I've been put off train travel by a number of years travelling on the commuter into London - cold in winter, hot in summer, no toilets for a 50 minute journey and stuffed to the gills with people, so much so that, after the first couple of stops, you could stand for the whole journey.

The trip to Glasgow just finished the process - the train was half hour late, with no explanation, and we had to stand out on a cold platform as the waiting room was full. The train was crowded and so there was no chance to change seats and getting to the toilet was actually quite difficult as the train was rocking a bit, making walking around a little bit of a problem. It was only when you got INTO the cubicle that you found that the door didn't lock and by then it was too late to go anywhere else. The cost of the return journey, for two, cost in the region of 160pounds and, if I was doing the journey again, I would take the car rather than ride the train.

Now, the experience in the USA may be different on the cross country trains as they are probably catering more for the tourist and need to get good press from their travellers and therefore would likely make more of an effort to make life comfortable. I must admit that it is one of the things that I have thought about doing, but previous experience with trains and the high cost of travel have put me off. I'll be interested to read what other people may add to this thread.