Here is the story of our trip on the Amtrak "Silver Star" sleeper train to Tampa from Richmond!

We drove to Richmond Staples Mill Station from Broadway. It was an easy in-and-out of Richmond. The parking lot was sufficient and in all ways unimpressive. It cost $6 per day for parking.

The Staples Mill train station was not terribly comfortable (kind of old and shabby), but had a small café, vending machines, and restrooms and enough seats for people waiting. The vending machine sold Pepsi products (and food) and the café sold Coke products (and more food).

The train was on time (5:27pm).  There was no security or bag screening whatsoever. We just walked up to our sleeper car like we knew what was going on, and an attendant glanced at our ticket to make sure we were getting on the right car.  We found "Room 5" and sat down. To the left is a diagram of the car.  I think the PS is "public shower" and AT is "Attendant." Rooms 1-12 are like ours, and then A, B, and H are big rooms.

After a bit, "Donna" introduced herself and asked us if we knew how everything worked.  She showed us the coffee / cookies.  On this trip, there was coffee, 100% orange juice, ice, and cookies the entire time.

Generally, the "roomette" was highly functional, and clean but very well worn.  There are about six ways to customize your personal lighting experience.  Here I am with two of my reading lights on. The folding sink is on the left side of the picture (the blue square). 

Each person has their own climate control, such as it is.  There is cool air coming out near the windows you can shut off or on (or somewhere in between).  The windows are huge, which helps keep the cabin from feeling claustrophobic (in the day time at least).

Then there are two fans vertically on the wall (so that each "bunk bed" gets one) with OFF, LOW, MED, HIGH but they share a thermostat.  The fan vent can be directed in any direction. 

Here is a photo showing the upper fan and its controls (the lower fan is below it but ... lower).  Also note the hanger where you could put a garment bag.  The left hand side of the photo shows the bottom of the upper bunk, as well as the metal track it slides up and down on:

When we got cold we turned OFF the window units and turned on the fans, and they warmed the cabin up quickly.  Someone has to ride backwards -- if that was a huge problem you could go ahead and convert to bunk beds, I suppose.  There's a fold-out table so you can eat in your cabin, or put a laptop on the table. 

There's a place to put two large suitcases up and out of the way -- you won't want to put them up and down frequently, it's a bit awkward to hurl them up there:

There's a folding sink (see pictures) ....note the drain is in the back, meaning the water stays until you fold it back up.  The faucet has hot (right away) and cold water and "ice water" taps; they don't stay on unless you hold them down.  Check out the awesome control panel!

Also there is a very narrow toilet.  If your companion is in the upper bunk, she will not see or hear you use the toilet unless she peers over.  Or, you can step out in the hall / visit the snack car while your companion does her business.  There's no exhaust fan, *ahem*.  You can use the public toilet in the coach class cars but they get pretty dire.

The toilet "lid" is in the bottom center of the picture here - it's kind of a mauve color. It completely covers the whole toilet area. Yes, that means someone is sitting right next to the toilet.  You end up using the toilet lid as a place to put your bag.

The wireless on the train was almost unusable, other than for seeing the Amtrak web site (which was actually useful because it told you how close the next station was).  There is one electrical outlet (two plug-ins)

About the bunks: the sleeping car attendant asks you when you want "turn down service" and it only takes them a moment to transform the cabin from two seats facing each other into two bunk beds. My 6' 4" husband was able to stretch out fully on the lower bunk (the upper bunk is the same length). There's a net of sorts to keep you from falling off the upper bunk.  Both people can sit straight up in their bunks to read, and there's task-lighting so you can read without disturbing your bunk buddy. You also get your own windows and curtains!   There are nice clean sheets and a warm blanket, and two good pillows each. The upper bunk has a little leatherette organizer into which you can put your phone, glasses, etc.

Upper Bunk looking one way:















Upper Bunk looking the other way (I'm sitting up):




Upper bunk looking towrd the sink area:


You don't have to be an acrobat to get into the upper bunk -- you step on the toilet lid, then on the back of the sink, and there are secure handles to grab. 

How is sleeping? It's okay. I fell asleep almost immediately.  Then about 2:30 am there was a part of the trip where we were going really fast and there was quite a bit of bumpiness, and that woke me up and kept me up for a little while.  I slept in until 9am.  The train whistle would wake some folks up, and the announcer person might wake you up a few times, too (although there is a volume knob for the announcer, you can't turn it all the way off). The mattresses are firm and not terribly thick, which I like but others might not.  The upper bunk gets pretty warm, but you do have a fan of your own. 

How is riding?  I get motion sick in a car easily.  There's no way I can read in a car for more than a minute or two.  I have no problem reading on the train.  I *mostly* didn't get motion sick.... I mentioned earlier that I woke up at 2:30am because it was really bumpy.  Well I didn't feel motion sick but I felt a little uneasy, kind of like claustrophobia and I was just tired of the train rolling me around, so I went to the snack car where I could sit up at a table and feel like I was in a bigger space.  That worked well.  I had a granola bar and read my book for awhile, and eventually got sleepy and went back to bed.  I tossed and turned a bit but eventually the ride smoothed out and I fell back asleep. 

On the way down, Donna had coffee ready even though it was evening, and she and the other sleeping car attendant had both set out cookies.  There was coffee, cookies, and 100% orange juice, and ice available the whole time.

The second photo is just the bag of ice, creamer, straws, juice box.

    

On the way back there were no cookies ... maybe that's the attendant's decision.  Also on the way back, there was no coffee in the urn, (it wasn't Donna!!) but our attendant said coffee was free anytime so I asked him for some and he brought me some in a cup. 

There is a small but full-height shower at the end of each sleeper car.  I didn't see the shower get used, but it was only a 15-hour trip.

We arrived in Tampa a few minutes late. The Tampa train station is historic, and also not terribly comfortable - lots of long wooden benches.   I walked about a mile to pick up our rental car (later we saw signs in the station with 800-numbers for Hertz and Enterprise that said "free pick up").  We could have also taken an Amtrak Bus to Ft. Myers -- we did that on the way back. So the disadvantage to the rental car is price ($50). The advantage is that you can leave right away, you can drive very close to your destination, and you can go directly there.  The Amtrak bus takes about an hour? to depart FROM the station (and on the return trip, gets TO the station earlier than you might choose), and stops several times so that you're on the bus longer than you'd be in a car.  However it's cheap ($22 for both of us, one way), and it's super comfortable and a really nice bus.  Standard chemical toilet bathroom, but at least it has one.  Only Amtrak passengers can ride the bus.  For us, we took the bus on the return trip only. We got on it at a Truck Stop in Ft. Myers (a nice truck stop with a Subway).   Another Amtrak bus perk is that they ensure your connection -- or at least won't make you pay any more if there's a delay. 

Bus photo - see the table with cupholders?

Only one other person got on the bus with us; by the end of the trip there were like 8-10 people max.

Since we were very early to the train station on the way back, we had the baggage people hold our luggage and we walked a few blocks to a restaurant and had dinner. The train back was one hour delayed to leave Tampa because a streetcar signal was malfunctioning, and then while we were asleep, the train became 2.75 hours more delayed.  The attendant said "late trains get later."  We had to stop twice to let trains going the other direction go past us, and twice we had to stop in order to "get permission from the dispatcher" to proceed.  If you think about it, it's like how air traffic control gives planes permission to do things.... except with trains you have much fewer options!

So we got to Richmond at about 4:10pm (it was supposed to be 12:30pm) and our car was right where we left it and we got in and drove home with no issues. 


The train compartment is very private and quiet (other than the train noise, which is much quieter than an airplane). You can completely seal yourself in.  There was a baby next door to us and I only heard it once or twice. The curtains have Velcro around the edges so you can really seal off the windows pretty darn well.  Sometimes it's nice to leave the compartment door open to get a little more air, and to avoid claustrophobia.


Ummm.... at some stations you can get off the train to stretch your legs and smoke. No smoking anywhere on the train.


OK that's all I can think of! Feel free to ask questions in the Comments!