There are three of them, and they are located exactly here. Their location varies a bit because the spacing of the seats can very a little. For instance, there is usually an outlet beside seat #51, but that is not always the case. As I said above, buy an extension cord with a flat disc plug. If you’re getting on at the beginning of a trip, you should be able to get one of the three seats with an outlet, and you’ll be ready in case it’s hidden behind the seat. I’ve traded seats with people to get an outlet. Some train attendants are “packers” i.e. they want to get everyone at the front of the car, every seat filled. That makes their job easier when people get on at later stops. If you get up there and it is not one of the renovated cars, find the closest outlet to the seat you have been assigned, and ask the attendant for that one.
I’m traveling to Kansas City tomorrow, and I can document where they are.
Just so you know, I actually changed my schedule for convenience. I will now be leaving on the 4th and returning on the 12th. This way, I can take the 50 Cardinal straight from Indianapolis to New York and have a sleeper the whole way, instead of having to take three different trains and wait for hours in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Much more convenient.
It cost 105 extra, which in my opinion is a small price to pay for the convenience of not having to take three different trains, and schlep my bags off and on each time. (By the way, I’m amused that the Firefox spellchecker recognizes the word “schlep.” Let’s see what other Yiddish words it knows. Oy? Nope. Shmuck? Nope. Schmuck? Yup. Putz? Yup. Goyim? Nope.)
Taking a single train also eliminates the risk of the incoming train being late, and making you miss your connection. I don’t know if Amtrak has improved but it was not unheard-of for them to be an hour or three late getting into a station.
If you are going by my experience traveling from New York to Baltimore on Sunday, expect your train to break down 5 minutes before your destination, have to wait an extra 3 hours going nowhere without air conditioning (for what was supposed to be a 2.5-hour ride), not have the train crew available to ask questions, and then have to exit the train via stairs, walk across the tracks, and climb back up into another train.
I take the trip from Chicago to Kansas City at least twice a month. I’d put it’s on-time performance at 85%. I have gotten stuck, one time 30 minutes outside of my destination for 2 hours, and one time because some idiot in a pick-up truck thought he could beat the train. I wish they had better on-time performance, but as they don’t control the tracks, and they’ve been starved for funding compared to the auto industry and the airline industry, they’re not doing too bad.
I prefer the train over driving or flying when it’s a reasonable option. The seats are MUCH more comfortable, and I can bring more stuff on board.
In April, I had to go to a vendor’s site for a week. I found that Amtrak ran out there, and I was happy to pay the extra cost for the train vs. driving my own car. Then I priced the trip, and found that I was saving about 30% on going by train over the private-car milage.
I am posting this from on board the Lakeshore Limited, waiting for a 9 PM departure from Union Station in Chicago. We are headed to NYC; we are traveling in coach; the trip should take about 20 hours with no changes. We brought a metric ton of crap, 3 huge bags, plus a lot of carryons.
This is a return journey, we took the same train from upstate NY to Chicago last week, again an overnight trip.
As we walked to our car, which is 3rd or 4th from the rear in what looks like a 10 car train we passed 2 cars of sleepers, one lounge car. I didn’t see the dining car so I suppose it is in front of us. The food in the dining car was surprisingly good. Better than an airline. Not high dining but really not bad. Along with the dining car there also is the lounge/snack car – last time we didn’t buy anything there but they have things like bagels, and microwave pizza I think.
The sleeper cars look nice from what I could see through the windows, but there are kind of plastic and industrial, not even as plush or upholstered as you might think of a RV being. Last time I was in a sleeper was in 1996 on a cross-country journey, for that it was totally worth it. For this less than 24 hour trip that we are on tonight, coach is fine. I will say that in the sleeper car you get more personal attention from the train staff and food is included in the price so that may be worth it.
The coach car we are in is one of the newer ones. On the previous trip, I noticed one older car among 6 coach cars in the train. It had noticeably outdated fixtures, bathroom etc. This car we are in now is newer. Very clean, with spacious seats. Each row of seats in this car has two 120 volt outlet plugs - I have my laptop pluged in to post this and also have my iphone charging in the other plug on my side. Across the asile, my husband has his laptop plugged in and my son is watching a movie on an ipod which is also plugged in. (My daughter is singing her ABCs in the seat next to me, waiting for me to finish posting, so I can tell her a story.)
The seats all tilt well back and also have foot rests that flip up (from behind where you calves would be if you were sitting with your feet flat on the floor). With the foot rests flipped up it makes a flatish area that is comfy enough to fold yourself onto for one night. There also are trays, like what you would see on an airplane.
As this discussion said earlier I chose a seat in the middle of the car – we had one on the end last time and the banging of the doors was obnoxious. A few other things I learned from our trip last week:
Bring a blanket. Even if it is hot outside these things are pretty well air-conditioned.
They provide each seat with a pillow, just like an airline pillow. But we also brought our own.
Earplugs. Most people sleep on the overnight trips, so loud talking wasn’t a problem, but I’m sensitive to snoring. An eye mask would have been a good idea too, except I can’t sleep well in one.
Sleeping pills.
Bring lots of stuff to do, magazines, books, games, laptop with movies, etc. The train doesn’t have WiFi but I have a Verizon broadband card-thingy and on our trip last week, I never lost access between Syracuse and Buffalo and then somewhere in Indiana to Chicago.
Bring snacks and water. This may be less of a big deal if you are traveling without little kids.
Look out the window a lot – this country is huge and beautiful and the experience of seeing farm after filed after town after farm whizz by should not be missed.
I hope that is helpful. The train just started moving so I’m going to post now. If I get bored later and can think of more, I may post again.
The Coast Starlight Express has a rep for being quite late. This is due to the asshats at UP, who insist they have the RoW and thus sidetrack Amtrak at every opportunity.
I did DC to Tampa last year. I was in the regular coach seats, but they were quite roomy. I had an outlet next to me. My only complaint about the service was that it was too air-conditioned (especially considering that when I boarded the train in DC it was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit outside). Other than that, enjoyed it. It was significantly cheaper than the cheapest flight, and cheaper than Greyhound even.
Tragically, they do have the right of way. When Amtrak was set up to save passenger service, that was one of the things Congress gave away that they shouldn’t have, and it’s been a problem ever since. They need their own track just like in civilized countries.
You can see a 360 degree view of a sleeper room at the Amtrak website. I’ll tell you it looks bigger than it really is. However, I’m 6’ 4’, and I could stretch out on the upper bunk. On the Cardinal, there’s a little toilet in each room. On the California Zephyr, the toilet is down the hall.
Not any more! I am a railfan and it almost always comes blasting through Glendale within five minutes plus or minus of 8:30. It has like a 95% on time record.
Love Amtrak, haven’t had a chance to ride it lately, but I always brought my own food, and was the envy of fellow passengers. Bring a cooler.
