Pedigree of the Cardinal

I'm taking the Cardinal from NYC to Chicago this coming spring (with a stopover in Lafeyette) and I was curious as to the origins of this route. Is this a "legacy route" (like the Lake Shore Limited or Southwest Chief roughly are) or is this post "A-Day"?

From what I know about that route, its NYC-DC on the ex PRR; DC to Cincinatti on the C&O, from there I'm not too sure possibly still on the C&O to Indy or NYC? Out of Indy its on a branch on the NYC to Greencastle,IN then on to Dyer,In on the Former Monon then...yet another change over, to the GTW..from there I'm not sure how they get to Union Station though.

A little more detail is probably warranted. There was never a legecy route from NYC/Washington to Chicago via Cincinati- it was strung together by Amtrak from the very beginning, being called the James Witcomb Riley- a NYC name, (an Indiana poet?) and adding a conection via the C&O to on to Washington. It originaly had a stub section that ran from Charlottsville VA to Newport News VA via Richmond. This was a hold over from C&O George Washington Days. The stub was dropped pretty early and the train has been extended and dropped back from NY several times. The Cardinal name was added early on as Riley was unknown outside of the mid-west. I like the name as it is the state bird of all the states it passes through on its original route south of Washington.

While it has always been C&O from Cincy east- it has had so many routes from there to Chicago, I can't begin to relate them all, suffice to it say that when I first rode it in 1973, it was a very slow bumpy trip on what I think was then the old PC/NYC.

Chesapeake & Ohio's principal passenger train, the "George Washington," carried through sleeping cars from Newport News to Chicago that were handled west of Cincinnati on New York Central's "James Whitcomb Riley."

When Amtrak began operations, the GW and Riley continued briefly as separate trains. However, they became a combined through operation from Chicago to Washington and Newport News shortly thereafter. For a while, the Riley was extended to Boston, essentially filling a slot in the NEC north of Washington.

Unfortunately, Penn Central had let its Big Four route from Cincinnati to Kankakee, IL (the last few miles into Chicago were over Illinois Central) deteriorate to the extend that Amtrak had to seek an alternative route. For a while, the Riley (it may have already been renamed Cardinal) ran over the old C&O of Indiana. However, this line skipped Indianapolis and C&O was looking to abandon it. Subsequently, the current route was cobbled together, using former Monon, New York Central and Baltimore & Ohio lines.

I thought the Cardinal was more the C&O George Washington but somebody told me it was more indicative of the C&O Sportsman.

It's all in the scheduling, I guess.

My next trip is going to be between DC and Chicago via the Capitol Limited, which I believe is an ex-B&O line. I have an HO trainset of it in my living room, complete with low-dome cars.
I have fond memories of B&O sleeper cars finally resting at Camden Yards immedialtely after the Amtrak takeover. ....half the reason I'm an Orioles fan, I guess. Besides, the Cap Ltd goes through a great Civil War town, Harpers Ferry, WV (...or Va?). ....nice view all around.

At first, Amtrak ran the JW Riley on the GW's traditional overnight schedule between Washington and Cincinnati. It wasn't until later on that the schedule was flipped to run overnight between Cincy and Chicago.

The current route of the Capitol Isn't all its orignal route. From Chicago to Cleveland it rune on the former NYC then goes to the ex PRR to Pittsburgh. After Pittsburgh it goes to its original route. The Three Rivers actually uses the Former B&O from Chicago-Pittsburgh but I don't think you can make a same day connection going in both directions.

A few additions to the above comments:

1) The "George" was an overnight C&O train Washington - Cincy, with a section from Newport News that joined at Charlottesville (actual jct. point is Gordonsville, VA), and a Louisville section switched out at Ashland, KY. At various times, through cars ran to NYP and Chicago, and there was also a Detroit section (also switched out at Ashland).

2) James Whitcomb Riley was indeed an Indiana poet, and the train of the same name was an NYC, then PC train that ran with a diner and coaches from Cincy to Indianapolis over a line that is now a shortline, thence to Lafayette, IN and Kankakee, and finally into IC's Central Station on IC trackage rights (Detroit trains via Michigan Central also used Central Station until the mid-1960s).

3) Amtrak very quickly combined these two trains into a single through train, which as noted ran as far as NY and BOS at various times. Amtrak also continued the Newport News section for a few years, making it a NYP - NPN train only in the late 1970s.

4) A second section of the train, called the "Mountaineer", ran for a few years in the 1970s. It was switched out at Russell, KY (major C&O yard, not a passenger stop) and ran to Norfolk, VA via the N&W main, passing through Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Petersburg. In 1978 (IIRC) this train was eliminated in favor of a train from WAS to Catlettsburg, KY (new station built by Amtrak, between Huntington and Ashland). The "Hilltopper", as this was known, was a daylight train running from Washington to Petersburg on RF&P and Seaboard System, thence via N&W. It lasted until the cuts of 1980.

5) As to the "Cardinal's" peregrinations through Indiana, here's a concise summary:

- Original route has been described
- First modification was to send the train up the I&F branch from IND to Logansport, then into Chicago on the "Panhandle". CIN - IND route remained same.
- Next change was to the C&O of Indiana, passing through Richmond, Marion, and Muncie, entering Chicago from Griffith, IN over the former Erie and C&WI.
- Following the creation of Conrail, the Erie was abandoned. Train was rerouted from La Crosse, IN to Wellsboro, thence into Chicago on the former B&O and Conrail (from Pine Jct.)
- Meanwhile, in the late 1970s Chessie built Queensgate Yard. This required abandoning the C&O line down Cheviot Hill, so the Cardinal was routed onto the B&O at Cottage Grove, IN and via Hamilton, OH to CIN.
- Finally, with the whole C&O of IN under threat of abandonment, train was re-routed again, this time via the B&O through Hamilton and Cottage Grove all the way to Indianapolis, over the Conrail (former Peoria & Eastern) line from IND to Crawfordsville (which was upgrading for 60 MPH operation), then via a new connection to the former Monon through Lafayette to Munster, IN and via the ex-PRR SC&S (South Chicago & Southern) to Colehour Yard and the CR mainline into Chicago.
- One more re-route occurred in 1994, when CR abandoned a portion of the SC&S. Cardinal now gets onto Grand Trunk at Munster, runs a few miles to Thornton Jct., and turns north on the former C&EI past Yard Center, over the IC at Kensington, and north on the former C&WI (now owned at dispatched by Metra) to 35th Street, where the train uses NS (former CR) trackage to reach Union Station.

Whew!