Originally Posted by WeekendTraveler

I haven’t done NJ to LA, but I have taken the Lake Shore Limited, and I tried commuting on an overnight train between NY and the Southeast, all in first class (sleeping cars).

Never again. Enough nasty employees that at some point you’ll deal with one of them, and TV dinner food, wrapped in plastic with the labels still on, on trains east of Chicago, and rattling old equipment, all at a higher price than flying first class.

It’s not worth it.

Imagine if the US had only one airline, government-funded and with a limited schedule. Just how great would air travel be?

Originally Posted by schriste

Yes, it takes 3 nights to get to Los Angeles. If possible, I'd suggest trying to take the train to San Francisco (Oakland) as that particular route is exceptionally scenic from Denver to Salt Lake.

You can scan through the posts here and get some idea of some of the recent issues. Lousy food on the train to Chicago is one. Another has been a shortage of equipment with some unlucky sleeping car passengers suddenly finding out they no longer have a sleeper. I imagine the odds are not great of this happening, but in the past, I never even worried about it. I have usually had pretty good staff on the Western long-distance trains. My last trip from Chicago to Reno in 2021 had a very good crew.