The cars going west from Chicago are different model (double decker) from train cars going east. The cars going west have dramatically superior facilities. Going east you have like a picnic table and a snack bar, but going west you have a bar and 360 observation windows in the rec car and card tables and a greasy spoon in the lower level.
LOL from Chicago. Or more accurately I'm told "mostly west of the mississippi" routes have the nice double decker cars and "mostly east of the mississippi" routes have the dumpy single height worn out cars.
I also heard they're starting to use new cars out east that are nice but I've never seen one outside fawning journalist articles (they may be nice, they may not, but coverage is overwhelmingly positive). Maybe next time I take an overnight to NYC I'll get to try a new model train car.
Something to do with tunnel heights.