New Member taking Southwest Chief

My husband and I are planning our first Amtrak vacation together in October. Tickets have been purchased- leave from Cleveland Amtrak station and our designation is to Flagstaff AZ . With our first boarding from Cleveland, we will be using coach seating to Chicago. We will then get a roommate on the southwest chief from there .. any updates, recommendations, suggestions, for our trip - has anyone taken the Southwest chief train 3 lately ?? Thank you

Well for your first segment (which I assume would be on the Lake Shore Limited) I can’t say much. I’ll start at Chicago.

Since you are in a roomette on the Southwest Chief (SWC) you have access to the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago. They have free snacks and drinks and plenty of comfortable seating. Just follow signs to it.

The Southwest Chief is a bi-level train, meaning there are two stories. Depending on your room number (1-10 upper, 11-14 lower) is which level you are on. There are bathrooms on both floors however you can only pass between cars on the upper level.
The Lake Shore Limited is a single level train by the way.

A roomette is a great room in my opinion, but it is a little small. There is a luggage storage area on the lower level. I would recommend bringing 1 or 2 bags up to your room and leaving the rest down in the luggage area. Roomettes can also get hot. I would recommend bringing a miniature fan. The Roomette has only one outlet, so if you need to charge several devices, I would recommend bringing a power strip.

Amtrak is nothing like airline travel in regards to baggage. You can carry on up to 4 bags per person. However, if you can carry all your bags, they generally don’t mind more. (I carried 6 small bags on a LD train once, no one said anything). You can also check bags. Cleveland, Chicago, and Flagstaff are all stops that allow checked baggage. You can check up to 2 bags per person for free. If you need any assistance with your bags getting on/off the train, I can speak that Chicago and Flagstaff both have the means, I’m not sure about Cleveland however.

The Southwest Chief has a full service dining car and observation car. Both are a great place to spend time in a social atmosphere and watch the country go by.

Besides that, scenery wise, most people think that the part of the route through New Mexico is the prettiest. However, if I were you I would be up in the morning through Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, where I have never seen a sunrise that wasn’t beautiful.



Feel free to ask any more questions!
-Peter

You can click on the Forums link on the top banner or the "Find Threads' button and find lots of stories and information about the Southwest Chief and traveling to the Grand Canyon. No doubt traveling Amtrak is the best way to get to the Grand Canyon.

Here's a good one from Eric and Pat:
https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/eric-pat’s-september-2024-trip-report-san-diego-toledo-san-diego.87932/unread

and a few more links....

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/grand-canyon-railway-runs-steam-engines-again.80944/

https://www.amtraktrains.com/forums/archives-member-amtrak-trips.81/

https://www.amtraktrains.com/forums/amtrak-faqs-first-time-rider-info.78/

Peter_Travels said:

Well for your first segment (which I assume would be on the Lake Shore Limited) I can’t say much. I’ll start at Chicago.

Since you are in a roomette on the Southwest Chief (SWC) you have access to the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago. They have free snacks and drinks and plenty of comfortable seating. Just follow signs to it.

The Southwest Chief is a bi-level train, meaning there are two stories. Depending on your room number (1-10 upper, 11-14 lower) is which level you are on. There are bathrooms on both floors however you can only pass between cars on the upper level.
The Lake Shore Limited is a single level train by the way.

A roomette is a great room in my opinion, but it is a little small. There is a luggage storage area on the lower level. I would recommend bringing 1 or 2 bags up to your room and leaving the rest down in the luggage area. Roomettes can also get hot. I would recommend bringing a miniature fan. The Roomette has only one outlet, so if you need to charge several devices, I would recommend bringing a power strip.

Amtrak is nothing like airline travel in regards to baggage. You can carry on up to 4 bags per person. However, if you can carry all your bags, they generally don’t mind more. (I carried 6 small bags on a LD train once, no one said anything). You can also check bags. Cleveland, Chicago, and Flagstaff are all stops that allow checked baggage. You can check up to 2 bags per person for free. If you need any assistance with your bags getting on/off the train, I can speak that Chicago and Flagstaff both have the means, I’m not sure about Cleveland however.

The Southwest Chief has a full service dining car and observation car. Both are a great place to spend time in a social atmosphere and watch the country go by.

Besides that, scenery wise, most people think that the part of the route through New Mexico is the prettiest. However, if I were you I would be up in the morning through Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, where I have never seen a sunrise that wasn’t beautiful.



Feel free to ask any more questions!
-Peter

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for all your information - Greatly appreciated.

I was on the southwest chef last week. 8/31 to 9/9.. It was on-time going to Fullerton, CA. We had a whole lot of mess on train 4 coming back. It was 5hrs late coming in but the people make the connecting Lake Shore limited and I got an extra dinner. So, no complaints for me. My person doing the room was such a nice lady. Been doing Amtrak for 37 years.