# Window Seat

> Which North American trains show what you want to see, and where to get off. One page per Amtrak route lists its named stretches in order, the direction and month each is in daylight, and the stations around it; the "what to see" pages rank routes by what they pass. Nothing about fares, delays, or booking.

Every number is computed from the operator's published GTFS timetable (fetched 2026-10-15) and sunrise and sunset by month; every named stretch is paraphrased from the Amtrak route guide or amtrak.com route page it cites, with a stored copy of the source linked on the page. Times are scheduled times at the midpoint of each stretch. The site covers 45 routes and 520 stations; 44 routes have a page (a route needs three or more cited stretches). Pages are HTML with tables; there are no Markdown copies yet.

## Trains

- [Acela](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/acela): Boston to Washington Union Station, 6 h 59 m, 5 days a week, 4 named stretches; shows big rivers, big cities
- [Adirondack](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/adirondack): Montreal Central to New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, 11 h 5 m, daily, 4 named stretches; shows big rivers, wine country
- [Amtrak Cascades](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/amtrak-cascades): Seattle to Eugene, 6 h 38 m, daily, 7 named stretches; shows mountains, big rivers, pacific coast, big cities, wine country
- [Amtrak Hartford Line](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/amtrak-hartford-line): Springfield to New Haven, 1 h 21 m, 5 days a week, 3 named stretches; shows big rivers
- [Amtrak Mardi Gras Service](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/amtrak-mardi-gras-service): Mobile to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal, 4 h 43 m, daily, 4 named stretches; shows gulf coast, big cities
- [Blue Water](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/blue-water): Chicago Union Station to Port Huron, 6 h 31 m, 5 days a week, 3 named stretches; shows big cities
- [Borealis](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/borealis): Chicago Union Station to St. Paul-Minneapolis, 7 h 31 m, daily, 7 named stretches; shows big rivers, big cities, wildlife
- [California Zephyr](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/california-zephyr): Chicago Union Station to Emeryville, 52 h 57 m, daily, 14 named stretches; shows big rivers, mountains, desert and canyon, snow, big cities
- [Capitol Corridor](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/capitol-corridor): Auburn to San Jose, 4 h 26 m, 5 days a week, 6 named stretches; shows big rivers, big cities
- [Cardinal](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/cardinal): Chicago Union Station to New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, 27 h 33 m, 3 days a week, 6 named stretches; shows big rivers, mountains, national parks, big cities
- [Carl Sandburg](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/carl-sandburg): Chicago Union Station to Quincy, 4 h 22 m, daily, 3 named stretches; shows big cities
- [Carolinian](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/carolinian): New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station to Charlotte, 15 h 41 m, daily, 8 named stretches; shows big cities, big rivers
- [City of New Orleans](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/city-of-new-orleans): New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Chicago Union Station, 19 h 30 m, daily, 6 named stretches; shows big rivers, big cities, gulf coast, prairie, wildlife
- [Coast Starlight](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/coast-starlight): Seattle to Los Angeles, 35 h 16 m, daily, 10 named stretches; shows mountains, pacific coast, big rivers, wine country, big cities
- [Crescent](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/crescent): New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal, 32 h 12 m, daily, 8 named stretches; shows big rivers, mountains, big cities, gulf coast
- [Downeaster](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/downeaster): Brunswick to Boston, 3 h 20 m, 5 days a week, 4 named stretches; shows atlantic coast, small towns
- [Empire Builder](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/empire-builder): Chicago Union Station to Seattle, 46 h 24 m, daily, 9 named stretches; shows wildlife, mountains, prairie, national parks, pacific coast, big rivers
- [Empire Service](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/empire-service): New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station to Albany-Rensselaer, 2 h 31 m, daily, 3 named stretches; shows big rivers, wine country
- [Ethan Allen Express](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/ethan-allen-express): Burlington to New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, 7 h 2 m, daily, 4 named stretches; shows big rivers, mountains, wine country
- [Floridian](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/floridian): Miami to Chicago Union Station, 46 h 40 m, daily, 3 named stretches; shows mountains, big rivers
- [Heartland Flyer](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/heartland-flyer): Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, 4 h 2 m, daily, 3 named stretches; shows big cities
- [Hiawatha Service](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/hiawatha-service): Chicago Union Station to Milwaukee, 1 h 29 m, daily, 3 named stretches; shows big cities
- [Illini](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/illini): Carbondale to Chicago Union Station, 5 h 30 m, daily, 4 named stretches; shows prairie, big cities
- [Illinois Zephyr](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/illinois-zephyr): Quincy to Chicago Union Station, 4 h 21 m, daily, 3 named stretches; shows big cities
- [Keystone Service](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/keystone-service): Harrisburg to New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, 3 h 33 m, 5 days a week, 4 named stretches; shows big cities, big rivers
- [Lake Shore Limited](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/lake-shore-limited): Chicago Union Station to Boston, 22 h 2 m, daily, 5 named stretches; shows mountains, big rivers, big cities, wildlife
- [Lincoln Service](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/lincoln-service): St. Louis to Chicago Union Station, 5 h 5 m, daily, 6 named stretches; shows big cities, big rivers, wildlife
- [Lincoln Service Missouri River Runner](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/lincoln-service-missouri-river-runner): Kansas City to Chicago Union Station, 11 h 20 m, daily, 9 named stretches; shows big rivers, big cities, wildlife, wine country
- [Maple Leaf](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/maple-leaf): New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station to Toronto, 12 h 28 m, daily, 6 named stretches; shows big rivers, wine country
- [Missouri River Runner](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/missouri-river-runner): St. Louis to Kansas City, 5 h 40 m, daily, 3 named stretches; shows big rivers, wine country, wildlife
- [Northeast Regional](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/northeast-regional): Roanoke to Boston, 17 h 42 m, daily, 7 named stretches; shows big rivers, big cities, mountains
- [Pacific Surfliner](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/pacific-surfliner): Los Angeles to San Diego, 2 h 57 m, daily, 4 named stretches; shows pacific coast, big cities
- [Palmetto](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/palmetto): New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station to Savannah, 18 h 19 m, daily, 5 named stretches; shows big rivers, big cities
- [Pennsylvanian](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/pennsylvanian): Pittsburgh to New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, 9 h 33 m, daily, 6 named stretches; shows big cities, big rivers, mountains
- [Pere Marquette](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/pere-marquette): Chicago Union Station to Grand Rapids Vernon J. Ehlers, 4 h 4 m, daily, 4 named stretches
- [Piedmont](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/piedmont): Raleigh Union Station to Charlotte, 3 h 10 m, daily, 3 named stretches; shows big cities
- [Saluki](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/saluki): Carbondale to Chicago Union Station, 5 h 30 m, daily, 4 named stretches; shows prairie, big cities
- [Silver Meteor](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/silver-meteor): New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station to Miami, 28 h 29 m, daily, 5 named stretches; shows big rivers, big cities
- [Southwest Chief](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/southwest-chief): Chicago Union Station to Los Angeles, 43 h 57 m, daily, 10 named stretches; shows mountains, desert and canyon, big rivers
- [Sunset Limited](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/sunset-limited): New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Los Angeles, 45 h 35 m, 3 days a week, 10 named stretches; shows desert and canyon, mountains, big rivers, wildlife, national parks, big cities
- [Texas Eagle](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/texas-eagle): Chicago Union Station to San Antonio, 32 h 36 m, daily, 8 named stretches; shows big rivers, mountains, big cities, prairie
- [Valley Flyer](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/valley-flyer): Greenfield to New Haven, 2 h 55 m, 5 days a week, 4 named stretches; shows big rivers, mountains
- [Vermonter](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/vermonter): St. Albans to Washington Union Station, 12 h 47 m, 5 days a week, 10 named stretches; shows big rivers, mountains, big cities
- [Wolverine](https://windowseat.page/trains/amtrak/wolverine): Chicago Union Station to Pontiac, 6 h 26 m, 5 days a week, 4 named stretches; shows big cities

## What to see

- [All routes](https://windowseat.page/trains): every route in the timetable with endpoints, duration, frequency, and whether it has a page
- [Mountains by train](https://windowseat.page/see/mountains): 16 trains, 43 named stretches
- [Pacific coast by train](https://windowseat.page/see/pacific-coast): 4 trains, 6 named stretches
- [Atlantic coast by train](https://windowseat.page/see/atlantic-coast): 1 train, 2 named stretches
- [Gulf coast by train](https://windowseat.page/see/gulf-coast): 3 trains, 5 named stretches
- [Desert and canyon by train](https://windowseat.page/see/desert-and-canyon): 3 trains, 17 named stretches
- [Big rivers by train](https://windowseat.page/see/big-rivers): 31 trains, 83 named stretches
- [Prairie by train](https://windowseat.page/see/prairie): 5 trains, 6 named stretches
- [Snow by train](https://windowseat.page/see/snow): 1 train, 1 named stretch
- [National parks by train](https://windowseat.page/see/national-parks): 3 trains, 5 named stretches
- [Big cities by train](https://windowseat.page/see/big-cities): 32 trains, 56 named stretches
- [Small towns by train](https://windowseat.page/see/small-towns): 1 train, 1 named stretch
- [Wine country by train](https://windowseat.page/see/wine-country): 8 trains, 9 named stretches
- [Wildlife by train](https://windowseat.page/see/wildlife): 8 trains, 13 named stretches
- Two interests at once: 19 pages at /see/<a>/<b>, for example [big-cities and big-rivers](https://windowseat.page/see/big-cities/big-rivers)

## About the site

- [Methodology](https://windowseat.page/methodology): how daylight is computed, what counts as a named stretch, how the rankings work, and what the site does not do
- [About](https://windowseat.page/about): what the site is and who runs it
- [Disclosure](https://windowseat.page/disclosure): how the pages are made and reviewed, and which links pay a commission
- [Corrections](https://windowseat.page/corrections): the log of corrected facts
- [Contact](https://windowseat.page/contact): where to send an error report or a review request
- [Metrics](https://windowseat.page/metrics): which agents, crawlers, and search bots fetch this site, which pages, and in what order

## Optional

- [Comparison pages](https://windowseat.page/sitemap-compare.xml): 321 side-by-side pages for pairs of routes that share a station, at /compare/<a>-vs-<b> with the two slugs in alphabetical order
- [Sitemap index](https://windowseat.page/sitemap.xml): every indexable page
- [robots.txt](https://windowseat.page/robots.txt): crawler policy and Content Signals