Luggage storage on California Zephyr- family bedroom

We will be traveling Chicago-Emeryville on the California Zephyr. We have a family bedroom reserved and from the train layout maps it looks like there is a luggage area on the sleeper car itself but outside of the rooms. Is this the "checked baggage" area or are we allowed to put our carry on bags there? Is it accessible during the trip?

Thanks.

Yep & No.

In Superliner cars (sleepers & coach) there are luggage racks on the lower level and are for use by passengers in that car. In the sleeper cars the luggage is not far from the Family Bedroom.

When I have a Roomette, usually on the upper level, I use the luggage racks on the lower level for my main bag.

Checked baggage is in the baggage car up behind the locomotives and checked baggage is not accessible during the trip.

I place most (if not all) of my luggage in that storage area, not in my room. In a sleeping car, remember that the only luggage there will be from other passengers in that sleeper, so there should be room. I've never had a problem with space, although sometimes bags may get moved by other passengers so they can get to their own bags.

Both of us travel with a roller bag (over head airline size) and a backpack. We place the rollers on one of the baggage shelves, then take the backpacks to our roomette. When we took the CZ this summer we did access our bags once to switch out some clothes since we were on the train three days two nights. There is plenty of space for bags since the shelves are deep.

"Checked Baggage" is locked in the Baggage Car and is not available until Emeryville.

The baggage storage in the sleeper is safe. I have traveled on Amtrak since the 1980's and have never had a problem or know anyone to have a problem. Now I do a couple of things. One, I use locks on all my bags and since the bags are black and look very similar to others I place a brightly colored lock and strap on each bag so they are easy to identify for us.