I love train travel, mg, and I have crisscrossed the US as well as having crossed Canada from Toronto to Prince Rupert.

But oh, do I have stories to tell! On one run from New Orleans to LA - well, actually, we never made it to Los Angeles on the train, they offloaded us into a bus which averaged over 60 miles an hour (even including the notorious Grape Vine in a run from Palm Springs so we could catch the northbound train at Martinez - we ran out of food, drinks, and water. At one point the toilets also became unusable. I told two staffers that they MUST get the toilets fixed or they would have an actual mutiny on their hands. I don't know how but they fixed them.

One steward actually quit and retreated to his own quarters, leaving his work-mates that much worse off. At the end I tipped the one staffer 20 bucks, telling her that we knew how hard it must have been for them. She hugged me and burst into tears.

The northbound train was fine. We even had a wine tasting. :)