Amtrak travel is very different from most of the types of travel people do on this forum. Equipment is old, service can be surly, food quality can be very low, and trains are subject to multiple-hour delays.

An example of the type of thing one must endure to travel by Amtrak is the last-day remaking of rooms before arrival at the final destination. Amtrak does not provide pay for Sleeping Car Attendants to do this after arrival, so at some point in the last hours of a trip each room must be vacated for the Attendant to strip and re-make the beds. Then all the dirty linen is piled in the shower, blocking it from use by the 16 rooms that do not have a shower.

But the scenery is fantastic. There is no way to get to know this great nation by flying over it on an airplane. I think everyone should take a cross-country train trip at some time in their life.

Here's a few more photos of Montana from my coach seat: