NYC TO CHI: Lakeshore Limited (NY, MA, PA, OH, IN, IL)
The first leg of the Amtrak train trip out west from NYC to Chicago (Lake Shore Limited) is overnight and a fairly nondescript one. Daylight up until and around Springfield, MA. Upstate New York, the Great Lakes around Erie, and Cleveland, OH are nocturnal stops. The time on this leg is spent getting used to train travel and surroundings: settling into your room on the sleeper car, locating the dining car and observation car, and getting into the mindset of “solo travel.” You get some shut-eye if and when you want it. You wake up with the sun, and you see in Ohio and Indiana some urban areas, industrial sites with warehouses and silos, and countryside. Along the way, there is the never-ending sight of rail yards, with trains in use and older railcars sitting like ghosts on wheels and covered in graffiti. The gradual ride into the Chicago area is no exception, and the next thing you know, you are pulling into Chi-town by early afternoon. No sooner have you gotten used to your train than it’s off in Chicago and waiting for the next train to Los Angeles. Time to catch the “west of the Mississippi” train.
CHI to LA: Southwest Chief (IL, IO, MO, KS, CO, NM, AZ, CA)
Consulting and getting advice from a friend who had gone cross-country on Amtrak, there were two main things I took away from the conversation, both revolving around trains east and west of the Mississippi River. The train east of the Mississippi from New York to Chicago is one level: the rooms (either roomette or bedroom) are larger and nicer. Once headed out of Chicago, the Southwest Chief is a double-decker: the rooms are smaller, but (and this is important) the food is better. I found both of these things to be true: the bed situation (pulldown from ceiling) remained the same, but the roomette was considerably smaller. The food was better for sure, and steak was always on the menu and popular with me.
Little did I know when we were delayed thirty minutes outside of Chicago in Naperville that this train would be, for one reason or another, delayed fifteen hours. I first found out about a minor delay that had happened overnight at breakfast the next morning. “Did you hear what happened last night?” the couple asked me. “No,” I said. “What happened?” “Well,” they continued, “we were stopped overnight in Kansas City for over three hours due to a major thunderstorm.” “Oh well, that figures,” I countered. “I slept right through it.”
Thus began my “aw shucks” attitude about this trip. I didn’t really care. I was riding solo, and the only thing that concerned me was what to do at the terminus of the trip: Los Angeles, CA. Most of that day was spent watching the countryside of Colorado, New Mexico, and Winslow, Arizona (where I was not able to get off the train and stand on the corner). Along the way, there were beautiful, towering mountains in the distance and at different times, wide expanses of both farmland and desert as far as the eye could see. And there were delays… a lot of delays. Mostly due to engine mechanical difficulties. I settled in and enjoyed the ride. In between meals, I would sit in my room, sit in the observation car, listen to music, watch Netflix, read, write, work on fretwork on my Chordly, all the while observing the world going by, or in this instance, parts of the country I had never seen. That was the purpose of the excursion in the first place. Did I care that, increasingly, our arrival in LA would be extremely late? Not really. My only concern was my flight to Seattle for the last leg of the journey. Once I figured that out and rearranged some flights and hotel reservations, I was still able to make my next departure out of Seattle the next day. On schedule as planned.
Would I recommend this trip? Yes, of course (sans the fifteen-hour delay). They say the best, most scenic train to take to California from Chicago (or vice versa) is the California Zephyr, which is more of a northwesterly trip out of Chicago to Emeryville, CA, just north of San Francisco. Next time. The Southwest Chief was scenic and enjoyable, and to Amtrak’s credit, all travelers were credited the full amount of the trip due to the delay.
SEA to CHI: Empire Builder (WA, OR, ID, MT, ND, MN, WI, IL)
What was initially meant to be a return flight from Los Angeles to New York turned into one more leg of the train trip; this time from west to east.
I have a first cousin and good friend who lives in Seattle and had a couple of more days to kill, so I decided I would fly from LA to Seattle for the day and then catch the east-bound Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago. This rail route was a real treat and was a continuation of parts of the country I had never seen. It goes along much of the border between Canada and the U.S. and the famed Lewis and Clark Trail. Once again, this train, as we were still west of the Mississippi, was a double-decker one. Since the roomettes are smaller, I splurged on a bedroom and enjoyed a bit more legroom andmy own bathroom and shower.
Upon leaving Seattle, the views of Puget Sound and then the Cascade Range east of Seattle were magnificent. I found myself viewing large expanses of sparkling, sun-lit water and then suddenly, in the woods, with the train right up against rising boulders ascending into deep, deep forests. Then, after emerging from this dark, beautiful landscape, there were high peaks both close and in the distance. These, I thought, were some of the views I had hoped to behold.
Night fell fairly quickly, and as a result, I realized that I would miss seeing any of Idaho. Awakening to the stunning landscape of Montana quickly eased that disappointment, however. Waking up in Whitefish, Montana, there were views of distant mountains, and then a short time later, a two-hour ride between West Glacier and East Glacier, Montana. The views there surely did not disappoint, with high peaks rising majestically far in the distance. This, of course, was just a small portion of the wide expanse of Glacier National Park. Almost the whole day was spent in the state of Montana. As nighttime once again descended, we went through parts of North Dakota before awakening the next morning in Minnesota. Summertime in Minnesota was not a sight I had ever envisioned, but it was pretty nonetheless. The rest of the day was spent traveling through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
The mighty Mississippi River was crossed en route the next day in Minnesota, and then the views were rural, small-town, and increasingly more urban (with views of downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for example) as we finally rolled into Chicago.
I could not have hoped for a better finale to my cross-country trip than traveling on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago.
Andy Pitzer is a native of Roanoke who currently lives in Richmond. His blog Interims contains new and original fiction and non-fiction (history, sports, music, travel and more) and can be found at andrewpitzer.substack.com.
