Amtrak Southwest Chief - Amtrak Superliner Family Bedroom

hello jet setters and rail fans i'm jeff brooks from greenergrass.com i've made it here to chicago's union station thanks to amtrak's mighty cardinal my next step on this journey across the country by rail is the 43-hour trip on amtrak's southwest chief all the way through to los angeles i can't wait to bring this to you let's get on board the cardinal involved a single night on board an amtrak view liner it took 25 hours to cover the 1100 miles from washington to chicago there's a link to that video below but now the real fun begins because it's time for an even more epic journey one of amtrak's longest this 40-plus hour trip traverses more than 2 200 miles it's twice as long as the cardinal we'll spend two nights on board a super liner pass through eight states climb as high as 7 800 feet and travel through some of the best scenery our country can offer and the kind of comfort only amtrak can provide in this video you'll experience one of amtrak's flagship routes explore amtrak's largest individual room a family bedroom examine a bit of railroad history excite in the fun only train travel allows and i'll even share a few key tips to make your amtrak trip as comfortable as it can be join us as we travel on board amtrak's southwest chief to los angeles the train currently operates three days a week leaving chicago at 2 50 in the afternoon and scheduled to arrive two days later at 8am in la so far it looked like our saturday afternoon departure was on time chicago's metropolitan lounge is a much nicer space than washington's bare bones ascella lounge but there's not much in the way of food or drinks to be found right now the good news is though you can bring your own which i did potbelly pretty tasty an amtrak employee was passing out granola bars during our visit which was a welcome step up from our last time here just a few months before how nice is that access to the lounge is included in all sleeper tickets and amtrak also sells day passes there's plenty of seating and you're welcome to bring in your own food including from the restaurants open throughout union station the lounge also has showers and bag storage boarding was from the lounge and an amtrak employee escorted us through the bowels of union station right to our trains platform and for yet another time we were left to find our car on our own again the number on our ticket didn't match any of the numbers on the train cars but based on comments on my cardinal video it seems like this is a fluke largely limited to us we finally asked for help and were pointed to one of the train's two sleeper cars we eventually found our room located downstairs in the first sleeper i was traveling with the channel's creative director my fiancee who prefers being behind the camera we booked one of amtrak's family bedrooms in order to try something different it has space for two adults and two kids but since it was just the two of us we were really comfortable we'll explore it once we're underway we left right on time if you like travel don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell so you don't miss any videos like this one there are a lot more to come after than joe please have our tickets out ladies and gentlemen to ask please did that move around until your ticket has been scanned also while you are seeing disease please take a moment to look at the passengers safety instructions and the pouch in front of you and please be aware of all the emergency exits take the sounds to back relax and enjoy your ride and that's exactly what we planned to do stepping on board the southwest chief seemed like a very real and somewhat symbolic step in my effort to cross the united states by train and it got me thinking what does the future of amtrak look like leave me a comment below with your amtrak predictions i hope to make a lot more videos like this one and so i'd love to know what to expect in the future let me know your thoughts i am so relaxed and ready to be back on this thing there's look you're giving away you know sort of any sense of needing to control what happens and all that when you get on a train because it's not up to you and i think that's um kind of a really weirdly freeing part of this experience plus you get to see this unbelievably beautiful countryside pass in front of you it's like it's one of the most relaxing ways to experience the world i truly believe that and i'm glad you're coming along the trip with us meals are included in the sleeper car fares and while the crew did lay out a continental breakfast in the dining car lunch and dinner from this menu were only available for delivery to our room amtrak offers a selection of microwavable meals which by this point in my journey across the country had become all too familiar hey come on in let's see what you get in a in a full family bedroom on amtrak immediately as you enter you'll find a three-pronged us-style plug along with controls for audio and lights as well as an attendant call button the room includes a nice-sized closet and a trash can which frankly was more useful than i would have thought there's a table here water bottles were waiting for us when we boarded our first stop was here in naperville the thermostat worked but it wasn't quite as effective as the one on the cardinal the room included four subpar amtrak pillows but more about that in a bit the sofa is positioned right beside two chairs facing each other which are separated by another table i think it's safe to say this is a table built for kids as you can see the family bedroom spans the width of the entire car which means you'll have windows on both sides of the train there are lights located beside each seat not only can the sofa and chairs turn into beds but they're two additional bunks that fold down from the ceiling there's a full-length mirror in the back of the door leading out to the bedroom for those times when you want to make sure you look your best unlike a traditional bedroom though the family bedroom does not have its own bathroom for that we had to head down the hall where there are three shared bathrooms and a shower the bathrooms were smaller than the ones we'd seen on amtrak before and weren't always as clean as on other trains but they did the trick i feel so much gratitude for getting to have this experience the train lulls me into a sort of calm that's difficult to find elsewhere the gentle sway soothing sounds and pace combine for a means of transportation like no other in a typical year i'll travel 150 000 miles on 120 or 130 flights i love air travel no doubt but i'm so grateful to have been introduced to the wonder of train travel i know there's a lot more to come there were a couple of empty roomettes located just outside our bedroom which didn't stay empty for long super liner roomettes have a different design than what i experienced on the cardinal it wouldn't be the beginning of an amtrak trip for me without some meatballs they're back they're back and they're covered in plastic okay they're covered in plastic which kind of makes sense because they are plastic i mean that's not entirely fair it's not too bad and let's face it it's way more than you'll get on board nearly every us airline right now unfortunately the sun was long gone so you can't see this but as we ate dinner we crossed the mississippi river here's a photo of the bridge when the fort madison toll bridge was built in 1927 it was the world's longest and largest double deck swing span bridge they're cars on the level above us and the bottoms reserved for trains because we were running a little ahead of schedule we took a break from dinner it's 6 35 we've just made it to fort madison iowa which is not an official smoke break so this is super fast we wanted to come out and check out the train feel the air and set foot on iowa soil here's the amtrak family bedroom set up with half of the beds i'm pretty sleepy if you can't tell so good night see you in the morning we slept through much of missouri in a good part of kansas uh good morning it's about 5 30 somewhere in kansas i've just woken up and i'm gonna tell you that was like the best night's sleep i've had on a train i think i'm really kind of getting in the groove of of this whole thing so kill about an hour before it's breakfast and uh get the day started i think the fact that we were downstairs and toward the front of the train helped make for a steady ride i have a feeling we're not in kansas anymore that is colorado entering colorado also means we entered mountain time and just like that we lost an hour 7 15 am became 6 15 am watching the sun rise from the train over the great plains was truly unforgettable [Music] as far as i've discovered the most interesting fact about lamar colorado is that it was home to floyd d hall who was a former chief executive of eastern airlines but let me know what else we should know about this town in the comments below when we passed through it was most notable because it meant breakfast was nearly ready and we could caffeinate in a bygone era coffee was available in each sleeper car but now we had to head up to the dining car to get our coffee they sent out a continental breakfast in the dining car where we can eat so we're gonna head up there the best part of breakfast was by far these views not much to say about the continental breakfast that was laid out pro tip don't forget to get some oatmeal more about that later our first fresh air break of the day was here in la junta colorado [Music] amtrak began designing new bi-level cars in 1973 and accepted the first one in october 1978. they would eventually be called super liners and can be pulled at speeds up to 100 miles per hour let's just say we didn't reach those speeds the newest super liner was delivered in 1996. we're in la junta colorado for a crew change so enough time to just hop off the train for a hot second it's probably time to get back on before we uh miss the train don't want to do that so i'm gonna run back on board let's keep going [Music] the train had three coach cars like this one arranged in a 2-2 configuration [Music] there was a sightseer lounge that included a cafe downstairs you know anyone can sit here regardless of the kind of ticket you booked there was a dining car again really the only time it was open to us was for breakfast and two sleepers we were downstairs in the first one [Music] sorry from a message please close all doors i interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you an important public service announcement i don't claim to be an expert on amtrak but i have traveled with them enough to learn a few things you might want to bring with you on your upcoming amtrak travels they boil down to uh the three ps p number one is a power strip you see each room at each room each family bedroom like we're in has a power outlet but if you bring a power strip you're able to use one outlet to extend what you're charging and all of us travel with more devices these days than ever before so that's an important p second p the pillows that amtrak provides are not the best i was kind of walking crooked after the empire builder for a few days so this time i brought my own pillow totally worth the investment the effort to haul it around union station the third p amtrak food is kind of lacking in what's the word fiber i highly recommend you pack the third pete prunes i've never actually eaten a prune are these like raisins plums plums they're plums what's a oh that's disgustingly look at this this is a lot of i gotta go to the bathroom so bring along with you power strip pillow and prunes the three p's you'll be a happy camper now back to your regularly scheduled programming we headed to the sightseer lounge where we'd spend most of the day today would be the most dynamic in terms of transforming terrain did you know only two percent of the us population have taken an inner city train call me crazy but i really think that number should grow if more of us experience the pace and pleasure that train travel provides i think the world would be a better [Music] [Music] place [Music] [Music] after trinidad we were on our way to new mexico standing between us and the next state was one of the highlights of the southwest chief the raton pass it's the highest point on this route and offers passengers the opportunity to reflect not only on the power of the train getting this massive train to a height of 7834 feet is no small feat but it also allows passengers to consider the route itself people wanted to pass through this part of the country long before the formation of amtrak the southwest chief tracks large swaths of the old santa fe trail which was an important 19th century path that linked kansas city with santa fe it played a vital role in populating the western half of north america now i for one was happy to enjoy the views of this harsh landscape from the comfort of the sightseer lounge rather than from the back of a donkey the southwest chief is what's left of the super chief that was the flagship train of the atchison topeka and santa fe railway it was once known as the train of the stars because it was the best way for hollywood celebrities to get home from back east [Music] not unlike those settlers on the original santa fe trail amtrak has had to fight nearly constant challenges since its founding in 1970. congress created amtrak to ensure the country maintained its links by rail because many former rail passengers were opting for the convenience of their own automobiles or the speed of air travel and that prompted a lot of private rail companies to exit markets so at its founding amtrak had to try to lure those passengers back while at the same time standardizing passenger experiences across previously diverse routes rolling stock and stations they introduced these bi-level super liners in the 1980s and even though they're showing their age now they were really remarkable for the time today amtrak serves more than 500 communities across the united states including 150 rural ones to me though amtrak has become more than just a public service it's equal parts public transport amusement park ride and national treasure we'd reached raton which meant we were one step closer to another highlight of the southwest chief our next stop is las vegas sin city that what happens here stays here oh uh las vegas new mexico can't wait here we come i've made the trek between the east and west coast scores maybe even hundreds of times but always at about 500 miles per hour i bet i've glanced down at this landscape before but it's only on board a train that i could really take it in the conductor announced that we'd reach the midpoint of our journey from chicago to los angeles even though we had a great room we spent most of our waking hours in here it has everything you need plus the best views on the train i'm not sure why everyone wasn't in here it stayed relatively empty where do you like to sit when you're on a train leave me a comment the landscape kept changing becoming practically martian at one point despite my best efforts i didn't see any ufos but i guess we weren't all that close to roswell talk about being in the right place at the right time we even got to see the eastbound southwest chief on our way to las vegas we opted for a break from delivery and headed down to the cafe in order to grab a hot dog for lunch just to switch things up the cafe car has a wide selection of snacks along with hamburgers hot dogs and a few other more substantial options both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are available if you're willing to pay you won't go hungry on amtrak this meal was not included in the price of our tickets but by this point we needed a break for the microwavable meals and we're glad to have switched to a different microwavable meal not quite what i had in mind amtrak's long-distance trains do such a great job of highlighting how diverse the country's landscapes really are and that brings me to what is probably my favorite aspect to this train journey across the country because of the pace of the train i was able for the first time to really drink in the way the north american continent transitions from its eastern coast to the appalachian mountains to the great plains to the rockies to the desert southwest and on through to the california coast amtrak allows you to see it all up close it's always been a kind of abstraction to me north america's geography [Music] if i may be so bold i'd recommend everyone make an effort to take this trip to fully appreciate what this country really looks like our next stop was in lamy new mexico which is only 18 miles from the state capitol in santa fe making this the best place to connect there there's a railroad and history museum that's apparently worth a visit if your stay is longer than the five minutes or so we were here and that brings up yet another benefit of train travel exposure to these smaller more rural corners of our country places i wouldn't otherwise know about of the most surprising parts of this journey was that at no point was i bored i'm not usually very good at sitting in one spot for extended periods of time but even though that's exactly what i was doing for nearly 70 hours it did not feel like it instead and this is kind of weird to say it felt like i was accomplishing something even though i played almost no role in it other than paying for a ticket i was crossing the country by train what a feat right have you made this journey across the country by train or would you like to what do you think the most challenging aspect of it is leave a comment below ordinarily i think one of the benefits of train travel is meeting new people and in 2020 that's obviously frowned upon but i wasn't really bothered by that i had an audiobook to listen to endlessly changing views to take in and was with the person i love the most in the world what more could i ask for our next fresh air stop came in albuquerque where we had nearly an hour to explore the station and the surrounding area the eagle-eyed among you may remember that i've been to albuquerque before i actually made my very first video about a train about the rail runner which runs between albuquerque and santa fe it's a commuter train i don't think it's running right now uh but leave a comment let me know if you know anyway i had a great time on that trip the first time i ever made a video about a train who knew uh would uh bring you back here doing the same thing anyway i'll leave a link to that video in the description and you'll see i've learned a lot about trains since i made that video if you care anyway we've got enough time to go uh check out albuquerque so we're gonna go get it done [Music] for passengers in need of some fresh food or something perhaps less expensive than is available in the cafe a nearby store is happy to sell groceries and other sundries fresh air brakes are not just about passengers stretching their legs they're used to do maintenance add fuel or change crews during this stop our windows were even washed [Music] awesome nice new clean well i guess they're not new but clean windows anyway back on board we began the journey out of albuquerque when we stopped we faced a delay of nearly an hour as we waited for another train to pass spoiler alert we more than made up for the delay overnight by the way albuquerque does not have an airport instead we saw this ups 767 on approach to the city's sunport dinner was delivered to our room just before we arrived in gallup new mexico our beds were made up again and it was time to catch some shut eye we slept through all of arizona and woke up in california it's a wrap on night two on the southwest chief good night sleep and here we are in california so just a couple more hours to go the breakfast is served continental style at five starting at five a.m just until six or six thirty um they've gotta strip all the beds before seven uh in the sleepers and get us ready for arrival looks like we're gonna be a few minutes early into la look it's an early morning to start uh here on amtrak on the last day of the southwest chief but that means you get to see this beautiful sunrise over the sprawling los angeles suburbs the morning went by quickly as our anticipation built i've come into la by plane dozens of certainly dozens of times and the level of anticipation that is going along with this arrival into union station far exceeds that there's just so much excitement that comes across having traveled by train into this place it's just it's another level i cannot wait to put my feet in the pacific ocean [Music] next stop l.a and after three nights nearly 70 hours and more than 3 400 miles we arrived into los angeles union station 10 minutes early what an incredible experience i'm jeff brooks from greenergrass.com between now and the next time see on the rails it's time for a room tour is that is that too cheesy is it is that a little that was probably chill she see here we are on the southwest chief an apple a day sends the meatballs on their way so it's special to have come across unfortunately i interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast something uh some things i guess i should say the third p breaking bad fans albuquerque for a different reason i'm jeb brooks from greenergrass.com and as always between now and the next time see you on the rails [Music] you

Channel: Jeb Brooks

Views: 620,553

Rating: 4.9197226 out of 5

Keywords: Southwest Chief, Amtrak Southwest Chief, Amtrak Family Bedroom, Amtrak Long Distance Trains, Amtrak Long Train, Amtrak, amtrak review, southwest chief amtrak, southwest chief amtrak bedroom, southwest chief train, southwest chief sleeper car, amtrak flexible dining review, amtrak sleeper bedroom, amtrak first class room, amtrak family bedroom, amtrak family bedroom tour

Id: eYiMihP0OHU

Length: 27min 41sec (1661 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 26 2020