I'm going on an Amtrak trip this summer. I will most likley have a backpack, and I know I will have a big suitcase. 2 Q's for ya'. 1. I will get on the Cardnial at a station without checked baggage. Will there be room in the coach for my big luggage? 2. When we get to Chicago ,and get in the CZ, I will check my big luggage as "through" baggage right? will it be put in the baggage car? What is the inside of an Amtrak baggage car like?
THX!
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If you are riding coach, you may be able to find space for your large suitcase on the Cardinal; you might even be able to put it in the overhead rack. I admit that when we rode from Washington to Chicago on the Cardinal last month, I did not walk through the coaches to see what storage space there is. There is no space set aside on the Viewliner sleepers for the storage of large suitcases. I consider this to be a design fault. Since the Cardinal does not have a baggage car, we checked our large suitcase in Washington, and it was carried to Chicago on the Capitol Limited.
Yes, when you check baggage, it is carried in the bagage car, which essentially has a large room where checked baggage is put. Some baggage cars are separate cars, and some Superliner coaches have a baggage compartment in the place of coach seats on the lower level; the baggage is loaded and unloaded through an exterior door. The CZ usually has a separate baggage car.
Johnny
Hi Justin,
The CZ will have a baggage car that your checked baggage will be loaded into at Chicago. You will not have access to it until it is unloaded at Denver so you will want to carry on anything that you might want while you are riding in coach. Superliner coaches and sleeping cars have an area for storing baggage that is carried onboard by passengers getting on or off the train at stations that do not offer checked baggage service.
Did you know you can watch the CZ and Southwest Chief on a webcam while passengers load and unload at Galesburg, IL? Try www.galesburgrailroadmuseum.org/RailCamPage.html. The westbound CZ is scheduled for 4:38PM (central time) and you can get a good look at the consist as it pulls up to the station. The usual makeup of the CZ (and SW Chief) is 2 engines, one baggage car, 3 sleeping cars, dining car, sightseer lounge car, and 3 coach cars, in that order. Any "private varnish" cars are on the end of the train, but there usually are none.
I was really puzzled about the checked-baggage situation on the Northeast Corridor.
If I were to travel from Washington DC to New York Penn Station on a Regional or Acela, what train would carry my luggage, and how do I plan for meeting my luggage at the end of my trip?
Northeast Corridor -- How about placing the Backpack under the seat and two smaller Suit Cases for the overhead cargo bins. Also there is some space at the ends of each car to hang your suits.
For a line that is 6 hours from end to end, not much luggage is carried by the passengers (about the same as if they had taken an airplane).
Note the Aircraft type Overhead Bins on the Acela.
Don U. TCA 73-5735
aegrotatio I was really puzzled about the checked-baggage situation on the Northeast Corridor. If I were to travel from Washington DC to New York Penn Station on a Regional or Acela, what train would carry my luggage, and how do I plan for meeting my luggage at the end of my trip?
B. It is not necessary to be present at the baggage room immediately after the baggage arrives; you can wait until a time convenient for you to claim your baggage.
C. We have taken advantage of Amtrak's checked baggage service several times. This spring, we rode the Cardinal (no checked baggage; no space in the car for one large suitcase) from Washington to Chicago, and checked a suitcase--which traveled on the Capitol Limited, leaving after we did and arriving before we did. after we arrived in Chicago, I simply went to the baggage room and claimed the suitcase. We have also traveled from Jacksonville to NYC and Metro-North to Wassaic (transferring in Southeast), visited in NW Connecticut and gone back to NYC on Metro-North (again transferring in Southeast). I checked a suitcase (no room in the car) from Jax to NYC--and did not claim it until we had returned from Connecticut; there was no storage charge, even though it sat in the baggage room for almost three days! It is possible to do something similar on VIA.
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