Riding Amtrak -- Trainful or Painful?

[Anonymous]

JX, if you take the trip let me know how it is. I have thought about doing it the other way, i live in Grand Jct. Also beebn thinking about riding it to Omaha as my parents live 40 mile east of Omaha.

Marc

[TrainFreak409]

I have only ever riden on Amtrak once. We took the Autotrain from Virginia to Florida, from the newly built Norfolk Station, during its grand openig celebration. It was a planned 16 hour trip, but it came closer to 20, as we stopped in the middle of the night. I think the engineer thought that he had hit something on the tracks, but nothing was found. Anyways...

It was quite an experience for me, being a train enthusiast. The crew and service attendants were nice and polite, and the Superliner cars were just awesome. Everything was clean, it was a very nice trip.

I'm not sure about the service in the Midwest US, but the east coast did a great job when we went.[:D]

[Anonymous]

Most of my Amtrak experience has been in the Northeast Corridor so I can't comment on service out west. I'll generally agree though, it can be hit or miss. When I was riding between DC and Albany it was a fine trip, certianly better than the airport hastle (this was before super-cheap airfare between Albany and BWI). I haven't riden in a few years, but in the years I was things seemed to be improving. This may be because as they brought in new equipment, the oldest stuff got bumped off, sort of a trickle down effect. I'd be a bit concerned about the timing. The distance trains, at least in my observation, are almost always late. Make sure you schedule enough pad time and you should be fine.

[RMax1]

I've had good and bad experiences on Amtrak. For the most part they have been good. They seem to run really late most of the time. It's still enjoyable. I would highly recommend getting a sleeper or better class seat if possible. Some trains are really clean and some are dirty. Food has always been good.

RMax1

[jxtrrx]

I live in Eastern Colorado, need to make a business trip to western side of the state. I've never ridden a passenger train (in my 50+ years!), so was thinking about taking Amtrak Denver to Grand Junction. It's a scenic route, but I've not heard rave reviews about cleanliness, service, etc. on Amtrak. Would it be a "train" experience, or just a pain?

Thanks!