We started out on Sunday, August 21st. First step was Septa regional rail. We took the newly minted Media/Wawa train from Media to 30th Street. The extension from Elwyn to a new station at Wawa was just completed. In fact, the train we took was the inaugural run from Wawa to Center City. And it was three minutes late. LOL.
In the grand scheme of things (and this trip in particular), three minutes is not significant although it is puzzling since it was a Sunday and the official ribbon cutting had taken place the Friday before. There were a lot of people on the train 6:00 am on a Sunday. I think many, if not all of them, were doing what Dave and I would likely have done had we not had plans. That is, wanting to be one of the first to ride from Wawa to Center City.
We arrived at 30th Street just before 7 am and we made our way to the Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge to await our 8:15 am train to Chicago. Lounge access is a perk of being a sleeping car passenger. It's a quiet, comfortable space to wait with coffee, tea, water and snacks. About half an hour before departure we were led to an elevator that took us down to the boarding platform.
On this trip we would be on two different Amtrak trains. The Cardinal, our train from Philadelphia to Chicago, was a Viewliner model and from Chicago to Denver we were on the California Zephyr, a Superliner model. The primary differences are this:
- Superliner models are double decker trains; Viewliner models are single level trains and are necessary on trains that travel north of Washington DC because of the low clearance tunnels in Baltimore and NYC.
- Superliner models have formal dining cars with a kitchen and food is mostly cooked to order; Viewliner models have café cars with a modified menu of heat and serve items.
- Roomettes on the Viewliner models have higher ceilings so the person in the top bunk can sit up in bed. They are also slightly wider.
The Cardinal originates in New York and ends in Chicago. Here is a link to a description with a route map. The daytime hours heading West took us through PA, MD, VA and WVa.
Most of this first part of the Cardinal trip was cloudy and overcast with occasional showers. It was particularly foggy (yet very pretty) between Charlottesville and Staunton West Virginia. There was a vulture convention near Greenbriar, WV. Hundreds of vultures, on rooftops and in the fields, yet no roadkill that I could see. According to this Internet find "vultures are invading West Virginia, having migrated from Central and South America about 45 years ago and now settling up the East Coast." Ok, then. It was spooky.
Shortly after dinner, we passed through Thurmond, WVa. If you blinked you might miss it. Quaint is a word that easily describes it. Banners hanging from light poles referred to the town as "Historic Thurmond". The buildings were adorable! According to the town website, "Thurmond hosted the Guinness Book of World Record's longest poker game, is one of Travel & Leisure's coolest ghost towns in America". We may have to go back for a visit!!
Around 8 PM, Bateman turned our room into upper and lower bunks and we settled in for the night. Lights out at 9 pm. It was too dark to see anything and we had been on the move since well before 5 am. Overnight the train travelled through KY, OH, and into Indianapolis, IN. Kentucky must have a lot of road crossings because the train whistle was going most of the night. The ride was comfortable but noisy.
I woke up at around 5 am to a motionless train in Indianapolis. I'm not sure how long we were there
before I woke up but it was almost an hour after that before we left. Part of that time the train was quiet, shut down. Later, as we were going around a bend where I could see the front of the train, it was obvious we had picked up quite a few cars while we were stopped. I've tried several different variations of Internet searches to discover why and have not found any reason. I wonder if that's a regular thing or a one-off.
Keep Smiling Keep Moving,
-Paula
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