It does not seem as though there are any seat numbers on my Amtrak tickets, only "Reserved Coach." Why?

Question

How are seats determined when I board?

Answer 1

If there's no date, time or train number, it's an "open ticket", meaning it can be used on any train on that route, during the date range specified on the ticket.

Answer 2

You don't get an assigned seat.  You just sit in an available seat in coach.

Answer 3

Railroads aren't airlines.  

On short-haul trains, seating is "festival".  The ticket guarantees that a seat is reserved on that particular train, i.e. that date and time of departure.  Reserved coach seats are NOT "ride any train anytime" tickets.    On this type of train, your seat reservation merely guarantees that your train is not overbooked (which is not a problem on Amtrak anyway, because trains have extra seats in the lounge/cafe car which are never sold.)

On overnight trains, the car attendant will show you to your seat.  If you have any seat preferences, tell him immediately, and he'll try to accommodate you if he can.  If your train is one of these, your ticket will show a car number.

Two essential rules of Amtrak:

#1 Explore the train.  As soon as the conductor takes your ticket, go explore the train.  Find the lounge and the diner if there is one.  These spaces in the train are for your enjoyment - use them.   On an overnight train, spend 1/3 of your waking hours NOT in your seat.  Dining car is quite good, though a bit expensive if your idea of fine dining is Burger King.

#2. Trains run late.  Sometimes VERY late.  Brace yourself for this, and just roll with it.  When you put this aside, it's a really fun way to travel.

Answer 4

coach seat numbers are not assigned, you can sit wherever there are open seats on the train.

the conductors might/probably will direct you to a certain car based on your destination, ie everyone going to the same stop will probably be located in the same car.  this is 2fold...one is so that they know where to find you and everyone else for the same stop, and they can just open those car doors for the cars that have those people.  the other is, particularly on long-distance overnight trains, that, say people going chicago-albuquerque are in one car, and everyone going to places like kansas might be in another car bcs all those stops are between 1am and 5am.  the people going to albuquerque do not get distirbed during their sleep bcs everyone shuffling around kansas in the dead of the night is in a different train car.

as a note, if you get a first-class space, such as private rooms, then the room number and car-line # are printed on the ticket.  this assures that only you are in that room.

as far as departure times on tickets --- if it is a reserved train, then the date of travel, time of departure, as well as train number are all printed on the ticket.  the ticket is good for that train only.  and if it says reserved coach, then yes, it is reserved for only 1 specific train, time, and date.  re-check your ticket, bcs it is on there somewhere.  

if you bought the ticket from a travel agency, then it is IATA airline ticket stock and will be in the flight # and flight dep areas of the ticket, in the beige-coloured area.  if you bought the ticket from amtrak, then the train departure data is on amtrak's railroad ticket stock, and would be in the upper 1/3 of ticket which is blue-coloured or white-coloured, above the endorsments box.

only if you have UNRESERVED COACH as your space on the ticket, then the train #, train date, and train dep time areas will be blank.  then those tickets are good for any day/any time of train between those city pairs, subject to any endorsements and expiration date of the ticket.

only a few routes are unreserved, such as chicago-milwaukee, and some northeast corridor seats like new york-philadelphia and stuff.

almost all other trains throughout the country, including all others out of chicago/midwest, california, albany-buffalo, long-distance overnight trains, etc, require reservations, and thus WILL have departure date, departure time, and train # printed on them.