Train travel in the US?

[Trevatanus]

Looking to go to a mates for a couple of weeks in November.
Will be travelling to Chicago from the UK, quite fancy going Norwegian into Boston (dirt cheap, and apparently very good) and doing a train trip from Boston to Chicago.
Only place I can see on line to book tickets is Amtrak, are there alternative sites?

[Nickyboy]

Nope, Amtrak run pretty much every passenger service bar the odd local line.

Their long distance services are normally late, delays of hours aren't unheard of as they run on the freight tracks. Companies such as UPS also pay a premium for thier trains to take priority over even passenger trains. That said, the tickets are cheap and the seats are comfy and you get a lot of legroom. I'm travelling NYC to DC and Pittsburgh to Chicago in September, combined i think the total cost was less than a return ticket to London. You also get an awful lot more onboard, cafe/restaurant as well as free coffee/tea/juice/water from machines onboard the Superliners.

[Duke of Kidderminster]

Trevatanus said:

Looking to go to a mates for a couple of weeks in November.
Will be travelling to Chicago from the UK, quite fancy going Norwegian into Boston (dirt cheap, and apparently very good) and doing a train trip from Boston to Chicago.
Only place I can see on line to book tickets is Amtrak, are there alternative sites?

I tried to book return train tickets for 3 people from New York to Washington a few years back. The cost came out at close to $800, i'm assuming it was because i'd left it till the last minute to book. So I went onto the Avis website to look at a cheap hire car. However, I spotted a 5.0 Mustang available for the week for $600, saved myself $200 and had an amazing drive - leaving long 11's coming out of every tollbooth on the turnpike :-)

Not the cheapest of travel, but was a great time