I just rode Amtrak from Emeryville to OlyWA and back - before and after Christmas. I was in coach, going in a sleeper car would be pretty fine - bring money. I accidentally went the wrong direction and wandered into the dining car during dinner. Smelled pretty good, looked pretty festive.
You can't see any good scenery at night anyway. May as well stretch out. Being wintertime, much of the trip was in the dark, I did see some pretty wild sights from the Cal/Or border up to Eugene. It goes on a route that I've never driven, through Klamath Falls, and then up to some tiny little town by Crater Lake - Chemult, OR - population 80, Amtrak stop. I think it's because of all the hiking in the vicinity. The wild part is between there and Eugene, gets into some serious switchback action, tunnels, tunnels connected by bridges and more tunnels. I think it goes about 30 miles an hour through that stretch if that. Unfortunately, on the way back, it was completely dark.
And the human habitation you see from the rails. You see some nice homesteads and businesses and you see some hillbilly havens, junk all over the place right up 10 feet from the tracks. Somewhere around Albany, Oregon, I saw it both directions, was a small wrecking yard, probably seen mostly by people on the train - tall fences. They had a late 60s Saab, model 96 I think, anyway the old kind with the V4. The body looked to be in pretty good shape. Somebody somewhere wants those parts. You don't see much of them anymore, but they are still a niche favorite here and there.
Sleeping is a bit dicey on the coach cars. When I first got on, I was looking around for a seatbelt, then it struck me. They don't stop in a hurry, even if they hit someone they don't stop in a hurry.
One of my favorite parts was seeing all the cars waiting for us to pass at railroad crossings. I'm thinking "Wait peasants, wait, we got the right of way."