{"id":43925,"date":"2026-03-31T05:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=43925"},"modified":"2026-03-28T08:19:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:19:53","slug":"cardinal-contrasts-modern-visions-on-the-old-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/cardinal-contrasts-modern-visions-on-the-old-co\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal Contrasts\u2014Modern Visions on the old C&O"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amtrak\u2019s Cardinal<\/em> (New York City\u2013Chicago) is one of the most unusual trains on the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is among the few trains that operate with a non-standard consist, typically including the relatively rare Viewliner dorm\/baggage cars. Its route is also one of the few that operates over a shortline carrier, and it is one of only a handful of long-distance trains that runs just three days a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, Kris and I timed a visit to Staunton, Virginia, to coincide with the arrival of Amtrak No. 51, the westbound Cardinal<\/em>, at the former Chesapeake & Ohio station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This historic station is situated on a narrow alignment along a sharp curve near the base of a steep grade, making it an especially unusual location to photograph a modern intercity passenger train. The line is operated and maintained by the Virginia based Buckingham Branch and hosts trains of several carriers including Amtrak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rain was cascading when the train approached the station. I thought the sleek, streamlined contours of the state-of-the-art Siemens Charger diesel made for a delightful contrast with the historic setting of the old C&O station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos exposed using my Nikon Z6-III with 24-70mm lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracking the Light Explores Railroad Photography!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amtrak\u2019s\u00a0Cardinal\u00a0(New York City\u2013Chicago) is one of the most unusual trains on the network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6060,10,6108,48],"tags":[5028,8598,4867,8595],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Amtrak_Charger_372_wtrain_51_Cardinal_Staunton_Va\u00a9BrianSolomonDSC_1212-2.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-bqt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43925"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43930,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43925\/revisions\/43930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}