I have always liked the train. I took one ten years ago from New Orleans to Los Angles. It was about a 2 day trip. We really enjoyed it. We just took the Crescent from New Orleans to Washington and didn't really like it at all. I know Amtrak is government owned and has no competition. It really showed on this trip. We had sleepers of course and the service was just terrible. Hot bottled water was the only thing we could drink without having to go to the lounge car. The bedding was terrible. The sheets must have been about 10 thread county and the bedding nothing more than a small foam pad. Service was always with a frown and half hearted. The food was terrible. I think Amtrak is missing the boat on why people would go with them rather than fly. You really should be pampered as much as possible on a train. The trains themselves need to updated. They are old, dirty and poorly designed. I'm sorry to say that next time we take a trip I will be flying.
Unfortunately, you hit upon the most glaring defect in Amtrak service: the consistent inconsistency of service, esp. in the sleepers where you are paying an arm and a leg for the trip, unless you have enough Amtrak Guest Reward points (and even there, you've paid in other ways to earn them).
We took the Southwest Chief, Empire Builder and Coast Starlight recently. The Southwest Chief service was so-so, the diner the equivalent of a Denny's, the hot water kaput in the sleepers, but the SCA very friendly and helpful. The Empire Builder was a waste of money from the get-go: surly waiters, balky lights, toilet and doors in sleepers, an all-but-non-existent SCA until the arrival in Portland where he took our bag out to the platform and waited for a tip. (I hope he remained surprised that entire day when his hand returned to his side empty.) The Coast Starlight was a dream, though, with a great SCA, a room without defects, and food and dining waiters the equivalent to a nice restaurant.
But our bottom line is the same as yours: until you can be assured of consistent service, why shell out thousands of dollars (in our case) on a crap shoot?
The apologists for Amtrak, and there are many on this forum, should try and figure out a way to get Amtrak to offer reliable, consistent service rather than setting up a straw man in airline service to defend the rail system. The only thing Amtrak has going over airlines in most cases is the lack of security--and if that changes some day, no one will be riding Amtrak unless it ups its quality.