North America by Train

When I re-boarded the train in Gallup, I got on at the very last car. My sleeper is the very first car after the engine, so this gave me a nice walk through the whole train.

If there are no cars attached after the last passenger car, you can look out the back window and see where you have been. Sometimes there is a baggage car or some other car that passengers aren't allowed into as the last car on the train and so you can't see out the back window.

Fun fact: all trains that leave LA have a clear back window view, because the LA train station is a one way station. Trains either have to back in or back out, they can't go straight through. When a train is backing up, a crew member stands at the back door and radios to the engineer about obstructions and other issues that might arise. However, I have been on trains that left LA and then later had other cars attached at the back. So you can't be guaranteed the view out the back door for every train that originated in LA.

As I walked through the coach section, I realized that one of the cars was brand new, and one was much older. Amtrak is rolling out the new cars one at a time , so often trains have a mixture of old and new. Just like on the Pacific Surfliner where I started in a new car and I ended up sitting in an old car. Unlike on the Surfliner, The outsides of the cars do not look any different. However, the insides are very much improved. The new seats are leather while the old seats were cloth.Read more