I spent 60 hours traveling on Amtrak trains from New York to Texas. Here are 10 things that surprised me most.

Local train rides can be slow and clunky, so I prefer long-distance ones — you can largely sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey because the stops are much farther apart.

The ride was smooth and enjoyable, and I watched the country pass by right outside my window, as if I were watching TV or a movie.

Sometimes I was so distracted by a conversation with someone else on board that I forgot we were moving.

Long-distance trains are great when they run properly, but delays can be tough to avoid.

Amtrak mostly operates on freight railroad lines, which means you're often at the mercy of those dispatchers.

To make matters worse, some lines run on a single track. So if there's an oncoming train, you have to wait on a track siding until it clears.

Freight trains can cause anywhere from 10 minutes to multiple hours of interference.

These delays — which came every hour or so on my trip — interrupted the joy and relaxation that came with the otherwise smooth ride.

Sometimes passengers didn't receive announcements about delays, or only got vague ones. I wish I'd brought a radio scanner that picked up on the frequencies used by the dispatchers so I could stay up to date on the information or estimate the delay time myself.

I brought enough of my own food for my two and a half days on the rails, and my short layover in Chicago gave me a chance to grab a hot meal.

I also packed a reusable bottle so I could fill it up with tap water on the train. However, I was surprised by how many people depended on Amtrak's onboard dining options.

The café car is OK in a pinch: It has basic snacks, beverages, and hot foods like burgers and pizza.

The prices aren't unreasonable, but I still don't think they're worth it for food that generally gets taken out of a plastic wrapper and microwaved.

Every so often, the train made an extended stop at a station for a crew change or servicing, and passengers were allowed to step off for a bit.

There's no smoking on the trains, so I noticed a fair number of people using these stops as smoke breaks.

However, I expected more people to take the opportunity to get some fresh air and stretch, rather than stay on the train.

There were only so many of these opportunities, and it was great to walk around, feel some sun on my face, and say that I set foot in a different place, instead of just passing through it.

My trip took me through more than a dozen states, including six state capitals and the US capital.

The trip from New York to Washington, DC, started out on tracks that were part of the historical Pennsylvania Railroad and continued down one of the busiest rail corridors in the country.

The bulk of my Cardinal-line trip went along old Chesapeake and Ohio Railway tracks. There was a lot of interesting history to learn about the railroad towns that sprang up along the tracks when they were first laid.

My trip through Virginia took me across tracks that played a vital role in the Civil War. The train also traveled through old boom-and-bust towns in West Virginia — some of which still exist, but others have only scant remnants.

The Texas Eagle is one of the few Amtrak trains that doesn't have WiFi, and some areas we passed through had little-to-no cell reception.

The Cardinal line also passed through areas with poor cell reception, which made the onboard WiFi quite unstable.

For this reason, I'm glad I brought an AM/FM HD radio with me. I had a lot of fun tuning in to different stations as my trains traveled the country.

It helped me feel more connected to the small towns and gave them more life. I found surprisingly good content in some remote areas.

I came prepared for my train ride by downloading a bunch of TV shows and movies onto my laptop. However, surprisingly, the 60 hours went by so quickly that I didn't watch any of them.

I only kept my laptop open on the Cardinal line to look at Amtrak's "Track Your Train" map.

I was also having too much fun with the radio and didn't want to miss out on live broadcasts. Plus, I could continue fully taking in the sights out the window while listening.

The train was a very social place at times, too, so I was often busy speaking with the people around me.

The camaraderie I've experienced on Amtrak train rides is pretty much unmatched.

I didn't get to talk with as many people as I have on past trips, but it was still enjoyable to journey together with a bunch of people for such an extended time.

It was great to see others get off at their destinations, but, in a funny way, it also made me a little sad to see them (and the ways they contributed to the train's atmosphere) go.

Getting to spend time with fellow passengers from all over the world while different parts of the country passed by provided some true slices of American life.

It's great to switch things up by sitting and socializing in the café cars.

However, the Cardinal and Texas Eagle trains have combined café and dining cars, so seating was very limited and only for passengers who purchased something.

I missed hanging out in observation cars, as I've done on past trips.

I knew this would be the case for my time on the Cardinal, but the Texas Eagle usually has an awesome sightseeing lounge with a variety of seating and viewing windows.

The fact that my train didn't have one was by far the biggest disappointment of the trip. However, the Eagle has since brought back its observation cars.

It's definitely worth checking whether your train has an observation car before booking a long Amtrak ride.

When you spend enough time somewhere, it can start to feel very familiar and comfortable, which was my case on the train.

Doing things like making room while walking in the aisle so someone else can pass, heading down the stairs to the bathroom, and refilling water bottles felt as routine as anything I'd do at home.

There was almost a weird comfort in walking around and seeing different parts of the train that became very familiar to me during my many hours aboard.

This story was originally published on November 9, 2021, and most recently updated on February 17, 2025.