Amtrak's Other Cardinal: The Kentucky Cardinal

Comments · 288

• OA

  @oakrail8100 · 5 years ago

  Me:about to go to sleep<br>Amtrakguy365:makes a video about some ramdom amtrak service <br>Me: <b>Sleeping was never an option</b>

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• NS

  @NScaleTrainBoy · 5 years ago

  A very interesting story. Always sad to hear when a train is discontinued. Thanks for sharing. As always, great video. Hope you are safe and healthy.

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• TO

  @TommyBNSF · 3 years ago

  Funny how 164 was used on the final Kentucky Cardinal, and now it&apos;s the Phase IV heritage unit.

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• KE

  @kevinmaddows6171 · 5 years ago

  My name is Mark Parker and I was one of the most frequent regularly assigned sleeper/coach attendants assigned to this train for most of its run. Most unique to this route as an attendant, was that we were assigned both the coach and the sleeper. However, most runs would have 3-4 rooms occupied, and south of IND, perhaps 10 coach passengers. Each overnight trip several hours were spent sitting at the IND station in the middle of the night. The schedule for the single attendant aboard was 3 days on, 2 days off. What I remember most was most of the trip seemed to be manning the IND platform alone for several hours both nights. No conductors were on duty until 45 minutes before departure, so it was me, the train, and about a dozen passengers. The slow ride, appearance of virtually every seat empty, and only oreo cookies passed out, was enough of an embarassement that I bid off the run. This was not a train for someone as myself that likes to keep busy as there was nothing to do. And eventhough we would have the Cardinal attached 3 days a week providing a diner and lounge, the deplorable Washington crews made sure the train was still an embarassment by their &nbsp;unprofessionalism. They did a great job at treating the passengers like crap, as well as the one Chicago attendant. I have moved onto new and better things from Amtrak, and when I think of the ungrateful, overpaid, uneducated, and unreasonable coworkers on this train, I am delighted the dining cars were eliminated as these crewmembers could never get a good job again. Most likely they are working in a factory, or at a gas station and NOW I bet they regret taking Amtrak for granted! I never did this, and perhaps that forced me to better myself. Good luck to Amtrak as a whole. Management has made very foolish decisions that have taken a toll, but until its crews and frontline employees learn how to treat people, they can count on more cutbacks, being more miserable, and hopefully not even being able to keep thier job. Amtrak is a perfect example of how not taking personal responsibility has consequences.....in this case, the consequences worked out affecting the correct people.....people that no longer have anything close to a steady career. That must suck, but, as I was told by so many Amtrak employees &quot;thats not my my problem&quot;, my statement to them now is just those words back to them!

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• LE

  @LevisaPro · 5 years ago

  Hey Jared, I’m a proud Kentuckian and I had no idea this existed, rip. Anyways good vid a.

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• FR

  @fredboiandfriends5486 · 5 years ago (edited)

  As a Kentucky resident living in &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>rural-nowhere county, I found this very interesting

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• PA

  @pacificostudios · 4 years ago (edited)

  I actually rode this from Louisville to Indianapolis in the spring of 2003, shortly before the route was discontinued; I had taken the bus from Atlanta to Louisville and I was bound for Minneapolis-St. Paul. I was the only passenger in the coach. It was me and the train crew rolling along for a night. I don&apos;t think we waited five hours in Indianapolis. Like the video says, we just rolled along at 30 MPH for hour after hour. No big deal, I always sleep comfortably on Amtrak.<br><br>What made this ride truly unusual to me was that, instead of a cafe car, there were a few cases of Coca-Cola and water, and we could have all we wanted. Like I said, just me and the crew.

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• 45

  @45Steamer · 3 years ago

  Shortly after this video came out, Amtrak announce that they&apos;re planning to restored service to Louisville from Chicago via Indianapolis

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• AV

  @AVeryRandomPerson · 5 years ago

  We need to reinstate the Hoosier State

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• CN

  @Cnw8701 · 5 years ago

  It&apos;s sad how we could&apos;ve easily turned Amtrak into one of the largest, most self-sufficient, and modern high-speed rail networks in the world had we allocated our tax dollars to funding it instead of Wall Street and the military industrial complex.

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• HS

  @HSMiyamoto · 5 years ago

  I rode the Kentucky Cardinal northbound from Louisville in 2003. I rode Greyhound from Atlanta to Louisville, and then Amtrak to Minneapolis. Taking the train saved a day and sleeping in a day coach beats riding a bus. There was no cafe, but the soda was free. Everything was very casual up to Indianapolis, with the crew and me riding together and sharing the soda and bottled water. Indiana made a terrible mistake not saving the daily train.

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• SO

  @someguyontheinternet5716 · 5 years ago

  Always nice to see new content from a favorite creator of mine. As a Hoosier who lives along the line it&apos;s interesting to think of what it would have looked like if the train had survived. Really it didn&apos;t work IMO because of 2 things, 1. Lack of stops after Indianapolis and 2. Low track speeds. If the train had stayed then Columbus would have been added as a stop in 2003 (Mill Race transit center was constructed specifically to act as a bus and train hub, and that would have been ~40,000 people and anyone going to Cummins HQ) and other stops could have easily been added (Seymour still has remnants of the old PRR station platform across from where modern day Crossroads Park is , right in the middle of town, and Greenwood, Franklin, and Scottsburg would have been good additional stops). When it comes to the other one, well in an ironic twist exactly 10 years later CSX footed the bill to completely upgrade the entirely of Louisville and Indiana&apos;s right of way, mainly to do directional running between Louisville and Cincinnati (with Cincinnati bound trains going over the L&amp;I and switching to the Indiana Sub in Seymour, and Louisville bound trains going over the LH&amp;STL Sub). Lastly based off of Amtrak&apos;s 2035 map, Amtrak hasn&apos;t quite let go of Louisville. As I see it the Hoosier State/Kentucky Cardinal may be dead right now, but it will inevitably return, all the train needs is time and attention.

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