So I just got back from a 20 hour train ride from San Jose California to Portland and there were a few others with children that were going to go on to Seattle. All I can say is it takes some fortitude to ride a train that long with a child!
Amtrak coast starlight had some nice skyshows on the trip down. I got to stay up 15 hours until I got off at Sacramento, California to meet up with others. There was also the dancing jig waiter in the evening parlour tricks, the bar was nice to chat with other riders and finally, had an excellent chat with the cafe staff (where you can get more service and shorter lines. Most of the parlour eating is by reservations and may be some wait on the trains of up to one or two hours after the meal time.)
I cannot thank enough to each one of my fellow passengers to whom I owe so much for the fun. I should note that trains are NOT for the squeemish, the time sensitive ~ stuckupwads or for those whom have sensitivities to being closed in a metal raptures flying down rails at very NICE speeds. :) Or is that the same as riding in an aluminum tube tens of thousands of feet in the air?
Each coast starlight coach section usually handles about 100 passenger seats. And there tends to be several of those on each train. So I would not be suprised if there was not 1,000 people on each train along the Los Angeles to Seattle train loop. From my own hand calculations, I believe there are about six trains circulating and one of them is hitting either end point once a night.
So if my rough calculations are near correct, there might be 5,000 people riding anyone time per day on these trains and this is just one loop of main trains in the United States.
So if you are looking for a nice, little vacation away from the nagging mother, (maybe send her on a one way ticketed trip? joke!) to get away from the hussle and bussle, this might be an interesting choice/option for you and that significant other.
