The James Whitcomb Riley was introduced by the New York Central on April 28, 1941, as a daytime, all-coach train between Chicago and Cincinnati by way of Indianapolis. It was named after the Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley, known for his celebration of Americana. The Riley was a companion to the Mercury streamliners which operated on the Chicago-Detroit and Chicago-Cleveland routes. The Riley was retained by the Penn Central after its formation from the merger of the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad, but in 1968 it petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission for permission to abandon the service, citing the loss of a mail contract and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad's termination of through sleepers on the Chicago-Newport News route. The ICC refused, and the Riley survived until the formation of Amtrak.
Amtrak
Amtrak, upon its 1971 commencement of operations, kept the Riley intact. During the summer, it began integrating the Riley with the George Washington, an old C&O sleeper running from Cincinnati to Washington, with a section splitting off at Charlottesville, Virginia to continue to Newport News. The George began exchanging Washington-Chicago and Newport News-Chicago through coaches with the Riley at Cincinnati on July 12, and a through sleeping car began September 8. Earlier, the George had handed its sleepers to the Riley for most of the 1950s. With the November 14, 1971, schedule, the Riley and George Washington merged into a single long-distance Chicago-Washington/Newport News train. The merged train was known as the George Washington eastbound and the James Whitcomb Riley westbound. At the same time the route was extended from Washington to Boston, Massachusetts, and was assigned train numbers 50 eastbound and 51 westbound. On March 6, 1972, the train was rerouted from Chicago's Central Station into Union Station. On April 30, the northern terminus was truncated back to Washington. A broadcast by CBS's 60 Minutes in 1973 revealed that the Riley was limited to in Indiana due to deteriorating Penn Central track. In 1974 the Riley was re-routed off Penn Central trackage altogether along with the Floridian. On May 19, 1974, the Washington and Riley were fully merged, with the Riley name now used in both directions. Beginning in 1975 the Mountaineer, which originated in Norfolk, Virginia, ran combined with the Riley between Chicago and Russell Yard, the former C&O freight yard near Ashland, Ky. The Newport News section was discontinued on June 14, 1976, and the Colonial began running over its former route east of Richmond. In 1977 the Mountaineer was replaced by the Hilltopper, which terminated at Catlettsburg. The James Whitcomb Riley was renamed the Cardinal on October 30, 1977, as the cardinal was the state bird of all six states through which it ran. It was discontinued September 30, 1981 and brought back by Congressional mandate on January 8, 1982.
