I'm back!

Follow-up notes:

Outbound - Emeryville to Reno:
The family bedroom was a great choice for this segment. Even though it doesn't have a restroom, the extra square footage was fantastic and really allowed us to spread out. Boy, these sleeper cars are in rough shape, tho. The seats were pretty badly stained and the car itself just seemed to be in general disrepair. It was also colder than the North Pole in there and of course there's no way to regulate the temperature as the "thermostats" are inoperative. The sleeper attendant brought down a roll of duct tape and taped both of the air vents closed, which helped immensely. Tried to visit the Sightseer Lounge after lunch, but not a single seat to be had. Train was on time and I really have nothing much to complain about here.

Return - Reno to Emeryville
In theory, I should've liked this ride more because in the bedroom we sat across from each other and had the double windows to enjoy the view. However, the day before, there was a huge mechanical problem with our sleeper car that rendered all of the plumbing completely inoperative. Any visit to the restroom required a trip to the next car up. That wouldn't have been a huge deal, but the mechanical problem also resulted in our car smelling like a sewage treatment plant. I asked the attendant if there were any bedrooms available in the next car, to which he said they were booked, even though 3 of them remained empty throughout our entire journey. The saving grace was that this train wasn't as crowded and we were able to escape to the Sightseer Lounge where there was actually uncontaminated oxygen to breath.

I did sit an empty roomette just to compare against the bedroom and the difference in size is significant. If the differential isn't much, I would book the bedroom over the roomette.


All in all, the cars are a mess, the food is cafeteria level at best and it's not something I would actively seek out to ever do again. The only redeeming qualities are the incredible views from the lounge and not having to either drive or deal with the hassles of air travel for such a relatively short trip.