Southwest Chief

Our daughter and her husband made a round trip from Kansas City to Chicago and back, earlier this year (Easter time). They were more than 4 hours late getting to Chicago, but the return trip back to KC was fine. They had a first class roomette in both directions and loved the service, which included all food in the diner (even though the food had run out prior to arriving in Chicago).

 

Since there doesn't seem to be many weather issues now, i.e. no more tornados, maybe the on-time performance would be better.

Don't plan a tight schedule time wise. It's been 2-8 hours late getting into LA for weeks now. Leave yourself plenty of wiggle room in your schedule.

Unfortunately, 4 hours late eastbound would mean missing the connection.  If 8 hours late into LA, leaves little if any time for turnaround and cleaning.

The Starlight I took to the NMRA had probably 30 model railroaders in the Sleepers with me and we all enjoyed it.  It depends on what you expect.  If your looking to be entertained you will be disappointed.  The Coast Starlight and the Empire Builder do have wine tastings but other than that it's sit back, relax and watch America go by.  Some people have a hard time sleeping in the sleepers so I would suggest a short overnighter before committing to 6 plus days in a row.  The couple across from me was interesting.  He is 6'2" and the bed was not long enough for him but she slept through the whole morning adventure.

 

As for schedules;

 

The southbound Starlight was ahead of schedule until about 80 miles north of Sacramento.  And then we stopped at 4AM and sat.  For almost 2.5 hours.  And this time there was no blaming UP.  This time it was on Amtrak.  The northbound Starlight's brakes wouldn't release.  One of the locomotives had to be removed from the consist and a replacement gotten up there and the bad unit taken off the main.  One of my fellow passengers said the exact same thing happened on his northbound Starlight trip.

 

Oh well. Amtrak's diesels are all Dash 8s so they have been racking up the miles for a long time.  Another 1/2 hour late and I would have gotten lunch out of it.

There's no Dash 8's on #3 or #4

rdunniii, for quite a few years I commuted on the Auto-Train, so I'm used to the doubledeck sleepers, and I've made a number of trips on the Silver Meteor, so I'm used to the Viewliner sleepers.  No problem sleeping at all. 

 

As to wine tasting, the AUtoTrain used to have a lounge car for the sleepers, and would have a wine-tasting before departure.  Was a great chance to socialize.  Then they dropped both the lounge car and the wine-tasting, and the AutoTrain became less of a pleasure.

 

But I'm just wondering how things are on the 3-day trips.

P32s, P40s and P42s are all Dash 8s.

RJR, my wife and I take the Southwest Chief and Capitol Limited almost every year - including this June's trip to the TCA convention in New Jersey.  Yes, the schedule can vary, but we've never missed a connection in Chicago.  Once Amtrak even held the Capitol in Chicago for us.  Since we are in Arizona, it is very rare for the stop we get on to be on time, but in my experience, the slop in the schedule means that the train has usually gotten into Chicago on time, or early.  Cannot say the same for the Capitol's arrival in Chicago, but again you have several hours there before the Chief's departure.

 

On accommodations, if you can afford it, I suggest you take the deluxe bedroom rather than the economy bedroom for that long a trip.  The economy bedroom is fine for a single person, but is pretty cramped for a couple for two or three days on the train.

 

Hope you do try it and have an enjoyable trip.

PeterA, thank you for taking the time to reply.  I agree on the bedroom selection.  When on the AutoTrain alone, I would take the "roomette," but no way would I take that room when my wife went with me.