While not everyone imbibes, I find no problem sleeping on Amtrak's woefully uncomfortable "mattresses", after a cocktail, or three.
Let's not forget that the OP is a fan of rail travel, so saying, "...Train travel is not for everyone! ...." is not, IMHO, a valid excuse.
I for one generally agree with virtually everything the OP wrote. In summary, Amtrak's service and on-board dining options are no longer a reason to take the train. In fact, the only reason, I take an Amtrak LD anymore, is for the scenery and camaraderie. Sure, you'll run into a dynamite crew once in a while, but they are hamstrung on what they can serve in the diner. It's a pure joy to have a kick-ass TA-S, but it should be the norm, not the exception. Equipment age is also becoming an issue. Hard to believe that I worked for Amtrak when the Superliners were being rolled out, and in nearly 40 years, nothing has been done, yet, to replace them.
For me the single biggest loss is the "experience" of pretty-close-to-fine-dining on the rails. The Superliner kitchens were designed to serve a full service menu: Dishwashers, storage for china plates, dry storage, cold storage, toasters, ovens, microzappers, convection, flattop grills, we even had a special place in the reefers upstairs for the bud vases and carnations....I'm not an old fart, (well I am...) just lamenting about "how it used to be". I'm saying, MOSTLY WITH TRAINING, it could be stellar.
I don't really recommend Amtrak LD travel to folks who have , how shall i say this, "higher expectations". Why? I've been burned too many, way too many times, after friends took a trip, and hated it. Been saying it for years, when you have to "Be everything to everybody" you end up pleasing no one. That's Amtrak.
We can ***** about budget cuts all we want, and state that everything would be better if Amtrak had a dedicated source of funding. BS. It's management. It's training. It's Top-Down attitude. More money would be great, but as we all know from our personal lives, it "don't fix stupid".
My last LD was set for this summer, unfortunately, I got "bumped" from the Cali-Chi-Baltimore "Bedrooms-All-The-Way" trip, by my wife, who is no fan of Amtrak. (I made the last two trips X country with my boys, she wants a "girls trip" with our youngest daughter)
But ya know what? I don't care. I just have couple of months to lower their expectations....