I've done Amtrak twice. Central NY to Chicago was actually no problem as far as Amtrak goes, just a couple hours of delays each way.
Central NY to Columbus in November, nightmare. Maybe an hour in, notice a) the car is getting pretty cold b) the car is not very full. Turns out the door to the car is broken, either recently or was the whole time. There are no seats I can find on other cars. Amtrak guy says nothing he can do about it. Make the rest of the trip in the freezing cold, good thing I had warm clothes.
On the way back, get to the train station (in Cleveland, I think - no service to Columbus so they bus you - bus was 100% timely) to find out that the train isn't there and the train is not going to be there. That train is completely cancelled. Get to spend the night on a bench in the shut down, freezing Cleveland station until another train arrives going the same way ~12 hours later. Amtrak refuses to compensate me in any way for either issue. Should have just bussed it the whole way, if I was going to experiment with not flying.
End up a week after with the worst cold in my life, probably difficult to blame on Amtrak but I still do.
Central NY to Columbus in November, nightmare. Maybe an hour in, notice a) the car is getting pretty cold b) the car is not very full. Turns out the door to the car is broken, either recently or was the whole time. There are no seats I can find on other cars. Amtrak guy says nothing he can do about it. Make the rest of the trip in the freezing cold, good thing I had warm clothes.
On the way back, get to the train station (in Cleveland, I think - no service to Columbus so they bus you - bus was 100% timely) to find out that the train isn't there and the train is not going to be there. That train is completely cancelled. Get to spend the night on a bench in the shut down, freezing Cleveland station until another train arrives going the same way ~12 hours later. Amtrak refuses to compensate me in any way for either issue. Should have just bussed it the whole way, if I was going to experiment with not flying.
End up a week after with the worst cold in my life, probably difficult to blame on Amtrak but I still do.