One other point you left out: until a few decades ago, EVERYBODY smoked! In theory, there were smoking and non-smoking sections, but in reality, the whole plane smelled like an ashtray.
Are you by chance referring to the Slumbercoach (photo gallery here)? I liked — and kinda miss — them, but the fact that the toilets dumped straight on to the track doomed them.
I’m surprised. I may be misremembering, but the roomettes shown in Otto’s link look somewhat smaller than the one we traveled in.
I took the upper berth and I was fine with it, except I’d have liked a window. But then I’m not overly large, nor prone to claustrophobia.
Like Johnny L.A., I’d love to fly somewhere in any kind of largish propeller or turboprop-driven airliner, like a DC-6 or a Vickers Viscount. I never got to do this because in California the smaller Boeing and Douglas jets forced the piston-driven transports out of the market almost entirely, so even if I flew from San Diego to LAX or Burbank, it was on a jet. Yet, even through the 1980s, I still noticed many piston-powered airplanes when passing through airports in other parts of the country. I actually looked forward to such layovers just to walk around the concourse and spot the various airplane types. There was little security in those days, so if I had time I might even go to the next concourse over.
I understand that jets generally proved much easier for the airlines to maintain, and of course they’re faster. It reminds me of today’s cars, which are generally much better than old ones, performance and safety wise–yet at the same time somehow more boring and pedestrian, if such a thing is possible.
I won’t even get you started on what the stagecoach tickets cost.
Oh, sorry.
Most of the modern-day cruise lines also offer at least a few trans-oceanic crossings, for example Florida to Europe via Bermuda. I’d be willing to do that.
But it’s easy to forget that for some people, being surrounded by all that grandeur, comfort, and entertainment wouldn’t help you against motion sickness if you were what they colloquially called a “rotten sailor”. The first time I went on a cruise, as the ship sailed past the outer breakwater at San Pedro, I noticed a gentle swaying motion and experienced a momentary twinge of nausea, which fortunately vanished in a minute or two. After that I was fine, which was a good thing because, if you go at the wrong time, you can get a lot of rolling on those Pacific Coast cruises.
When I was about 11 or so I flew on a turboprop from Lindbergh Field (SAN) to William J. Fox (WJF). This would have been in the early-'70s. I don’t remember what kind of plane it was, but it was a high-wing twin. Funny story: I exited the aircraft from the door on the port side aft of the wing. (Hints for a/c ID. 
) I thought, ‘Boy, it’s sure hot! Oh, I’m behind the engine exhaust.’ But by the time I’d walked to the wingtip I was still feeling the heat. It was my first time in a desert, y’see… 
(Well, it was a funny story to me!)
Yeah, I’ve noticed a few late model turboprops, often high-wings, now being used on puddle-jumping runs, but they lack most of the panache of the old Boeing Stratoliners or the various DC piston or turboprop models.
Maybe some of those old planes were like the suits male passengers used to wear in them…they looked very good but weren’t terribly practical by today’s standards.
Bit of miscommunication there: the pictures were in response to alphaboi867’s “same size, but only intended from 1 person” roomette. That suggested Slumbercoach to me.
Assuming you made your trek recently, and further assuming (for no good reason) that you went via Chicago, then you would have had a mixed bag: Superliner from LA to CHI, and Viewliner from CHI to NYC. Either is bigger than a single Slumbercoach room.
I recall reading somewhere that west of Chicago Amtrak mostly use bi-level passenger cars on their long-distance routes, but eastwards some of the routes have head clearance issues, favoring single-level cars. Traveling through Chicago pretty much always means changing trains; I think if you were traveling by train from Racine to Gary you’d still have to change trains in Chicago.