AmTravel – Part 1

Main hall at William H. Gray 30th St. Station.
Awaiting departure at 30th St. Station in Philadelphia, July 11, 2025

Departing Philadelphia at 8:15 am on the Amtrak Cardinal en route to Chicago.

Map depicting the route of the Amtrak Cardinal.
Route map for Amtrak’s Cardinal.

The Cardinal originates in New York, passes through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and is often described as the East’s most scenic Amtrak route. It’s also the route that takes the longest to reach Chicago.

For most of my trip, I booked a one or two person sleeper called a roomette.

Composite photo showing three views of a Amtrak roomette.
Roomette in daytime configuration. Two facing seats, storage, a door and a window.
Amtrak roomette configured for sleeping.
Roomette in night-time configuration.

When two people share the roomette, there’s an upper bunk that pulls down.

For the first part of its journey, the Cardinal takes advantage of the East Coast’s electrical grid and is pulled by an electric engine.

When it reaches Washington, D.C., there’s a 20 minute stop where the electric locomotive is changed out for a diesel to take us the rest of the way to Chicago.

(click any photo in the grid for full gallery.)

Once equipped with a diesel locomotive, we set off for Chicago, some 27 hours away.

After arriving in Chicago, there was not quite a 3 hour wait until the west-bound train, The Southwest Chief, was scheduled to depart. I took the opportunity to wander the vicinity around Chicago’s Union Station.

(click any photo in the grid for full gallery.)

The Southwest Chief travels from Chicago to Los Angeles, passing through Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas, Kansas, cuts across a corner of Colorado, then through New Mexico, Arizona and finally, the southern California desert.

This involves two nights, the first of which, mercifully obscures part of the Kansas sojourn. That said, you go to sleep in Kansas and wake up again still in Kansas.

Crossing the Mississippi on the Southwest Chief.
Here, we are stopped for a few moments before crossing the Mississippi river from Illinois into Fort Madison, Iowa.
An aquatic bird on a rock.
Here an aquatic bird ignores us as it waits for dinner to swim by.

The roomette accommodations on the western trains are newer and, while the bed is a few inches wider, that reduces the available standing room.

Roomette in the Southwest Chief.
Southwest Chief roomette. Note the upper bunk that pivots down when needed.

The eastern trains tend not to be double-deckers. The western trains have an upper and lower level. On the Southwest Chief, I was in an upper level roomette.

Front of the Amtrak Southwest Chief
Here we see the front of the Southwest Chief. Locomotive, fuel car, baggage car and the first of several sleeper cars.
Detail showing the coupling between two amtrak cars.
Passengers move from one car to the other across the upper level.

The Cardinal had neither a diner, nor an observation car. Meals were microwaved and served in your room. By contrast, the Southwest Chief has linen tablecloth service in its dining car.

A typical place setting in the Amtrak Southwest Chief dining car.
Southwest Chief dining car place setting.
Southwest Chief dining car menu.
This is the dinner menu on the Southwest Chief.

Meals are included with the fare for all sleeper car passengers. Coach passengers may pay separately, if there are available seats. All dining car seating is communal.

Communal diining on Amtrak's Southwest Chief.
Dinner companions on the Southwest Chief.
Steak dinner on Amtrak's Southwest Chief.
I had the steak dinner.

The observation car is where all classes of passenger get to rub shoulders. Downstairs of the observation car is a cafe where anyone can purchase snacks and beverages.

Southwest Chief observation car.
The observation car on the Southwest Chief.
Western farmland.
Western farmland as seen from the Southwest Chief observation car.
Western mesa in Colorado or New Mexico.
Western mesa in Colorado or New Mexico.
Blue hair girl and Amish family share observations.
A modern girl with all her tech and an Amish family with none make equal use of the observation car.
ATV rider waits for train to pass.
Denizen of Colorado waits at the crossing for the train to pass.
Southwest street in midafternoon.
The weather across the country was perfect for nearly the whole trip.
Church steeple in some New Mexican town.
More sights from the observation car.
Train conductor at Raton NM station stop.
The train conductor at the Raton, NM station stop.
Raton, NM train station.
The Raton, NM, train station.
Gate City Craft Bar
I was confused by the sign.
Dining car at Las Vegas, NM, station stop.
View from the dining car at the Las Vegas, NM, station stop.

Part 2 –>