Hi all,
My fiancee and I are thinking about taking a cross-country train from the West Coast to New York next summer. Just wanted to get people's opinions on what they think is the best route as far as scenery and general travel - EB from Seatlle, CZ from Northern California, or SL or SC from Los Angeles.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
California Zephyr has the best overall scenary, traveling east from Emeryville, you cross Donner Pass the afternoon of the first day, and the second day you are in Utah with the Book Cliffs in the morning, and the Rockies all afternoon. Third day, you are in Iowa, not much to see. Being on UP until Denver, it can have more timekeeping problems, though.
Traveling east on the Empire Builder from Seattle, you go up along Puget Sound, then cross the Cascades (dark in winter, but beautiful on long summer days). The next morning, you are in the Montana Rockies and travel along the southern edge of Glacier National Park. However, you are out of the mountains by about 10:30 am, and the rest of the day is spent in less than stunning eastern Montana (aka West Dakota). A treat on the third day, though is you spend most of the morning traveling along the Mississppi River in Minnesota and Wisconsin, then Wisconsin's rolling hills whereas the Zephyr and the Chief are just out on the plains. While people rave about the Empire Builder, it is my main connection east now, and I am not that thrilled with it, scenary wise. What there is is great, but there is less of it than on the Zephyr. It runs on BNSF until MSP, and BNSF handles the train well. Also, Amtrak has put special emphasis on the Builder, and service on it is somewhat more consistent than most other LDs.
The Southwest Chief is a personal favorite of mine, but the quickest (shortest) ride. New Mexico is pretty and Glorietta and Raton Passes in the afternoon are really scenic, though not as dramatic as either the Zephyr or the good parts of the Builder. But New Mexico is scenic all day. And BNSF handles it like it was the Super Chief. It is also the only long distance train that gets up to 90 mph, as ATS is active in the California desert and much of Arizona and New Mexico until the route leaves the transcon at Dalies.
Finally, the route over Glorietta and Raton is probably on borrowed time, since BNSF no longer runs freight on it past Lamy, and New Mexico backed out of buying it. Ride it while you can.
The Sunset Limited is dead last for scenary. You spend a LOT of time in West Texas, and can be interesting, but it is nothing compared to any of the other trains. Ever see "No Country for Old Men"? That's where the Sunset goes. I will say that the two times I have ridden it, it had the best onboard service crews I've ever had, great friendly and fun crews, but with Amtrak that is always YMMV. Also it is almost all UP until it gets into Louisiana. They've put so much pad in the schedule now that even UP can't mess it up too much.
My recommendation is the CZ, followed by the Builder, then the Chief.
