My folks are visiting from Ohio via the Amtrak. The way these trains are scheduled, they leave at 1:00 AM. I know the dining car will be closed for a large part of the trip. But I was under the impression that the trains have a snack/bar car that will be open all night. Is that the case or does the bar car close as well if they need to get up and grab a quick bite and drink?
In my experience the snack bars usually close around midnight. It’s better to bring one’s own food, though, especially if the dining car will not be open. Except for the cheese and cracker platter, pretty much everything offered at the snack bar is pretty foul. Think along the lines of microwaveable sandwiches available at gas stations.
The cafe car should be open if they want coffee or something like that, or at least, I’ve taken the Northeast Corridor out of Washington DC at 3:45 am, and they’re open then. Here’s the snack car menu as of last year, in case you’re interested in the kind of things it has:
That being said, though, I agree with teletype. They should bring their own food if they can.
It’s also heavily overpriced.
Isn’t Amtrak required by law to make a profit on food sales (in contrast to the old private railways that always treated foodservice as a loss leader)?
I’ve never known an Amtrak snack bar to be open past midnight.
Yeah, just have them pack some snacks, and for sure some bottled water. (Will they really need something to eat at 1 am?)
Don’t know if they will need something at 1:00 AM. But they might need something at 6:00 AM. Since Dad is in a wheelchair, I prefer not to have mom carry a bunch of crap on board in addition to toiletries etc. But if the snack car isn’t open, they will have to figure that part out.
Ah. Well, the wheelchair may well get them some extra help. No personal experience with this, but on my recent Amtrak trip I noticed Amtrak staff going above and beyond for people with disabilities. Even when I was in the snack car (around 4 pm), an Amtrak staffer butted to the front of the line with purchases for passengers (she had several different credit cards). Nobody seemed to mind . . . really, it’s not like we had someplace else to be. 
I suspect they would also give your mom and dad extra help with baggage.
When I travel by train (so far it’s been for only a 3-4-day trip), I have my regular roller bag with clothes/toiletries for when I “get there” and a “train bag” with small blanket, iPod, books, snacks, extra socks, hand sanitizer, earplugs, and other comfort items for on the train. Plus my laptop bag, which takes the place of my purse.
There’s always a drinking water spigot at the end of the car, so they don’t need to bring water (though bringing a bottle would make things easier, particularly to carry it back to Dad).