So very nice, Dylan, that you took this long, long train odyssey in America - fascinating five nights on Amtrak and five days looking out your windows to see a lot of America!
Thanks for your trip report. I haven’t traveled on a long distance Amtrak train since they downgraded the dining car service. Those flex dining meals do not look good. I have herd that they are planning to get back to full dining car service on most trains this year. That should help improve the experience. As to getting to or from LA I always used the Southwest Chief. It is faster and the scenery a bit better than the route you traveled. As mentioned by others if my end point was Washington DC I would have used the Sunset Ltd. To New Orleans and transferred there to the Crescent to Washington DC. That way at lest you would have had full dining car and sightseer lounge car service on the full run from LA to New Orleans. Also as mentioned if your schedule permitted I would have picked the Cardinal to get to Washington DC. The scenery especially through West Virginia is very nice as you go through the New river valley. However you still would have had the sub par dining service since they do not operate a full dining car on that route. Let’s hope Amtrak continues to improve the dining car meals and has a lounge car on all long distance trains.
I totally agree with your opinion of the Flexible Dining. I have traveled on the Southwest Chief, Coast Starlight, California Zephyr and Empire Builder numerous times over the years.. During the pandemic only flexible dining was available on all trains and it was horrible. The food on the aforementioned trains is back to normal now on all routes, start to finish, and thank goodness. I will be traveling on the SW chief, Coast Starlight and California Zephyr again this summer and have to say your videos really did them all justice. Please keep us up to date with all your travels. They are the best.
My understanding (from what they told us on a three-night trip last year) has to do with personnel, i.e., they don't have enough. This accounts for "flexible" dining east of Chicago and no coach passengers able to use the dining card, and also how short-staffed they are with attendants in both coach and sleeper accommodations. Hopefully it will be resolved soon, but I'm not holding my breath.
Amtrak announced that west coast routes will convert into Traditional Dining which will allow coach passengers to have access to Dining car so it's a first step of new change, we are hoping the full Amtrak network to be fully restored by end of year so let you know.
they already have “traditional dining” since at least 2021, with the exception of the Texas Eagle. But the news is now that coach passengers can have access to the dining car too, yes. Now let’s hope the eastern trains will also get traditional dining back, at least for the sleeper passengers.
The flexible dining meals look awful. The reviews given by unfortunate Amtrak passengers reveal that the meals for the most part taste as bad as they look. I think every long distance Amtrak service should provide traditional dining, and observation cars! The first class lounges at major stations should set out decent refreshments. Train passengers are paying as much for the experience as for the ride, and the experience is often lacking when it comes to meals served.
For me this was your best video about traveling in the states. Texas may be the most boring state to travel to. I remember driving through Texas and thought it was like waiting for a reprieve from the electric chair. I was just a little disappointed that we didn't see the loo. Great video!
It's been a long time since I rode the Sunset Limited (the train the Texas Eagle is attached to to/from San Antonio), like when it still went to Florida, and there was no boarder wall when I went through. That was about 30 years ago.
My suggestion for people who are taking Amtrak east from Chicago or taking The Texas Eagle to go up to the food court and get some food there. Also get some snacks at a nearby store so you won't have to buy from the Cafe Car.
@@jamesthompson3099 thanks. I may not have taken a long distance Amtrak Route out of Chicago Union Station but I have taken Amtrak to Milwaukee and Metra hundreds of times and I always go up to The Food Court to get some lunch and snacks to take with me for my trip. It's fun and makes things easier for me on the inbound trip back to Union Station.
For the scenery, you should ride the Cardinal between Chicago and Washington -- much more daylight time in the mountain country and especially in the eye-popping New River Gorge.
Having eaten on Amtrak long distance trains for many years I can definitely recommend the steak and the salmon. They rank with any decent restaurant. Breakfasts are wonderful and the lunches are, well, lunches. I do like the Angus burger and Artisan grilled cheese quite a lot. The flexible dinning just sucks, though. Fortunately it only exists on the Texas Eagle on trains to the west coast, thank goodness! A few eastern trains are still serving them as well, I believe. Yuck.
An amazing trip. Maybe you could share a video on how you planned and put together your visit to the USA last year? You got some much out of it and some tips on the logistics would be really good.
You can eat in your room on any train with a sleeper and dining car. Your sleeping car attendant will bring it to you. It is called an "upstairs order".
Going for a trip like this, I'd probably hate having to sleep, missing out on so much scenery. And still, I also just love sleeping on a train. It's the best!
You traveled on the Sunset Limited train that runs 3x weekly from LA to New Orleans. At San Antonio, TX, a portion of the Sunset Limited is sliced off and attached to the Texas Eagle that runs daily between San Antonio and Chicago. Alternatively, you could have just continued on the Sunset Limited until New Orleans and then taken the Crescent from New Orleans to Washington DC.
I think Amtrak makes a huge mistake sending the Dining car to New Orleans and the flex diner to Chicago on this route. It would only make sense if they reinstated the full run of the Sunset Limited (what the LA to NO part of this train is) all the way to Florida again.
One of the problems with this is, the line they used between Jacksonville and Mobile is now owned by a short line company. When Amtrak was running on it, it was owned by CSX. Trust me, I'd love to see it again as well.
@@JediTev no I heard that section between Lousina and Florida got destoryed by a hurricane, and that is why it was not rebuilt since they do not want it again destroyed by the next hurircane.
Amazing that they will honour a connection as long as you allow *90 minutes* layover ... I've caught connecting flights ✈ that had less time than that! And here in the UK, you only need to allow a _maximum_ of 15 minutes and that is only at the largest and most complex stations, like Glasgow Central, and most stations it is no more than 10 minutes.
@@roundandroundmyworld Oh yes, I completely understand the reason behind it, but it just highlights how hopelessly unreliable American passenger rail services are expected to be.
but I mean british trains don’t take over 40 hours from beginning to end, no? A 90 mins. delay on the California Zephyr, which is scheduled to take 52 hours, is only about 3% added travel time. For an LNER train taking 4.5 hours from London to Edinburgh, a delay of 3% is only 8 mins.
Amtrak did tell Sometimes trains can be a daily train from Chicago to San Antonio Then the San Antonio to Los Angeles is a Bi weekly But whole train is not a Bi weely train Now I have until May 13 to pay for it
Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but alternatively, you could have taken the Sunset Limited and the Crescent to get between Los Angeles and Washington with a transfer in New Orleans instead of Chicago. ;)
As a Seahawk fan I was a bit annoyed by the trams sing saying "Go RAMS!" xD Anyway really nice video. Shame that the last part you didn't have the proper restaurant car on the South West Chief.
Hey Dylan. Sorry for the horrible American food. Now you see why I travel Europe. Hope to do the Caledorian London to Edinburgh trip. Better food. Better scenery. lol
I always enjoy your long trips the most, even when travelling through deserts and plains instead of mountain scenery. Amtrack really has to step up their food service - downgrading it to microwave meals is unconscionable.
Notice how all original waiting room seating in the LA Union Station is now fenced off with ugly plastic fencing. I guess you are allowed in with a ticket. This is because it was a wall to wall homeless (and I mean REALLY homeless) habitat. It was a real human zoo. Moynihan Amtrak hall in NYC has NO seating except for ticketed passengers who get a room over at the side (and a lounge for sleeping car passengers). Somehow the beautifully renovated Chicago Union Station has a lot of restored typical old train station wood seating open for anyone but with no homeless people. I don't know how they do it.
Rather you than me. Looks like an endurance test. Lousy food, cramped accommodation, extortionately expensive and surprisingly drab scenery. Thanks for sharing your adventures. You’ve eliminated a possibility for me Dylan! 😆
The meal downgrade resulting from the split of the train is one of the reasons I’ve never taken the Texas Eagle/Sunset Ltd out of LA. That combined with the late 10pm departure, make it an unfavorable choice.
I am perplexed why they feel that the dining car should go on to New Orleans from San Antonio instead of the much longer leg to Chicago...especially since that is where the original service is intended to terminate. Makes zero sense.
The route from San Antonio to LA combines the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle. The dining car seems to be part of the Sunset Limited consist. When booking tickets on the combined train after it leaves San Antonio, you'll often find the cost higher for one part of the train compared to the other so watch out for that and book on the cheaper part.
Whilst I expect this to be a great once-in-a-lifetime experience, 5 days of travelling and over £1100 for 2 people would definitely make me choose the airplane (or even the automobile) every time, due to being both cheaper and quicker. Remember, most train tracks in the USA are not designed for high speed passenger travel, an are instead designed around lower speed freight haulings - they're not going to upgrade the tracks and increase the line speed if there's no advantage in doing so.
Train Travel in the USA is only for sight-seeing, seeing the country from the train. It's considered like taking a cruise on a ship. No one in the USA takes a train to go visit their grandma. People want to see the country.
If you want the scenery, driving is going to take you minimum 7-8 days. It will take you 5 days to drive LA-Washington not stopping for anything but meals and sleep, driving 8 hours per day, and you'll be too tired to enjoy any of the scenery, and be miserable at the end of the trip. That's the benefit of the train over driving, if you have a short trip and want to see as much scenery as possible.
@@AT-nq6cu I have met *many* grandmas that are on the train visiting their kids, though. They also provide passenger connections between the many stops en route.
Plastic green barriers around the waiting room seats are ugly and destroy the awesome look I enjoyed for many many years dating back to the 1950's when the classic ticket office was filled with people in long lines.
Have watched most of your US journeys, trying to decide what my 1st trip from SD, CA should be to see the US. Not sure about eating since I don't eat grains or sugar. Anyways, thank you
Have to say Dylan, you are not selling it for me. Maybe it’s improved in the year since you made the journey but I can’t say I’m rushing to book a long distance Amtrak service after seeing this. It looked good at first with the Sightseer Lounge and proper catering but once those options split off it looked rather dreadful. I went coast to coast in Canada last year with The Ocean and The Canadian and loved the whole experience. Amtrak doesn’t look in the same league as VIARail. I hope it’s just a post-Covid reset and that the services are improving but on he evidence of this I think crossing the USA by rail might be more of a chore than a pleasure.
The Texas Eagle is unique in that it's the only western long distance route without an observation car, and only 1 of two western routes without traditional dining. If you want those, book literally any other western long distance route.
@@sgt.eclair thanks for the info, I do like the idea of a long distance Amtrak journey so if I ever get round to doing one I'll do some research as I'd hate to be disappointed.
@@sgt.eclair It has one from LA to San Antoniono than it detaches from the Texas Eagle and goes to New Orleans on the Sunset Limited, same with the observation car, so if you wanted traditional dinning all the way you could of took the Sunset Limited all the way to New Orleans, and that way on flexible meals on the Crescent.
Dylan... an excellent video and so very interesting as usual....but it must be said, that the food on this trip looked dreadful !!! Amtrak need to up their game....
It’s sad to see that people keep trashing the US rail network, because it serves a different purpose. It serves vacation, travelers going for travel by train. It’s not that we’re behind in that we don’t know how to run it, it’s that we decided not to invest in it.
In their defense, that flex dining is garbage. It's Amtrak's excuse for not paying for a full dining car car crew. Union workers. Amtrak also needs to bring back allowing coach passengers in the dining car as well. The Pandemic is over.
Texas is dull. I've definitely enjoyed the Southwest Chief trip. We are definitely pushing to return full meal service to all the trains and access for the coach passengers. Luckily our current president loves riding the trains so we have a friend in the White House.
I found that most people that trash the US rail network never actually ridden it, which is pretty interesting. I can’t imagine someone who takes the trains in America, and then ends up not liking it.
The thing is though, trains are still not great in America. Those that do exist are pretty decent, but the USA's rail network is way too small for the country it serves, and most trains are very infrequent, meaning that very few people use the trains in the US.
@@transitcaptain there’s not enough services, that’s the problem, it can’t be good if there’s hardly any services to travel on. Transport should be an experience, but it should also be accessible, which in America, it’s not.
Yeah, after watching this video, I can say that it looked nice enough to do, but certainly not nice enough to justify $1350 one way for two people. It would have to be either the airplane or automobile for me, if needing to travel this length of distance.
Will Amtrak pay for a new high speed rail link from the East Coast of the USA to the West Coast if the USA. Along with Joe Biden also to pay for the new high speed rail link and to avoid Tornado Alley and Yellowstone.
what a shame that they force you to travel all across so many states. You should be charging them for wasting your time. I can't imagine the UK would do anything like this. This seems very familiar, like I've watched it before.
I appreciate the reports dear. I just can't for the life of me understand why people would like to travel across the US in these 1950s style Amtrak ways. The food looks disgusting for such a long trip. Good we all have a choice.
Dude, I like your videos, but you have no idea how annoying your announcer voice is. You constantly use a "singsong" voice, which not only is unnatural sounding, it is really irritating. This is a pattern that is characterized by artificially wide swings in pitch and used by smarmy disc jockeys. Take the time to learn how to use more natural variations in your pitch within sentences, so you sound more professional and less insane. Thank you.
@@mikeymutual5489 The excuse may be that it is simply the way he speaks. Faulting someone for the way they speak is akin to faulting them for their hight. It was a mean spirited thing to say. If you are an elocution coach maybe you could start your own channel and send him a link. Suggest that he might find it useful in building his channel. That would be nicer.
@@jamesthompson3099 NO, that is NOT the way he actually speaks. It is an affectation that he uses only for narration, and it can be corrected. So how about you not keep commenting about things that you don't understand?
Loved seeing a brief sighting of Trinity Railway Express in Dallas. Rode that train daily for 10 years.
So very nice, Dylan, that you took this long, long train odyssey in America - fascinating five nights on Amtrak and five days looking out your windows to see a lot of America!
Thanks for your trip report. I haven’t traveled on a long distance Amtrak train since they downgraded the dining car service. Those flex dining meals do not look good. I have herd that they are planning to get back to full dining car service on most trains this year. That should help improve the experience. As to getting to or from LA I always used the Southwest Chief. It is faster and the scenery a bit better than the route you traveled. As mentioned by others if my end point was Washington DC I would have used the Sunset Ltd. To New Orleans and transferred there to the Crescent to Washington DC. That way at lest you would have had full dining car and sightseer lounge car service on the full run from LA to New Orleans. Also as mentioned if your schedule permitted I would have picked the Cardinal to get to Washington DC. The scenery especially through West Virginia is very nice as you go through the New river valley. However you still would have had the sub par dining service since they do not operate a full dining car on that route. Let’s hope Amtrak continues to improve the dining car meals and has a lounge car on all long distance trains.
I totally agree with your opinion of the Flexible Dining. I have traveled on the Southwest Chief, Coast Starlight, California Zephyr and Empire Builder numerous times over the years.. During the pandemic only flexible dining was available on all trains and it was horrible. The food on the aforementioned trains is back to normal now on all routes, start to finish, and thank goodness. I will be traveling on the SW chief, Coast Starlight and California Zephyr again this summer and have to say your videos really did them all justice. Please keep us up to date with all your travels. They are the best.
My understanding (from what they told us on a three-night trip last year) has to do with personnel, i.e., they don't have enough. This accounts for "flexible" dining east of Chicago and no coach passengers able to use the dining card, and also how short-staffed they are with attendants in both coach and sleeper accommodations. Hopefully it will be resolved soon, but I'm not holding my breath.
Amtrak announced that west coast routes will convert into Traditional Dining which will allow coach passengers to have access to Dining car so it's a first step of new change, we are hoping the full Amtrak network to be fully restored by end of year so let you know.
they already have “traditional dining” since at least 2021, with the exception of the Texas Eagle. But the news is now that coach passengers can have access to the dining car too, yes.
Now let’s hope the eastern trains will also get traditional dining back, at least for the sleeper passengers.
@@sxflyer5410 yes and it was good. The salmon was delicious along with the steak.
@@Steve-tj9on traditional dining is very tasty, I agree! :)
The flexible dining meals look awful. The reviews given by unfortunate Amtrak passengers reveal that the meals for the most part taste as bad as they look. I think every long distance Amtrak service should provide traditional dining, and observation cars! The first class lounges at major stations should set out decent refreshments. Train passengers are paying as much for the experience as for the ride, and the experience is often lacking when it comes to meals served.
Unfortunately the observation cars will not fit in the east due to tunnels.
love the reflection in the window around min 21
For me this was your best video about traveling in the states. Texas may be the most boring state to travel to. I remember driving through Texas and thought it was like waiting for a reprieve from the electric chair. I was just a little disappointed that we didn't see the loo. Great video!
It's been a long time since I rode the Sunset Limited (the train the Texas Eagle is attached to to/from San Antonio), like when it still went to Florida, and there was no boarder wall when I went through. That was about 30 years ago.
Cracking video! What a great updated version of the "Silver Streak" journey for the 2020's :)
My suggestion for people who are taking Amtrak east from Chicago or taking The Texas Eagle to go up to the food court and get some food there. Also get some snacks at a nearby store so you won't have to buy from the Cafe Car.
Great suggestion!
@@jamesthompson3099 thanks. I may not have taken a long distance Amtrak Route out of Chicago Union Station but I have taken Amtrak to Milwaukee and Metra hundreds of times and I always go up to The Food Court to get some lunch and snacks to take with me for my trip. It's fun and makes things easier for me on the inbound trip back to Union Station.
Now The Texas Eagle is a daily train I have just made reservation to go to Stamford Ct
What a great trip and review. I've just know Capitol Limited using Superliner.
GTA V flashback in the opening scene.
For the scenery, you should ride the Cardinal between Chicago and Washington -- much more daylight time in the mountain country and especially in the eye-popping New River Gorge.
I've seen Amtrak videos for years and many services like the meals, do not justify the price. Thank you two for one of my windows to the world.
Having eaten on Amtrak long distance trains for many years I can definitely recommend the steak and the salmon. They rank with any decent restaurant. Breakfasts are wonderful and the lunches are, well, lunches. I do like the Angus burger and Artisan grilled cheese quite a lot. The flexible dinning just sucks, though. Fortunately it only exists on the Texas Eagle on trains to the west coast, thank goodness! A few eastern trains are still serving them as well, I believe. Yuck.
great train video bro
I’ve been to El Paso quite a few times as I have family that live there. I’ve even made a few friends that live across the border in Juarez
An amazing trip. Maybe you could share a video on how you planned and put together your visit to the USA last year? You got some much out of it and some tips on the logistics would be really good.
You can eat in your room on any train with a sleeper and dining car. Your sleeping car attendant will bring it to you. It is called an "upstairs order".
Going for a trip like this, I'd probably hate having to sleep, missing out on so much scenery. And still, I also just love sleeping on a train. It's the best!
Usually Amtrak long distance trains are scheduled so the best scenery passes by during the day.
Beautiful footage towards the end of what I assume was the upper reaches of the Potomac River.
I have a friend that runs the capitol limited and they took the lounge car off cause of covid
Thx for the journey
Curious why you chose the Capitol Limited to DC over the Crescent.
Now try to imagine a high-speed train. 300 km/h. LA-Washington 20 hours top. I drove same time from Manchester (ferry) to eastern Czechia :D
Nice! Thank you for the video!
Great video. Thank you!
great review dylan mate
Great trip report
You traveled on the Sunset Limited train that runs 3x weekly from LA to New Orleans.
At San Antonio, TX, a portion of the Sunset Limited is sliced off and attached to the Texas Eagle that runs daily between San Antonio and Chicago.
Alternatively, you could have just continued on the Sunset Limited until New Orleans and then taken the Crescent from New Orleans to Washington DC.
I think Amtrak makes a huge mistake sending the Dining car to New Orleans and the flex diner to Chicago on this route. It would only make sense if they reinstated the full run of the Sunset Limited (what the LA to NO part of this train is) all the way to Florida again.
One of the problems with this is, the line they used between Jacksonville and Mobile is now owned by a short line company. When Amtrak was running on it, it was owned by CSX. Trust me, I'd love to see it again as well.
They're working on it and even doing crew familiarization runs!
@@JediTev no I heard that section between Lousina and Florida got destoryed by a hurricane, and that is why it was not rebuilt since they do not want it again destroyed by the next hurircane.
Oh my! :-) A direct flight from LAX to DCA takes about 7 hours and US$200. But go Amtrak if you must! :-)
Which railroad originally opened L A union station? , can't remember if it was UP or ATSF
Seems posted after one year, nice clipping.
Amazing that they will honour a connection as long as you allow *90 minutes* layover ... I've caught connecting flights ✈ that had less time than that! And here in the UK, you only need to allow a _maximum_ of 15 minutes and that is only at the largest and most complex stations, like Glasgow Central, and most stations it is no more than 10 minutes.
British passenger services don't have to fight for space with the freight rail companies which own and control the tracks -- that's the reason.
@@roundandroundmyworld Oh yes, I completely understand the reason behind it, but it just highlights how hopelessly unreliable American passenger rail services are expected to be.
but I mean british trains don’t take over 40 hours from beginning to end, no?
A 90 mins. delay on the California Zephyr, which is scheduled to take 52 hours, is only about 3% added travel time. For an LNER train taking 4.5 hours from London to Edinburgh, a delay of 3% is only 8 mins.
Amtrak did tell Sometimes trains can be a daily train from Chicago to San Antonio Then the San Antonio to Los Angeles is a Bi weekly But whole train is not a Bi weely train Now I have until May 13 to pay for it
The Amtrak Southwest Chief and Capitol Limited are used to be the national chief 1997-98
Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but alternatively, you could have taken the Sunset Limited and the Crescent to get between Los Angeles and Washington with a transfer in New Orleans instead of Chicago. ;)
Seems like it makes more sense if you're stopping somewhere in the south.
This reminds me of the silver streak film
As a Seahawk fan I was a bit annoyed by the trams sing saying "Go RAMS!" xD Anyway really nice video. Shame that the last part you didn't have the proper restaurant car on the South West Chief.
He wasn't on the Chief. The Chief has great dining. 🤣
@@jamesthompson3099 yeah I always mix those two xD
I love the cameo of the LA metro in the beginning
Why did it take 1 year to post the video ?
The food always looked good. American city stations are so magnificent
epic !!
You should have skipped the lounge. Olvera St is right across the street w the world's best Taquitos
Hey Dylan. Sorry for the horrible American food. Now you see why I travel Europe. Hope to do the Caledorian London to Edinburgh trip. Better food. Better scenery. lol
I always enjoy your long trips the most, even when travelling through deserts and plains instead of mountain scenery. Amtrack really has to step up their food service - downgrading it to microwave meals is unconscionable.
Oooooo they Looks Really nice
At 22.:16 you passed F Scott and Zelda Fitzgeralds' graves at St Marys Church.
Boa tarde Dylans trem amtrak gostei Califórnia
Notice how all original waiting room seating in the LA Union Station is now fenced off with ugly plastic fencing. I guess you are allowed in with a ticket. This is because it was a wall to wall homeless (and I mean REALLY homeless) habitat. It was a real human zoo. Moynihan Amtrak hall in NYC has NO seating except for ticketed passengers who get a room over at the side (and a lounge for sleeping car passengers). Somehow the beautifully renovated Chicago Union Station has a lot of restored typical old train station wood seating open for anyone but with no homeless people. I don't know how they do it.
Trains Station 🚉
Rather you than me. Looks like an endurance test. Lousy food, cramped accommodation, extortionately expensive and surprisingly drab scenery. Thanks for sharing your adventures. You’ve eliminated a possibility for me Dylan! 😆
The meal downgrade resulting from the split of the train is one of the reasons I’ve never taken the Texas Eagle/Sunset Ltd out of LA. That combined with the late 10pm departure, make it an unfavorable choice.
Hello 👍👍
I am perplexed why they feel that the dining car should go on to New Orleans from San Antonio instead of the much longer leg to Chicago...especially since that is where the original service is intended to terminate. Makes zero sense.
The route from San Antonio to LA combines the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle. The dining car seems to be part of the Sunset Limited consist. When booking tickets on the combined train after it leaves San Antonio, you'll often find the cost higher for one part of the train compared to the other so watch out for that and book on the cheaper part.
Until a few years ago the Texas Eagle had full dining car service and a sightseer lounge car but of course, it was cut back like so much at Amtrak.
Whilst I expect this to be a great once-in-a-lifetime experience, 5 days of travelling and over £1100 for 2 people would definitely make me choose the airplane (or even the automobile) every time, due to being both cheaper and quicker. Remember, most train tracks in the USA are not designed for high speed passenger travel, an are instead designed around lower speed freight haulings - they're not going to upgrade the tracks and increase the line speed if there's no advantage in doing so.
Train Travel in the USA is only for sight-seeing, seeing the country from the train. It's considered like taking a cruise on a ship. No one in the USA takes a train to go visit their grandma. People want to see the country.
If you want the scenery, driving is going to take you minimum 7-8 days. It will take you 5 days to drive LA-Washington not stopping for anything but meals and sleep, driving 8 hours per day, and you'll be too tired to enjoy any of the scenery, and be miserable at the end of the trip. That's the benefit of the train over driving, if you have a short trip and want to see as much scenery as possible.
@@AT-nq6cu I have met *many* grandmas that are on the train visiting their kids, though. They also provide passenger connections between the many stops en route.
When I heard Ohio I went straight to the comments lol
Was the long trip boring?
Plastic green barriers around the waiting room seats are ugly and destroy the awesome look I enjoyed for many many years dating back to the 1950's when the classic ticket office was filled with people in long lines.
Man really went to Ohio!
Have watched most of your US journeys, trying to decide what my 1st trip from SD, CA should be to see the US. Not sure about eating since I don't eat grains or sugar.
Anyways, thank you
You can see why people fly.
Have to say Dylan, you are not selling it for me. Maybe it’s improved in the year since you made the journey but I can’t say I’m rushing to book a long distance Amtrak service after seeing this. It looked good at first with the Sightseer Lounge and proper catering but once those options split off it looked rather dreadful. I went coast to coast in Canada last year with The Ocean and The Canadian and loved the whole experience. Amtrak doesn’t look in the same league as VIARail. I hope it’s just a post-Covid reset and that the services are improving but on he evidence of this I think crossing the USA by rail might be more of a chore than a pleasure.
The Texas Eagle is unique in that it's the only western long distance route without an observation car, and only 1 of two western routes without traditional dining. If you want those, book literally any other western long distance route.
@@sgt.eclair thanks for the info, I do like the idea of a long distance Amtrak journey so if I ever get round to doing one I'll do some research as I'd hate to be disappointed.
@@sgt.eclair It has one from LA to San Antoniono than it detaches from the Texas Eagle and goes to New Orleans on the Sunset Limited, same with the observation car, so if you wanted traditional dinning all the way you could of took the Sunset Limited all the way to New Orleans, and that way on flexible meals on the Crescent.
Dylan... an excellent video and so very interesting as usual....but it must be said, that the food on this trip looked dreadful !!! Amtrak need to up their game....
It’s sad to see that people keep trashing the US rail network, because it serves a different purpose. It serves vacation, travelers going for travel by train. It’s not that we’re behind in that we don’t know how to run it, it’s that we decided not to invest in it.
In their defense, that flex dining is garbage. It's Amtrak's excuse for not paying for a full dining car car crew. Union workers. Amtrak also needs to bring back allowing coach passengers in the dining car as well. The Pandemic is over.
@@JediTev Amtrak started Flexible Dining in 2019, so you can’t blame the pandemic for this one. Yet another shortsighted cheap ass move by Amtrak.
Texas is dull. I've definitely enjoyed the Southwest Chief trip. We are definitely pushing to return full meal service to all the trains and access for the coach passengers.
Luckily our current president loves riding the trains so we have a friend in the White House.
What happened to the audio! It's over mouduling everytime you speak dude
I found that most people that trash the US rail network never actually ridden it, which is pretty interesting. I can’t imagine someone who takes the trains in America, and then ends up not liking it.
The thing is though, trains are still not great in America. Those that do exist are pretty decent, but the USA's rail network is way too small for the country it serves, and most trains are very infrequent, meaning that very few people use the trains in the US.
I’ve ridden it, hated it. Not on time, slow, dirty, only one train per day.
@@eagle1107flyer you were obviously trying to go from a to B, not wanting the experience of traveling. You’d be one of the few that hate it.
@@transitcaptain there’s not enough services, that’s the problem, it can’t be good if there’s hardly any services to travel on. Transport should be an experience, but it should also be accessible, which in America, it’s not.
@@UnknownUser-xk2mj True, good point
Epic trip, all that food not good for the figure
Yeah, after watching this video, I can say that it looked nice enough to do, but certainly not nice enough to justify $1350 one way for two people. It would have to be either the airplane or automobile for me, if needing to travel this length of distance.
Will Amtrak pay for a new high speed rail link from the East Coast of the USA to the West Coast if the USA. Along with Joe Biden also to pay for the new high speed rail link and to avoid Tornado Alley and Yellowstone.
Never going to happen. The cost would be astronomical.
Totally agree
flex dining sucks.
what a shame that they force you to travel all across so many states. You should be charging them for wasting your time. I can't imagine the UK would do anything like this. This seems very familiar, like I've watched it before.
I appreciate the reports dear. I just can't for the life of me understand why people would like to travel across the US in these 1950s style Amtrak ways. The food looks disgusting for such a long trip. Good we all have a choice.
Pathetic food the last few days, sending the dining car to new Orleans is stupid
Please no more Amtrak reviews.
Disgusting food and no Sightseer Lounge on the Eagle and Capitol Ltd? Amtrak continues to hasten its own slide further into irrelevance.
Dude, I like your videos, but you have no idea how annoying your announcer voice is. You constantly use a "singsong" voice, which not only is unnatural sounding, it is really irritating. This is a pattern that is characterized by artificially wide swings in pitch and used by smarmy disc jockeys. Take the time to learn how to use more natural variations in your pitch within sentences, so you sound more professional and less insane. Thank you.
Why don't you just view someone else's train videos. There are lots on RUclips.
@@jamesthompson3099 Who says I don't? Either way, that's no excuse for terrible narration.
@@mikeymutual5489 The excuse may be that it is simply the way he speaks. Faulting someone for the way they speak is akin to faulting them for their hight. It was a mean spirited thing to say. If you are an elocution coach maybe you could start your own channel and send him a link. Suggest that he might find it useful in building his channel. That would be nicer.
@@jamesthompson3099 NO, that is NOT the way he actually speaks. It is an affectation that he uses only for narration, and it can be corrected. So how about you not keep commenting about things that you don't understand?
@@mikeymutual5489 I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were acquainted.
🤣😂 this is old...it's wet , rainy and chilly in LA.