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Complimentary tea, coffee, fruit juice, and a newspaper are served each morning and the fare includes all meals in the dining car as well as access to Amtrak’s exclusive Metropolitan waiting rooms (I once hobnobbed with comedian Bill Cosby at New York’s Pennsylvania Station). You get extra privacy and it’s a unique experience to hurtle through the night in your own personal traveling capsule. Sleeping compartments, available for a supplement, are ingenious if none too spacious. Top tip: Choose a seat in the middle of the car, away from the sliding doors, and take a coat or blanket to ward off the over-enthusiastic air conditioning at night.

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Sleeping on board is no problem either, given generous reclining seats, dimmed lights and a free pillow from the attendant. Lots of hotels can be found close to train stations and station staff is a good source of advice. Am Amtrak train passes by mountains in the western US. There are no places to obtain cash, except by cashing a travelers’ cheque, so take enough money to last the journey. Amtrak trains are known for running out of certain food items, so just in case, stock up with snacks and non-obtrusive or smelly foods just in case. Tickets and meals can be paid for with cash, credit cards, or travelers’ cheques designated in US$. Many people bring their own food supplies on board, though this isn’t encouraged. Lunch is a better value than dinner but anything alcoholic tends to be expensive. Dining car meals may include regional specialties such as barbecued spare ribs or fresh salmon.

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Lounge cars offer great views through their huge wrap-around windows and you can have a drink in the bar, where a relaxed atmosphere sometimes encourages strangers to tell you their life story in hair-raising detail. There is nothing to compare the legroom on any train compared with what you get on a cross-country bus or anything in the air.

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Serendipity is one of the great things about traveling by train as you can easily mingle with fellow passengers if you wish, watch a movie or just enjoy the passing scene. You can bring two pieces of hand baggage and the check-in service allows an additional three items. Allow at least half an hour before departure time and choose a window seat for better views, more privacy, and a corner to lean against when sleeping.

TRAIN ACROSS AMERICA HOW TO

Which guidebook? Bradt’s indispensable USA by Rail (which I wrote) includes maps, full route guides, city information and details of how to find your way about strange train stations. Pioneers came this way, as did gold prospectors, the pony express and the first continental telegraph. The following are some of my favorite Amtrak journeys: The California Zephyr, one of the world’s great trains, goes from Chicago to San Francisco by way of America’s heartland and the high plains of Colorado, climbing into the Rocky Mountains via the Oregon Trail. You can travel from coast to coast, go to more than 500 destinations, explore the Rocky Mountains and ride alongside two oceans.

Trains serve most big cities as well as Disney World, Niagara Falls, and the Grand Canyon. Often the places you visit can’t be seen any other way. You stay in touch with an ever-changing landscape and between the cities and small towns you can comprehend America’s sheer size, seeing what the country looked like before McDonald’s and Coca-Cola.

You won’t be surcharged or given jet lag or made to take your shoes off. Trains are safe, pollute less and rarely suffer from weather delays or long security checks. Their rugged style and old-world charm set them apart from more mundane means of transport and, as Homer Simpson has said, ‘Nothing beats flying across the country on a train.’ Updated Feb, 2015 An Amtrak locomotive cruises through the American West.Īmerican trains have always had a strong hold on the popular imagination, inspiring countless songs, stories, scandals, and legends. The Amtrak locomotive on the platform Rolling Across the United States by Train

Train across america