Back in the day one could travel from I believe Portland, ME to Chicago and beyond and to at least Washington, DC by interurban and trolley car! I remember reading so in one of the fan mags in the 60’s when I gave Warehouse Pt. Museum a map depicting all the avalable and contigious routes.
I do not think there was a sleeper. I went coach using some Amtrak points, and I wanted to use as few points as possible so I would have enough points for some trips with a bedroom on the sleeper that my wife and I have done since then. So I did not give serious thought to going on a sleeper for that trip. By the way, 63 years is how long I have been reading Trains, not my age. I grew up around Washington, D.C., and I rode the Washington & Old Dominion, D.C. and Baltimore streetcars, and the B&O (including new RDC cars) and the Pennsy to Baltimore several times.