re: Anyone ever taken an Amtrak train to anywhere?

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Goin with my two college-age daughters next week, overnight New Orleans to Chicago. They will share a bedroom, I have a roomette. Looking forward to it; will post next week once it is done.

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So, we took the City of New Orleans up to Chicago last week.

Observations:

- The accommodations were pretty nice; the girls had their bedroom and my roomette was perfect for just me. I don't think a roomette is big enough for two. The two chairs made up into a bed that was actually very comfortable.
Short video of my roomette

-- All the cars on the City of New Orleans are two-level cars. View of the the two-level train from the platform in Jackson:



-- the sleeper cars are in the front, then the dining car (only for sleeper car folks, not for the poors in coach), then the observation lounge car with the cafe' on the bottom level. Then come all the coach cars with just seats. Observation lounge (where we actually spent a lot of the 1st day):


-- The coach seating actually looks okay -- two big seats across and lots of legroom. The problem is the people IN the coach section. People you see at Walmart of all races, covered in blankets, carrying plastic grocery bags of food, crying kids and babies. Walked through there ONCE to look at the back of the train as it was traveling. That was enough.

-- you actually have a porter/attendant designated when you get your room, who takes your meal order and schedules meals, and changes your cabin to a bed set-up. Mine was a very nice lady,; she also kept me with a supply of ice for the gin and tonic I brought with me.

-- The whole thing had that Snowpiercer vibe going with the separation of classes and it getting nicer as you moved to the front. The observation lounge car was nice at first, but as the evening wore on and more coach folks got on board in places like McComb, Jackson, Yazoo City and Memphis the observation lounge began to get infiltrated and taken over by coach folks.. like one guy bringing his blanket and taking over a whole section of three seats by laying down across them... baby mamas with a phone in one hand and a toddler in the other loudly talking on the phone to friends about no-good men who "drink up all their money", etc.

-- The scenery is kind of neat-- passing through the LaBranche wetlands and then Manchac, right along Lake Pontchartrain in a few places, then you hit the woods between Ponchatoula and Yazoo City. In the observation car, it is almost like you are in a shady tunnel; the trees grow so close to the train and partially over it.

-- After Yazoo City, you are in the flat Delta, with lots of open farmland and occasional woodlands thrown in. We had our dinner in the Delta as the sun went down; pretty nice.

-- The food is okay, almost a tv dinner/microwaveable dinner. Nothing on that route is actually "cooked to order" in a kitchen; I think they use a convection oven to heat up frozen or refrigerated meals. You do get a cocktail with dinner, however.

-- When the sun went down, and the observation car began to be seriously taken over by the denizens of coach, we retired to our rooms. The last major stop was in Memphis about 10:00 PM, where I stepped off the train onto the platform and had a short cigar. Downtown Memphis from the platform:


-- Then came the fun part of trying to sleep. Luckily I had (1) drank A LOT of gin and tonics, (2) a white noise machine, and (3) styrofoam ear plugs, because while the clackety clack of the train is kind of soothing, that LOUD whistle the train must sound at EVERY road crossing is not. WHOOOO! WHOOOOOOO! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!. But worse than that was the motion of the train. This was not a case of "the gentle rocking of the train lulling you to sleep". No, that thing lurches and jostles you back and forth, rather violently, and on some of the serious banked curves you are angled and feel like you may roll out of bed. Surprisingly I did get to sleep from about 11PM until 2:30 AM when I had to go pee. I slept a a little fitfully with all that motion, but did have some deep sleep with dreams. I was able to get back to sleep and slept rather soundly till about 6:30 AM, when the sun had come up. I think by then we were in Illinois where the track may be in better condition and is certainly flatter and straighter.

-- I actually did take a shower, shaved and got ready and changed on the train. The facilities were not bad at all for such and as I noted the ride by then was more smooth.

-- We took the last breakfast service at 7:15 (which was pretty good and filling), eating as we crossed the farmlands of Illinois on a bright sunny morning.

-- Arrived at Union Station in downtown Chicago only about 10-15 minutes behind schedule, which was good.


All in all, it was great experience, but probably good for only a one-time bucket list thing. Not sure I could do a multi-day trip anywhere on the train. And I certainly wouldn't ride it in coach, that's for sure, even if it was a short trip. Anywhere short, I can drive faster than they get there (Atlanta I can get to in 6 hours, by train it's 12. Jackson I can get to in a little over 2; by train it's 4).