On a steamship they would be labeled "not needed on voyage". Is there pilferage on the auto racks? The TSA is well known for cherry picking the checked baggage they "inspect" for sale-able items.
Looks like Leap is back-
http://rideleap.com/
It's a high concept website, but click the little dots in the lower right corner for information. It would be fun to ride it before the current tech bubble bursts.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/23/8279715/san-francisco-bus-leap-loup-chariot...
Asa waiting room, it is a charmless bus station, but the Amtrak connector will get you to Emeryville, if a little early. It is right downtown, so walking distance to a lot. Public transit to the Marina is notoriously awful, so bad that at least two private bus services started last year...
Head right downtown and ride the monorail- it will be the most exciting 4 minutes of your life. Then head back to Chinatown and look arounf. I still miss the Hawaiian seaweed from Uwajimaya supermarket. Sadly the city did away with the waterfront streetcar years ago.
Pre Amtrak it seems like railroads were doing everything they could to discourage or eliminate rail travel. The Santa Fe moved there Fort Madison Iowa station from downtown to "shopton" a mile down the road in the late 1960s. Granted they stopped there anyway for a crew change but the current...
I really like the re-route. Interesting scenery and a heck of a lot faster than the Colorado canyon crawl where you can inspect a rock cut 20 feet outside your window at low speed for hours on end. A lot of history and wildlife out the window, and the Utah end is pretty spectacular for...
Whenever I've had a chance to peek into an open baggage car on the Coast Starlight, California Zephyr or the Southwest Chief they are pretty much empty. My guess is that is due to the lack of stations with baggage service, but that is just hearsay and ignorant snooping on my part. I have no...