as verification in a shot online that was taken Friday near Hawk's Nest in WVA. Maybe one goes away soon as the busy season wanes, but this week there were two sleepers.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=498996&nseq=0



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/14 17:59 by Chessie1963.

As I'm in the 5101 sleeper in about three weeks, I really hope there is a second sleeper :)

I have been seeing it quite a few times with two sleepers, so I'd say it has become the norm.

Two sleepers is good news, but the OP is suggesting that the increased sleeper riders will overload the Diner-Lite's capacity. I wonder-- several years ago, when I rode, a sold-out train with just one sleeper had hour-long waits for meals.

P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't think there are two sleepers. Just one.
> Even with the new car order for new cars, the
> cardinal will continue with one sleeper for now,
> but supposedly will be adding a baggage dorm car.
> Which will add a few rooms of capacity, but
> certainly not a whole car.


Been a second sleeper for a couple months now.

1976 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> P Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I don't think there are two sleepers. Just one.
>
> > Even with the new car order for new cars, the
> > cardinal will continue with one sleeper for
> now,
> > but supposedly will be adding a baggage dorm
> car.
> > Which will add a few rooms of capacity, but
> > certainly not a whole car.
>
>
> Been a second sleeper for a couple months now.

How is the "Diner Lite" holding up with two sleepers?

Fall foliage season definitely increases the ridership on this train. Once the Florida trains go back to their winter consists though, there once again won't be enough viewliners to go around.

Silver Meteor has a 3rd sleeper year-round. Silver Star always has 2. The only thing that changes in winter is possibly 5th coach on Meteor.

NewRiverGeorge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fall foliage season definitely increases the
> ridership on this train. Once the Florida trains
> go back to their winter consists though, there
> once again won't be enough viewliners to go
> around.

There should be enough Viewliners to go around. This is nothing more than Amtrak wanting to keep 11 Viewliner sleepers in RESERVE. Now reserve could mean protect cars at Hialeah or NYP (they don't keep protect Viewliners at Chicago or New Orleans as often gets mis-reported), Viewliners in the shop at Hialeah etc. Amtrak should STOP using the Viewliners as business cars. Put the folks in BeechGrove or the two old Heritage sleepers Amtrak restored (or add a compartment in the deluxe theater car Amtrak didn't need). Or better yet - put the business folks in the Superliner Trans/dorm crew space that has been dwindling.

So with Amtrak releasing TWO Viewliners for use on the Cardinal, this means they are using 41 sleepers out of the 50 Viewliners available (as opposed to the long-lasting 39). In Warrington's days he put everything and anything on the road that could run. That led to problems though because it didn't allow for spares. But Amtrak - up until this Cardinal sleeper addition - had 25% of the Viewliner sleepers in reserve. This was ridiculous, especially after the service center of Hialeah supposedly got a state of the art repair facility for the Viewliners.

The Cardinal DEFINITELY needed an extra sleeper. The single sleeper was constantly sold out MONTHS in advance. If Amtrak put the Dome on the Cardinal, it was sold out for sure! And rooms turnover typically twice enroute - due to the Cardinal's meandering route fromWashington to Chicago.

So glad this was done - a second sleeper. It needs to be there full time, along with a bag-dorm.

It's too bad there aren't two Heritage diners at Beech Grove that could be resurrected to put into the consist. Coach passengers on this train have no clue they can get a full service meal at the Diner-Lite. When the Lake Shore had a Diner-Lite - during some dark days - it still carried a regular Amfleet Cafe car. I know Amtrak is looking to cut costs in F&B, but this is one train where a Diner Lite and cafe car could potentially work nicely and independently of each other....

So Amtrak has plenty of Viewliners to go around, even with the addition of two (one each train set) for the Cardinal. A restored Twilight Shoreliner with Viewliners would be nice too, but I won't push it!!!

Forgot to mention that several rooms in sleeper #1 are blanked out for crew. So the #2 car does a whole lot more to add to the revenue.

The 20 or so new units eventually coming out of Elmira Hts. could also be fully sold out if they were available. However, the sleeper end of the order seems to keep getting reduced. There seems to be no shortage of folks wanting to pay big bucks for the trips. Now, will Amtrak spring for an extra employee to go with each car, or will the bean counters expect the existing staff to take on the additional work for no increase in pay?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/14 13:00 by NewRiverGeorge.

Where did you hear the sleeper part of the order was reduced. Arn't there supposed to be 25?
I know the bag-dorms have been cut back to just 10.

NewRiverGeorge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> The 20 or so new units eventually coming out of
> Elmira Hts. could also be fully sold out if they
> were available. However, the sleeper end of the
> order seems to keep getting reduced.


Can you document that the sleeper order has been reduced?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/14 13:42 by Ptolemy.

Sleeper order is still 25. It is the Bag Dorms that have been reduced from 25 to 10, thus effectively reducing the net additional Sleeper capacity from the new order by about 15 x 8 = 120 berths or so.