Recent Amtrak experience (non Pol)

I've got a bunch more US train trips planned, and some of them include Amtrak.
I plan to do California to Seattle.
Seattle to Chicago (famous Empire route)
California or Reno to Kansas (the Rockies are supposed to be spectacular).
LA to to Texas.

Those are sure things. Not sure after those. But yes, Europe is on the list too.

Btw, if you want to see a real train CF, do some serious reading about California's "High Speed Rail". This is going to waste hundreds of billions of dollars.

August of 1999 I took my 2 children, then 9 and 5, from Chicago to Los Angeles on Amtrak's Super Chief. We had a 4 hour delay leaving Chicago. Not a great start. We were in the sleeper car with a bathroom in our room. The first night there were plumbing issues and then the lights didn't work. The porter gave me a handful of glowsticks to put in the bathroom. The kids thought it was fun. Me, not so much. There was another delay enroute. At the end Amtrak said sorry for the inconvenience here's a voucher for $100 for a future trip. Never used it.

TB, I think they have assigned that conductor to be on all your future train rides.

Gee, you should have told him you needed to get up to go to the bathroom or else he would suffer the consequences.

I would have asked him, "How far are you away from retirement?"

BTW, as long as you were there anyway, did you ask that lady next to you to knit you a sweater?

More Amtrak? You crazy masochistic train traveler you!!!

Hey, you could always take a nap on the tracks
but then that conductor would probably tell you that you must place your head on the left rail not the right.

I see a cross-country trek via Greyhound in your future.

That reminds me of my parents in the 70's-- Greyhound has some deal you could ride unlimited for some crazy amount- say $89.00 for a 3 month pass-- They left me alone baby-sitting the 3 bedroom suburbs w/ 2 cars and went criss-crossing America to visit the older kids and the grandchildrens- from Ohio to California to Illinois to Fla.... butt/back breaking trip but they loved a deal.

"but they loved a deal."

That apple didn't fall far from the tree

jjjj, too funny! And I didn't get a sweater out of the mix.

n'cat, I don't plan to take the trips all at once, so I figure my butt and back should be fine.

I just took Amtrak from Denver to Glenwood Springs, CO. It was beautiful trip. We left Denver on time and arrived on time. The conductor was very nice. My friend and I boarded and had our choice of several set of seats marked for parties of two. A few minutes after departure we headed for the lounge/observation car and sat there most of the trip. We had a nice lunch - I spent $9.50 for iced tea and a flatbread chicken sandwich with chips. Decent food and a decent price. Would I do it again - yes for a short/day trip where I was not worried about delays.

I had a similar experience some years back traveling with Amtrak. I was assigned a seat in a car which the air conditioning was out. This was in the middle of July(typical midwest summer, hot & humid). To make matters worse I was seated next to a rather large lady who was sweating profusely. After we were underway, I got up and moved to the next car, which was almost empty and the airconditioning was working perfectly. Almost as soon as I sat down in a seat, the conductor came up and said that I couldn't sit there, that these seats were reserved for people boarding in Chicago. I explained that I was getting off in Milwaukee, so that shouldn't be a problem. No dice, can't sit there. WTF...made no sense. Had to sit in a sweltering car for the four hour trip...that was over 20 years ago...I see that they have made real progress since then in the customer service department.

Glasses can affect your vision; especially when they have been emptied several times...............

How far is it from Denver to Glenwood Springs?

I like the old-timey style of train travel where you actually left and arrived when you were supposed to. Now you have to expect multi-hour delays in both directions, and it pretty much bites. I'm lucky enough to live on the East Coast where Amtrak actually does a decent job. Still. on my last trip to Boston we were stuck just outside Philly for over two hours because of an electrical problem. Rediculous.

When I was a little kid me and my grandfather took Greyhound - yes, you read that right, Greyhound - from Philly to Disney World. Back then, entry was free and there was some free stuff but you paid for all of the rides with lettered (A-E) tickets depending on their popularity.
So anyways, we get there two days later. Highlights on the way included a stopover in Fayetteville NC at 3AM. Finally arrive, got to Disney, took in a few exhibits. Next day, back on the bus to Philly.....

My experience has been that the trains have run on time, or real close. Even early a few times.
Their official on-time rating is pretty good (though, you never know what's excluded -- same is true for the airlines, lots of late planes are not counted as late).

Biglar -- that's the same example of my situation. It's a WTF moment. The crews are more concerns about what makes their job easy and how they can make sure to not let someone on who doesn't have a ticket than they are in the comfort of their passengers. It's like I'm imposing on them to ride the train and I should be gratiful. Please note: I'm not speaking of every worker. Just a couple out of the dozens I've met. But they made a trip much less desirable.