Another film to add to this list, titled "Clockers", released in 1995. The film was a depressing story of ghetto youth, violence, and escape. I believe it was a Spike Lee film.
The protagonist is a ghetto youth with never ending troubles. He happens to escape his grim reality by playing with a Lionel layout in his bedroom.
The AMTRAK connection comes at the end, when things collapse in on the boy so completely that he must flee. A theme that appears in the film is his obsession to escape his life, and he fantasizes about escaping by means of a long, one way trip on AMTRAK. Ultimately, he gets his wish.
FIlm is violent, dark, unrelenting look at a harsh life style. People either love it for what it is or hate it for the same reason.