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I did amtract from St Paul, Mn to Carbondale, Illinois to stay with my brother. I loved the train except fo r the layover in Chicago. Some scary people around so va lot of us who were traveling furthrt and we banded together. Also, there were not that many of us so we laid across three seats to sleep. I loved it. Made some good friend and had a good time.
I've taken Amtrak trains along the Pacific Coast route (LA-Seattle), LA to New Orleans and along the NE Corridor (Boston - DC). I've taken Amtrak dozens of times on their local routes in Southern Cal. The best word I can think of is underwhelming.
Amtrak actually runs slower than most passenger trains did along the same routes in the 1930s when they were powered by coal or oil fired steam engines. The delays due to freight trains and the rough / rocking ride due to worn out rail beds of the tracks that many Amtrak trains run along is what would deter me from taking a great circle trip around the US.
I am an absolute rail travel fan, but not on a second or third rate train network. I am spoiled from riding trains all around Germany. I know it is not a fair comparison, because Germany has 81 million residents in an area smaller than the state of Montana. Germany has little in the way of terrain that is so challenging to rail travel as the US does - no vast distances like the US. From places in middle parts of Germany where lots of rail lines converge (example Frankfurt-Main, Kassel, Nuremberg or Leipzig) you can reach almost any other main city in the country in 3 hours or less on high speed rail (Inter City Express) at 185 mph. The ride is smooth as glass - it has to be at that speed.
I've been to Russia too and traveled vast distances across very lightly populated areas in Siberia on the Russian rail network RZD, and even RZD puts Amtrak to shame. Russia is moving ahead with high speed rail construction across a vast territory. Imagine when Russia has high speed rail linked to the huge high speed rail network in China.
I rode Amtrak last year, Denver to Sacramento and then Sac to Seattle, in a "roomette" sleeper car. It was a great trip and definitely worth experiencing. You really can't be on a strict timeline, the Amtrak trains are running really behind due to freight trains taking priority on the tracks. My train was about 5 hours behind schedule, this didn't irk me since I planned for it and many of our delays were in the Colorado mountains near Denver and it's beautiful, a great place to have a delay.
I had trouble sleeping on the train, it's a bit rough on the tracks. I didn't have an in-room bathroom, so I used the shared bathroom which was OK, but like any shared spaced, it probably wasn't quite as clean as I'd prefer. The shared shower worked much better than expected, the water is plentiful, hot, good water pressure, and it was clean.
The quality of the food is just OK, it's all microwaved, but it's not terrible. They do feed you a lot if you're in a sleeper car, I felt like I was constantly eating on the train. They seat you with others (space is limited), similar to a cruise ship. Since nobody is in a hurry, most people will chat you up at meals, I had a lot of interesting conversations. My train from Denver to Sacramento was mostly older retired folks, the train from Sacramento to Seattle had more younger tourists and families.
There is an observation car with floor to ceiling windows, great for viewing the scenery. The train from Denver to Sac had one observation car which anyone on the train could access. Basically this meant that coach passengers camped out there all day, there was literally never a seat available. The train from Sac to Seattle had two observation cars, one was dedicated to sleeper car passengers, which there was always a seat available.
I'd definitely recommend doing a night or two trip (the train from LA to Seattle is awesome, the scenery is great and having a dedicated observation car for sleeper passengers was nice) first before committing to a trip of the whole country.
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