Great Western Coffee Shop

I Spent Over 12 Hours on an Amtrak Train (on purpose) - very interesting video!

Reminds me just how good some of our stuff is - though we have other problems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPcuL2S2dgk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPcuL2S2dgk)

I spent almost 9 hours on one, from New York Penn St to Niagara ON, probably the same service. Slow, but very pleasant, and first class wasn't much more than standard. We had a few extra rides in Canada, without encountering the same problems you had. It's all big there, if not necessarily better.

A few years ago a friend of mine travelled on Amtrak from Chicago to DC.

The loco failed a couple of hours out of Chicago. CSX pushed the Amtrak train into a siding and the Amtrak driver hitchhiked back to Chicago to get another loco. They arrived in DC 12 hours late.

Back in 2013, I joined a Great Rail 'America Coast to Coast' tour from SanFran to NYC. Amtrak (California) from Oakland to Bakersfield, then (after various road coach journeys) Amtrak from Bakersfield to Chicago; Chicago to Buffalo and finally Niagara USA to Penn station. All very pleasant except the final leg into Penn station. We left Niagara at midday with a scheduled 7pm arrival into Penn station. We finally arrived at 3am the following morning. Apart from several rather long stops for passing freight, we never did find out why we were so late.

between 1995 and 2010 I travelled extensively in the US using all the trans-continentals, some several times (the only exception being San Antonia to New Orleans as each time I carried on to or came from St Louis on the Eagle). Every trip was an absolute joy and I met so many lovely people. All happy experiences and memories.
The only really major delay was on a northbound Coast Starlight with the happy result that we traversed the Cascades by daylight instead of the middle of the night as the schedule in both directions dictated.
Happy Days.
The only other problem was that my itinerary by air often had a 'blank' or missing sector which, after 2001, always turned the spotlight on me and caused very long delays and questioning on each of the other sectors.