Such a big topic. So much to say. Where to begin.
Let us start with food. Definately better in every way back then, all kinds of regional delicacies. But......at the same time..some trains had no diner at all. Especially multi stop locals, but even some other trains as well.Sometimes a box lunch was put on board or you got off the train and ate at local stations.
There were different levels of service back then. They might be a train with coaches, sleepers, diners, lounge, domes etc. Some other trains on the same route might just have coaches,sleeper, a diner.They could vary a lot in number of stops and length of schedule. Some trains from Chicago to Florida might be about 12 hours faster than others, for one example. Yes, I mean serious differences.Not something you would find on Amtrak today.Lots and Lots of variety back then.
Today we have the Texas Eagle and the Sunset Limited coming together in SAS. And the LSL splittng to Boston and NYC. That type of operation was extremely common back then. Also cars added or subracted en route to reflect ridership differences and set out sleepers. And trains being interline, i.e operated by several diferent railroads. All this extremely common. Many would find an old Official Railroad Guide to be amazing. This paragraph is more about operations, though, than quality, I guess. Though havng sleepers switched from one train to another saving passengers the trouble does amount to convenience for the passengers.
Back to food, that was delicious and service tended to be better and more consistent than today.Full staffed, of course.
I think there was much less rudeness, unclean cars. Delays such as the Sunset Limited, the Star"late"etc suffered for such a long time would hardly have been tolerated. But there were delays, no doubt.
Lounge cars were often quite nice, sometimes with regional decor. But they usually did not serve nearly as many kinds of food as today. You often either ate a formal expensive meal in the diner or brought your own. Not much waltzing down to the lounge to get a sandwich and coke. Then again, some trains had cars with names like coffee shop lounge, grill lounge, diner lounge etc, which offered less expensive and elaborate meals. Some trains had that. That brings us back to the fact that there was so much more variety.
The era before Amtrak is more and more referred to as the streamlned era. Please be careful to note that that does not mean that every train was a streamliner. Not at all. Just do not want anyone think every train was a super duper deluxe train like the Super Chief. For balance, you had trains like the Georgia RR mixed.
But if you were on the 20th Century Limited or the Super Chief, you were on the top of the transportation world, alright.
There were not nearly as many showers back then. Not as many coaches had full length leg rests. Not much in the way of public address system. Of course sometimes today that is ignored.
In the 50's business began to slip. Some railroads like Santa Fe, Union Pacific,Seaboard to name a few became quite pro-passenger.Some others, like New York Central, Southern Pacific, etc began to get negative.
If you really want to compare you might say in the best service was in the 50's, the serious decline in the 60's was the worst and Amtrak is sort of in the middle.
I will probably think of more to say later.
Some have named their trains. Guess I will name mine. My preAmtrak mileage is 63,337, Canadian 11,452,Amtrak about 84,000.
Pre Amtrak trains ridden:
Crescent, Georgian, California Zephyr,City of San Francisco (combined with the City of Los Angeles, thus I got to eat in its dome diner), Empire Builder, Texas Eagle, Canadian, Super Continental,Birmingham Special, San Francisco Chief, Super Chief (combined with El Capitan thus I walked through high level), Sunset Limited, Panama Limited,Dixie Flyer, Silver Meteor, Tennessean, Dixie Land, Dixie Flagler,South Wind, Pelican, Silver Star,Cascade, Silver Comet, Royal Palm,Panama Limited. Southerner, Pan American,Humming Bird, Buckeye,Memphis local, Southern Crescent,Carolina Special, Coast Daylight, Metroliner, Flamingo,Georgia mixed train, Ponce de Leon,Louisiana Eagle, Sam Houston Zepher and others, esp. unnamed locals. Various steam engine excursions, etc.
Amtrak trains:
Pioneer, Desert Wind,Southwest Chief,James Whitcomb Riley, Broadway Limited,Empire State Expess,Capital Limited,Ann Rutledge, City of New Orleans,Lakeshore Limited,Floridian,Montrealer,Maple Leaf,Acela,Downeaster,St.Clair,Pacific Surfliner,Turbo train,Senator,Empire Builder,Abraham Lincoln,regional, Twin Cities Hiawatha,California Zephyr,Crescent, Gulf Breeze,San Diegan, Piedmont,Coast Starlight.
I think the general laziness and rudeness has more to do with societal changes than railroad vs Amtrak.
To the ease of computer and instant reservations,that, too, has more to do with societal changes than railroad vs Amtrak.