Background: Train Travel is Enjoyable and Relaxing

Trains may be the most enjoyable way to travel. Train travel is a great way to connect with people, places and the history of the country.

You may be told that trains aren't as fast as flying or as cheap as buses (often true), but that's missing the point. Like hiking, camping, bicycling and boating, trains provide a unique and rewarding travel experience. As the saying goes, the journey is as important as the destination.

Watching the scenery is mesmerizing, especially when you're crossing the plains, deserts and wide-open spaces out west. People sit at the windows for hours, in a state of viewing enjoyment that's both exhilarating and calming.

People on trains tend to be relaxed and mellow. It's an egalitarian environment and passengers are friendly and polite. They aren't competing with each other to get to the head of a line and they aren't trying to show off status symbols. They talk about their travels, their hometowns, their backgrounds and their families. Controversial subjects stay in the background.

Time goes by surprisingly quickly on a train. I brought several books with me on my trip but didn't end up reading them much. My time was spent watching the scenery, talking to people, enjoying meals in the dining car, reading about things to do at the next destination, and trying to capture the interesting aspects of train travel on my blog.

When you're taking a vacation trip on a train, the vacation starts when you get on the train. When I travel long distances by plane or car, I tend to arrive a little frazzled, anxious and stiff. When you travel by train, you tend to arrive relaxed and refreshed.

If you haven't tried train travel, you should think about it for a future trip.

Amtrak’s Coast Starlight in San Luis Obispo County, California 

Background: Which Are the Most Scenic Amtrak Routes?

I've been asked which Amtrak routes are most scenic and which I like the best. My favorite has always been the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle, from the skyscrapers of Chicago through the farmland of Wisconsin, past the scenic bluffs along the Mississippi, and across the rolling plains of North Dakota and Montana and into the Rockies before arriving in Seattle.

On my recent trip I rode on the very scenic Coast Starlight from Seattle to Los Angeles for the first time, going from the pine forests and snow-capped mountains of the Northwest through the fertile valleys and scenic peaks of Central California to the Pacific Coast.

Another highly rated route is the California Zephyr from Chicago to Oakland, with dramatic stretches through the Rockies along the Colorado River and through the Sierra Nevada.

Many people would list those as the top three scenic routes. Also very nice are the Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles, which goes through several dramatic passes and across northern New Mexico and Arizona close to Santa Fe and the Grand Canyon, and the Sunset Limited from Los Angeles to New Orleans along the southern border. The desert terrain in the Southwest on both runs is interesting and almost hypnotic.

In the East, the Northeast Corridor has a wide variety of cityscapes and some nice scenery near the coast in Connecticut and Maryland. The Hudson River Valley is dramatic and historic. New England is pleasant, especially in the fall, and several routes go through scenic areas in the Appalachians such as Harpers Ferry and the New River Gorge. 

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where
the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet
(photo taken on trip in 2017) 

Ohio farm scene, near Stryker,
west of Toledo

Arizona desert, near Vail,
east of Tucson

Pacific Ocean, near Goleta,
Santa Barbara County, California

Background: Railroads in American History

Railroads are tremendously important in the United States today. They carry a large percentage of all freight traffic and take 1.7 million Americans to work every day. Amtrak serves 31 million riders each year. Without railroads, economic activity would slow dramatically and the lives of millions of people would be more difficult and less pleasant.

However, for many people, railroads now operate in the background, whereas once they were front and center in American life. They were the biggest, fastest-growing business enterprises in Nineteenth Century America and a major part of the financial markets. They moved the vast majority of freight and the vast majority of long-distance passengers and employed hundreds of thousands of people. (If you go on a tour at a railroad museum, someone on the tour is likely to mention that they had a grandparent or great-grandparent who worked for a railroad.)

People traveled frequently by train through the 1950s, when the dominance of trains for inter-city passenger travel was ended in most of the country by a combination of the construction of the interstate highways, growing commercial air travel, and the rise in two-car families.

Poster for the 20th Century Limited,
the glamorous red carpet
New York Central passenger train
(at the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station)

Chesapeake & Ohio Railway streamlined steam
passenger locomotive used in the 1940s and 1950s
(at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore)

Union Station, Washington, D.C., 1906
(poster at Union Station)

Locomotive used to pull President-Elect Lincoln's
train through Baltimore on his way to
Washington for his first inauguration
(at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore)

First Stone (symbolic cornerstone) laid for
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad on July 4, 1828
(at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore)

Background: Train Stations - Noteworthy and Inspiring

There are a lot of great train stations across the country - buildings that are beautiful, classic, architecturally noteworthy civic landmarks. People should keep an eye out for them and visit them when they get a chance.

Train stations in the larger cities were among the largest and most significant buildings in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, with grand and ornate waiting rooms and halls.  My favorites include Grand Central Terminal in New York City (a beautiful design and an amazing engineering feat), Union Station in Washington, D.C. (a magnificent Beaux-Arts design), and Union Station in Los Angeles (a distinct Mission Style/Art Deco design).

Other historic stations I visited on my 2019 trip included Union Station in Chicago, King Street Station in Seattle, Union Station in Portland, Oregon, the Sacramento Valley Terminal, Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore and South Station in Boston.

It's worth spending a little time in all of these impressive buildings. As a bonus, they often have displays of historic photos showing the growth of the cities they're in and the evolution of the train stations.

In smaller cities, the stations were focal points in their communities. They still have a strong presence in places such as La Crosse, Wisconsin, Williston, North Dakota, El Paso, Texas and Lafayette, Louisiana. The interiors, usually with beautiful handcrafted woodwork, are as nice as the exteriors. 

In many cities around the country, historic stations that aren't still being used as train stations have been converted into hotels, museums, offices or retail space. Unfortunately, some historic stations have been demolished. Most notably, the original Pennsylvania Station in New York was torn down in the 1960s to make way for the new Penn Station, underneath Madison Square Garden, with low ceilings and cramped, maze-like corridors. The historic station's demise is often credited with giving rise to the historic preservation movement in the United States.

Here are a few photos, in addition to the photos I included in previous posts.

Grand Central Terminal,
New York City

Union Station, Washington, D.C.

La Crosse, Wisconsin

Pennsylvania Station,
New York City (not grand)

Background: The Observation Cars

The observation cars are great places to spend time, especially on the trains in the West, where they're bilevel "Superliner" cars with large curved windows running the length of the car on the top and both sides. You get a fantastic panoramic view in all directions. One end of a Superliner observation car has large upholstered chairs facing out each side of the car and the other end has tables. In the East, most observation cars just have standard side windows.

People congregate in the observation cars to watch the scenery and talk, read, use their laptops, play cards, paint, sketch, knit, write post cards and keep up their diaries. They've been called the town squares of the trains because they're gathering spots for people of all types.

The observation cars, along with the dining cars, help create a relaxed and pleasant community environment. Fortunately, they don't have any blaring TVs with perpetual news scrolls about the latest controversies, crimes, crashes and celebrity crackups, unlike so many other public places these days. Let's hope it stays that way.

Background: Meals on the Trains

I did a previous post describing what the traditional dining cars were like, but I know people are also interested in the meals on Amtrak today.

Eating in the dining cars on the long-distance trains is a great experience, combining good food, good scenery and pleasant company. It's one of the really nice aspects of traveling by train.

For dinner, an attendant comes through the train in the afternoon to take reservations. Breakfast and lunch are usually first-come, first-served.

The tables each have four seats. If you're with a party of two, you'll be seated with two other people; if you're a single individual, you'll be seated with three others. It makes it very easy to start conversations with other passengers.

The meals are well-prepared and the dining car attendants are friendly and efficient. The people I ate with gave the meals positive reviews, and there weren't any complaints (unlike airline food).

The menu in the dining cars on the long-distance trains has a range of choices. For dinner: Steak, salmon, chicken, vegetarian rigatoni, or a land-and-sea combo (steak with a crab cake). For lunch: Angus burger, veggie burger, entree salad, mussels, or baked chilaquiles. For breakfast: Scrambled eggs, omelet, pancakes, cereal or oatmeal with yogurt, or a breakfast quesadilla.

On the long-distance trains, meals in the dining car are included with the fare for people with rooms in the sleeping cars. Passengers in coach class can also eat in the dining car, or can choose to eat in the cafe or lounge car (simpler menu than the dining car) or bring their own meals on board.

The short-distance trains don't have dining cars, so eating in the cafe car or bringing your own food are the only options. Even though it's not quite as pleasant and relaxing as being in a dining car, you still have the advantages of interesting scenery and good company.

Salmon for dinner on the
Coast Starlight

Dinner on the Coast Starlight

Dining car between meals

Background: Who Rides the Trains? What Are the Other Passengers Like?

Amtrak passengers are an incredibly varied group of people. They come from all age groups and all regions of the country, with different ethnic heritages and different socioeconomic and occupational backgrounds. Some grew up in cities, some in suburbs, some in rural areas, and some in other countries.

As might be expected, there is a higher proportion of retirees than among the general population, but other than that there isn't any obvious predominant characteristic. It's just a tremendous cross-section of the American people.

Passengers tend to be easygoing and friendly, especially on the long-distance trains. It's a very egalitarian environment, and it's easy to meet people. With a few exceptions, passengers are well-behaved and polite, and are understanding about problems that may come up.

People like to talk about their lives. Favorite topics of conversation are: Where are you from? Where are you going? Why are you traveling? How has your trip been so far? What do you do, or what did you do, for a living? People love talking about family members (grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren), family history, and things they do with relatives and friends.

The range of occupations among the people I met was broad. The passengers included many businesspeople: Small business owners, real estate developers, property managers, information technology specialists, a Wall Street finance professional. There were people who made and delivered things: A corrugated box plant manager, an electrician, a machinist, a tool and die maker, a truck driver, a shipping manager. The agricultural field was represented by several farmers and a rancher.

The passengers I met included teachers, a school principal and several professors. There were people in the hospitality, entertainment and communications fields: A chef, a bartender, a guitar player in rock bands, a disc jockey and a newspaper columnist. The list of occupations went on and on: A nurse, a pastor, a prosecutor, government agency employees, several career military men and women, and a dog trainer and former National Park Service Ranger. They all had their own stories.

There were some people on long trips, going around the country or around the world, on bicycling or rafting or camping trips, or visiting historic sites. I met several avid railfans who had extremely detailed knowledge about railroad lines, rolling stock and historical events. I also met three other individuals or couples who were circumnavigating the country in one trip like me, each with a slightly different itinerary.

Here are photos of a few of the interesting and pleasant people I met.

Susan and Jack from Santa Barbara
(they gave me a power cord for my iPhone after
I lost mine, which was very much appreciated)

Schalonda from LA, embarking on
an around-the-world trip

Phillip from Washington, DC, a rail enthusiast
with an atlas showing all the rail lines in Texas

Background: Trains and On-Time Performance Vary by Region

The atmosphere on Amtrak trains varies by region, and so does on-time performance.

Broadly speaking, the long-distance trains, especially in the west, have a more relaxed atmosphere and are more likely to fall beyond schedule. Shorter-distance trains generally run right on schedule and have a more serious, work-oriented atmosphere (this includes trains on the Northeast Corridor from Washington to New York City to Boston and on other heavily traveled corridors such as Chicago to Milwaukee, Los Angeles to San Diego, and Seattle to Portland).

Many people on the long-distance trains are traveling on vacation and many are retirees, so they aren't under work or time pressure. They're more inclined to watch the scenery, chat with their fellow passengers, and enjoy meals in the dining car or card games in the observation car.

Many people on the shorter-distance trains are commuting to work, traveling to work-related meetings, or going back and forth to college or appointments. They're more inclined to be typing on their laptops, talking on their cell phones, or reviewing documents, and they're not likely to engage in conversation unless the person sitting next to them initiates it.

On the shorter-distance trains, on-time performance is very good. If you're on a long-distance train, you should plan for the possibility that the train will be late. The chief culprit for delays is heavy use of the tracks for freight trains, which are prioritized by the railroads that own the tracks. Sometimes delays are caused by the weather (snow or flooding) or equipment issues. It should be kept in mind that delays are common for all modes of transportation; airlines have frequent snarls and postponements, and cars have traffic jams and road construction to contend with.

In my 25-day trip, with 17 different rail travel segments (the 12 segments I did with my Railpass plus five additional segments), I was on trains that were late three times: 5 hours late for the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle (which eventually stopped in Spokane, with buses to Seattle); 2 hours late for the Coast Starlight to Los Angeles; and 3 hours late for the Sunset Limited from Los Angeles to New Orleans. All of those were long runs in the west (each about two days long), which customarily have the most schedule-related issues. Everything else was on time or ahead of schedule.

Famous clock in lobby of
Grand Central Terminal
in New York City

Background: Reservations, Tickets, Fares and Amtrak's Railpass

I got a lot of questions about how I made the arrangements for my trip and what the costs were. I made all my own reservations, which is relatively easy to do. There are also travel agents and package deals through travel agencies for those who prefer help with reservations.

Amtrak has a good website with route maps and schedules. For short trips or those involving a limited number of stops, buying tickets for coach seats or rooms in the sleeping cars on the website is a fairly straightforward process.

For my trip, I used an Amtrak Railpass, which lets you travel for a set period of time and a set number of travel segments. In my case, I bought a Railpass for $689 which let me travel in coach for up to 30 days and up to 12 travel segments. (A travel segment is each time you get on and off the train, no matter how far it is between your starting and ending points.) There are also 15-day and 45-day Railpasses.

After you buy the basic Railpass, you make reservations for your specific travel dates, and you can then reserve a room in the sleeping car for the nights you're on the train for an additional charge for each night. The prices for the rooms in the sleeping cars are set using dynamic pricing, like airline fares, so they vary depending on the route, the time of year and so forth.

The rooms can be a pretty good deal since they include a bed made up by the sleeping car attendant and breakfast, lunch and dinner in the diner for as long as you're on the train. The price for a roomette is the same whether one or two people are in it. I estimated that I paid an average of about $185 per night for each night I had a roomette, which would include meals worth about $50-60 per day for each person in the roomette.   

You have to call the Amtrak reservations center to buy the Railpass and make the followup reservations. My experience with the ticket agents was good, although it could take a little while to get an available agent on the line.

Ticket booths at
Grand Central Terminal
in New York City

Background: Resources for Train Travel

I used various resources in planning and getting ready for my trip, including the following books, magazines and websites. As my friend Tim Kelly says, never neglect the research function.

• The Amtrak website, www.amtrak.com , which has all the information about routes, schedules and fares that you need to plan a trip.
• All Aboard! The Complete North American Train Travel Guide by Jim Loomis. Jim is a veteran traveler who has written multiple editions of this practical guidebook about travel on Amtrak. He also has a comprehensive blog called "Trains & Travel with Jim Loomis."
• Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World - From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief, a 2014 book by Tom Zoellner which describes train trips he took in seven countries, including a trip from the northern tip of Great Britain to Land's End in the country where the railroad was invented, and a trip across the United States on Amtrak. Train received excellent reviews in the New York Times and other publications. Tom is a 1991 graduate of Lawrence University.  
• Nothing Like it In the World by Stephen Ambrose. The story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, completed 150 years ago in 1869. Written by the popular historian who grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• The Almanac of American Politics by Michael Barone and others, which provides capsule descriptions of all 50 states and all 435 Congressional districts. For each state and district, there's a brief description of its history, demographic characteristics, economy, and population and cultural trends. It also has detailed information about elections and politicians, but even if you're not interested in politics, you'll learn a lot from the background information about every area of the country.
• "Trains" magazine, from Kalmbach Publishing of Waukesha, Wisconsin, with features about railroad history and current industry developments.
• The Center for Railroad Photography & Art in Madison, Wisconsin, www.railphoto-art.org, which has online photo galleries, publishes a high-quality quarterly magazine and books, and puts on exhibitions around the country.
• Various websites on railroad history, including www.american-rails.com .
• Various travel guidebooks and videos from the Madison Public Library.  

Day 25: Final Leg - Chicago to Columbus, Wisconsin

The final leg of my trip took me from Chicago through Milwaukee to Columbus, Wisconsin, the Amtrak stop closest to Madison. I was on one of my favorite trains, the Empire Builder, actually repeating the first three hours of the trip. 

I enjoyed walking through the Chicago Loop at midday, with the cityscape dominated by skyscrapers and the Chicago River, and filled in with workers eating lunch and hurrying to their offices, the Elevated trains screeching overhead, and yellow cabs sounding their horns.

Then it was time for the train ride north through city neighborhoods and green suburbs, past factories and office parks, and into Milwaukee. From there a quick ride past lakes, farms, rivers and wetlands took me to Columbus, where our daughter picked me up for a ride home dominated by train stories.

It was a great trip, but it's always good to be home.

Midday at Federal Plaza in the Chicago Loop,
with sculpture by Alexander Calder and
buildings by Mies van der Rohe

The Third Ward on the Milwaukee River
just south of downtown Milwaukee,
where warehouses have been converted
to offices, stores and condos

Pewaukee Lake, west of Milwaukee

The Empire Builder getting ready
to head west from Columbus, Wisconsin
(I won’t be on it ... for now)

Day 25: Back to Chicago - Circumnavigation Completed

Arrived back in Chicago on Thursday morning, May 30, on the Lake Shore Limited. My circumnavigation of the country has been completed! A few figures: In 25 days, I visited 31 states and traveled almost 8,500 miles by rail (and many more by streetcar, subway, bicycle, ferry, bus, car, running and walking - lots and lots of walking).

I’m feeling good. Maybe I’ll do another lap. (Just kidding - although I’m taking the Empire Builder from Chicago to Columbus, Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon, so I’ll do a second lap for about three hours.)

For lunch I went to the Berghoff, a classic, wood-paneled, old-line German restaurant in the Loop. When I worked as an Amtrak waiter in 1975, it was a traditional place for crew members to go at the end of a run for a sandwich and a beer. Back then, the bar didn’t have stools, so you’d stand at the rail, like in the old black and white photographs.

At Union Station I met Antje and Jan, two Germans who are bicycling across much of the United States. They'd ridden across the Appalachians and then taken the train to Chicago, and next are taking a train to Denver and then riding to Astoria in Oregon. I offered to buy them lunch at the Berghoff but they said they could get German food at home and instead rode off to do a bicycle tour along the Chicago lakefront in between trains. Good choice. I would have done the same thing.

Union Station, Chicago 

Map showing where I went on my trip

Jan and Antje from Germany,
cycling across the United States

The Berghoff, in the Loop

The bar at the Berghoff

Background: The Dining Cars

The dining cars on the trains are very enjoyable. They’re great places to meet people, enjoy the scenery and have a good meal. The food is good, with a half-dozen basic selections for each meal.

When I worked as a waiter on the dining cars in 1975, the trains had real china and linen tablecloths, and quite a few different dishes were cooked on board. The cooks could do amazing things in the small, cramped kitchen as the train rocked and rolled at close to 80 miles per hour. It’s not as fancy now but it’s still good.

In 1975, the dining cars mostly used a classic configuration that had been used for years. There were 12 four-top tables on one end of the car, and a pantry that the six waiters used along with a kitchen for the three cooks at the other end. A steward oversaw everything, seating customers and making sure everything ran smoothly. A car with the classic setup is on display at the California State Railroad Museum (see photos below).

The current dining car on the Empire Builder 

Display at California Railroad Museum
showing traditional dining car with waiter in pantry 
and cook in kitchen in background

Display at California Railroad Museum
showing kitchen on traditional dining car

Background: Why Travel by Train?

Traveling by train is interesting and enjoyable. It's a great way to connect with people, places and history.

It's easy to meet a wide variety of people on trains. Meals in the dining car provide opportunities for conversation. On the long-distance trains, the observation and lounge car is a great place to meet people.

Train trips help you appreciate how big and varied our country is. You see scenic landscapes, farms, small towns and cities. You also see factories, mines, oil rigs, warehouses, railyards, ships and barges, which remind you of the things that need to be done every day to keep the country running.

Train travel helps you think about our country's history too. Railroads changed the United States from a country of small farms and small towns to an industrial nation that expanded across the continent. They employed hundreds of thousands of people and dominated the economy and public attention in the Nineteenth Century the way the automobile and technology companies have in later decades. They're still vitally important to the movement of goods and people today.  

Train travel is relaxing, somewhat mesmerizing and a good way to get a different perspective on things. As the coffee cups say, “Amtrak: Change how you see the world.”

Amtrak: Change how you see the world

Background: Family Vacations on the Train

Trains are great for family vacations. When our twin daughters were 12, in 2011, we took an overnight train from Columbus, Wisconsin to Glacier National Park. Our daughters really enjoyed watching the scenery, eating in the dining car and sleeping in the roomettes.

Departing from Columbus, Wisconsin

Enjoying the roomette 

Dinner on the Empire Builder

Admiring the scenery

Day 24: The Erie Canal and the Railroads

I drove to Waterford, north of Albany, to see the Erie Canal. There was also a good exhibit about it at the New York State Museum. In the early 1800s the Erie Canal was a technological challenge, a financial gamble, and a subject of heated political debate. When it was completed, it opened the west to expanded settlement, funneled trade to New York City and made it the predominant commercial center of the country, and gave rise to a thriving belt of technologically innovative cities across upstate New York.

However, after a few years of dominating freight and passenger traffic, the canal was succeeded by the railroads as the dominant means of transportation, although it continued to operate. The scale of operations eventually attained by the railroads is illustrated by several buildings in Albany, the former Union Station, which once served 100 trains per day, and the huge former headquarters of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, a Gothic style building which now houses another massive organization, the State University of New York System.

The Lake Shore Limited to Chicago parallels the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal after leaving Albany. It also parallels I-90, so several different eras of transportation can be seen next to each other.

The Erie Canal at Waterford

Early railroad which competed with the Erie Canal
(exhibit at New York State Museum)

Former Union Station, Albany

Former headquarters of
the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Albany

Day 24: Tour of Albany

Albany is an interesting city, with a lot of fascinating architecture. Visited the Nineteenth Century Capitol first. Quite an amazing place. Huge, ornate, with incredible craftsmanship. Three major stairways with distinctive designs, stone carvings and chandeliers. Also has a hall of paintings of New York scenes from the past two centuries, which is a nice touch.

The Empire State Plaza was Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s initiative, a modern, massive, stark Brasilia-style plaza with four identical high-rise state office buildings, the state history museum and other office buildings. It’s imposing and impersonal.

Walked around downtown, visited the history museum and then drove north to Waterford to see the Erie Canal. I’ll do a separate post on the canal and the railroads.

New York State Capitol

Empire State Plaza

Albany City Hall,
by Henry Hobson Richardson

Capitol view from Corning Tower on
Empire State Plaza