Train travel is my favorite way to go on a vacation if you have the time. It is not as fast as air travel, and not as convenient as travel by car, but you can see an experience things on a train that you cannot any other way. Trains west of the Mississippi are (IMO) better than those east of the river. This video gives you an idea of how it is to travel by train. As a young man, I travelled by coach and it was fine, and you meet a lot of people. Bring your own food, and it is quite cheap. Most of our travel by train as seniors has been by roomette. It is nice to have your own space, and when we priced things out, it is about the same price as travel by plane since room and food--that is MUCH better than airline food--is included in the price. I traveled in the accessible/handicap bedroom when my back was broken and our daughter and her family traveled in the family bedroom with her husband and two sons. It was definitely more roomy and convenient, but the price may not be worth it unless you are somewhat feeble.
We travel by Amtrak from Maine to Washington, DC, once or twice a year, and it's comfortable enough. Sometimes, we get a sleeper, but usually, we opt for business class or coach. My only complaints are New York City and Amtrak WiFi. Whenever we have to change trains in NYC, it's a pain in the butt; but then, driving through NYC is a pain in the butt too. There's nothing I like about that city. Boston, on the other hand, is just fine; no problems there. I can't think of a time that I have traveled Amtrak along the East Coast when the promised WiFi actually worked. Sometimes, it doesn't work at all; at others, it works sporadically and poorly. Many years ago, I went from California to Chicago by train, and that was quite pleasant. My nephew, who was eleven then, was with me, and we had a sleeper car. Sleeper cars were significantly larger then than they are now, and we had the option of walking to the dining car or having our meals served in the sleeper car. Usually, we opted for the dining car. It was a slow trip because every town pretty much had a train station then, and they stopped at most of them, but it was fun. We got to peer into everyone's backyard, and the worst parts of every city we went through, but the mountains were impressive.
My favorite aunts husband was and railroad engineer, I liked it when she would pick us up and bring us back to her house on the train, of course her travel was free. She'd pick us up at the downtown Atlanta station..
I Love trains and miss not being able to travel by one. Once again , we do not even have that here,. Have to travel 3 to 4 hours just to get to a train station.
It is the same thing here in Huntsville, @Hedi Mitchell . The nearest train station is either Birmingham or Nashville, and we do not even show a greyhound bus station here anymore, for some reason. My little town in Idaho, only about 5,000 people , still has Amtrak stop there for passengers. I have always loved trains, too ! When I was little, we still saw the old black steam engines put-putting through town, and gradually that changed over to the ugly yellow diesel engines. When I was around 8-9, my folks went on the only vacation they ever took, and we went by train from Sandpoint , Idaho to San Diego California, to visit my grandmother. We traveled to Denver, Colorado, and then took a special train called the Grand Canyon Special to the Grand Canyon, and spent a day there, and then back to Denver again. The Navajo Indians came on the train and sold turquoise and silver jewelry, vey beautiful ! Next, we took the train that went to California from Denver, and it had the Vista Domes on it, (now called Observaton Car)) and we could see everything from up on the top of the Vista Dome. It was a great trip , and I loved it ! The last train trip I took was from Idaho out to Richmond, Virginia, to visit my daughter, when she was stationed out there, and I really enjoyed that trip also. I would love to take another cross-country train trip, and also take the Starlight Special that runs down the Pacific Coast from Seattle to os Angeles. This is a picture of the Santa Fe SuperChief and you can see the Vista Dome Car partway back in the train. This is the train we took to California and back.
@Yvonne Smith - as a child we took the Rock Island express to Missouri to see grandparents. Mark and I both love trains and have visited many old train stations, and museums. At one time we even created Mitchellville - with his old miniature train... it was awesome setup and we worked hard on that. But years ;after and much moving, lack of room gave it away.
Not many Americans travel by train anymore. Air travel is faster. I enjoy travel by train whenever I can and have the time.