My brother took the Southwest Chief from Chicago to LA this week. First and perhaps foremost, I'm impressed with the speed of the train.. left Chicago on Tuesday..arived in LA before noon on Thursday..not too shabby! Some of his observations (he's really not a train buff): no assigned seating. You get on the train and you sit where you sit. He is tall like me, and he appreciated the leg room. Train was not crowded (until Albuquerque) so he was comfortable and could roam about freely. On the negative side..the rolling stock was old and worn, and a short delay out of Chicago due to an equipment issue set the train back three hours. Oh yeah..he got to Chicago from Detroit via the Wolverine.. he said that train "hauls ass" exceeding 100 mph for a good stretch of the way. Overall his impression was positive..the lack of funding for Amtrak was clearly evident, but the onboard service.. the friendly and helpful attendants..made the ride enjoyable. Definitely on my own bucket list now.
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