Amtrak is often viewed as the poor, down-at-the-heels cousin in the vacation travel family. Republicans hate it -- it provides subsidized travel to the undeserving un-rich. (Forget about who pays for those freeways that their Porsches and BMWs glide along so genteelly.) Average American families ignore it -- they have only two weeks to enjoy a vacation, and Amtrak creaks along slowly on ancient tracks that America's freight trains begrudgingly share with it. Europeans are incredulous -- compared with their own sleek 200-225 mph TGV's and Talgos -- high velocity trains riding on dedicated track -- a trip on Amtrak feels like travel by rail across India or in some other third world country.
Yes, but. But, if you have the time, if getting there is as much fun to you as the destination, if you're sick of gas prices and crowded freeways, not to mention the total insanity of today's airlines and airports -- then Amtrak's the ticket.
As discussed last month, I took Amtrak's Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago, connecting with the Lake Shore Limited to Boston, to begin my Maine vacation. Lots of other travelers joined me -- the train was sold out, at least as far as Glacier National Park, where hordes of hikers and backpackers got off with their camping gear. The ride was smooth, food in the diner was decent and the service was excellent, and the company at each meal was interesting and congenial.
We had one unscheduled event which, at least in retrospect, added to the interest of the trip, even though causing some inconvenience. At Libby, Montana, just west of the national park, we learned that a serious derailment by a freight train had torn up the track. After a short period of indecision, we were loaded onto buses and bused around the southern edge of the park to Shelby, where the westbound train arrived and exchanged passengers with us. This caused us to miss the scenic route through Glacier Park itself, which was unfortunate, and delayed our arrival in Chicago by about eight hours. However, it did give us time to relax outside the train, enjoy the Montana air, and watch the trains being reconfigured to reverse direction.
As a result of the delay, I missed my connection at Chicago with the Lake Shore Limited, and other passengers missed other connections. If Amtrak had been an airline, they would have announced to their angry passengers that the delay was the fault of Burlington Northern & Santa Fe, and not of Amtrak, and that they therefore had no responsibility for our inconvenience. Instead, at 1 a.m., Amtrak found a room at the Hyatt Regency, at Amtrak's expense, for each and every passenger who missed a connection, and provided us each with $50 for taxi and meals during our delay.
After years of dealing with with airlines, I was astounded.
Fortunately, I had allowed myself a free day in Boston before meeting up with family members who were flying into town, and I used this free day instead in Chicago. Instead of exploring historic Boston and wandering around the Boston Commons, I explored the Art Institute of Chicago and wandered around the Loop and Grant Park. It was a fair trade-off.
I have nothing but praise for Amtrak's handling of the unfortunate delay, and for the rail experience in general. Let me put this plug in for them: We should be embarrassed as a nation that we have provided so little money to develop a decent rail system, and that we have paid so much to subsidize a highway system that encourages prodigious gasoline consumption. Until the 1950's, we had a 
superb passenger rail system that was the gold standard for the world. Our love for the auto caused us to toss it away, both by our individual decisions to drive or fly rather than take the train, and by our government's refusal to provide sufficient funding for Amtrak.
The airline system is broken, and our airlines are on the verge of bankruptcy. We are running out of gas for our automobiles. Rail travel -- steel wheels on steel tracks -- is the most energy efficient form of travel. It is also the most pleasant.
Let's rebuild our passenger railroads.
-----------------------------PHOTOS (top to bottom): (1) Empire Builder ready for boarding at Seattle's King Street Station. (2) Outside station at Libby, Montana. (3) Train waiting at Libby. (4) Train passengers boarding buses. (5) Reversing direction of train in Shelby by repositioning engine. (6) Southern Pacific poster from 1950's.
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