Moving to Maine on the Train

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DowneasterPassenger

Lead Service Attendant
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May 9, 2009
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344
Location
Portland Maine
I am moving from SKN to POR on Amtrak.

I have compressed possessions into 8 bags (2 carry on + 3 free checked bags + 3 more checked bags for $10 each). I can only get the checked bags as far as BOS on Amtrak. My fiancee will meet me there and then each of us will put 2 bags each on Concord Bus which charges $5 for the additional bags.

The station agent in Stockton assures me that I can check my bags there, even though the trip starts with a bus segment to Sacramento.

Anyone with experience maxing out the baggage policy see any flaws with that plan?
 
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I don't have experience with the particular stations you're traveling between, but I do have some experience with moving on Amtrak. Here's my story: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?showtopic=23073&view=findpost&p=114174

In terms of getting the most of the baggage policy, you can 1) Use boxes instead of bags for your checked pieces. As long as they are within specified weight and size limits, they will take them and 2) If you have any excess stuff, ship it with Amtrak Express. It's only about $25 per 50-lb box.
 
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I don't know the answer to this, but can you check your bags through to Portland, Maine and take the downeaster? But maybe they don't have baggage service on the downeaster, not sure.

What a move! I love Portland, Maine.
 
I don't know the answer to this, but can you check your bags through to Portland, Maine and take the downeaster? But maybe they don't have baggage service on the downeaster, not sure.

What a move! I love Portland, Maine.
According to my research, the Downeaster has no checked bags and a limit of 2 carry-ons per passenger.

South Station is the end of the line for Amtrak checked bags.
 
That is probably correct. But worth looking into! Any way someone could pick you up at BOS? Again, might be easier and cheaper to do that than to take concord trailways up to portland. It's only a 1.5 - 2 hour drive (traffic pending) from Portland to Boston.
 
The Downeaster does not have checked baggage or a baggage car. North station does not have checked baggage. The only Amtrak train at north station is the Downeaster. So if you want checked baggage you need to get off at Boston South station and find a way to get to main from there. Maybe rent a u-haul.
 
The Downeaster does not have checked baggage
Could you buy a ticket for a phantom person and be allowed 2 more carry-ons? Like they sell extra seats to people with musical instruments?
Could your fiance meet you in Boston and then ride the downeaster with you? You would still need a cab ride though, from BOS to BON with all of that luggage. I don't know, seems like concord trailways might be the better option if there is no way that someone can pick you up with a car in Boston. At least the bus leaves from the same location as the train (BOS).
 
It would be a lot more trouble to take the Downeaster with that much luggage. Having to take a cab and then not having redcaps at BON and POR really complicates things. Concord coach is an awesome bus line and it is within south station as well. Concord is like the anti-Greyhound.
 
How about getting luggage from the train to the bus? Will a Red Cap assist all the way to the bus terminal. Even though it is "in" South Station, it is more "adjacent" than "in".
 
How about getting luggage from the train to the bus? Will a Red Cap assist all the way to the bus terminal. Even though it is "in" South Station, it is more "adjacent" than "in".
undetermined if a redcap will assist that far. If they do, I think a generous tip is in order. I still think your best bet is to have someone pick you up in Boston. I will reiterate that its not that far. The train takes much longer than driving in this case.
 
I was worried about the weight of my bags and didn't have a good scale at home, so I asked a friend with pickup to drive me down to the station so that I could weigh them on the "official" scale. Not only were they all under 50lbs, the agent offered to check them then and there, a full 3 days before my departure! I don't have to worry about them until I get to Boston.
 
I just hope that he doesn't send them out for at least a day!

If he sent them out right awway, then you'll be over the 2 day limit when you get to Boston and have to pay storage charges. If he holds them for a day, before sending them, then you'll be ok.
 
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I just hope that he doesn't send them out for at least a day!

If he sent them out right awway, then you'll be over the 2 day limit when you get to Boston and have to pay storage charges. If he holds them for a day, before sending them, then you'll be ok.
Here is the follow up to the story. I made it to Maine with all my stuff.

When I got to Sacramento, I inquired at the baggage counter and they said the bags had already been sent to Boston three days before. I asked about the 2 day limit and any late fees and he said there would be none. He said they never charge a late fee. I wasn't sure that what was true in SAC would also be true in BOS, but it turned out that the bags arrived there safely and were held without any fee until my arrival.

The trip itself was uneventful, a roughly on-time CZ connecting a roughly on-time LSL.

My fiancee met me in Boston and we got a Red Cap to assist taking the bags from the Amtrak baggage claim to the appropriate gate in the bus station. He seemed to appreciate the $20 tip.

The Concord bus ticket agent said that we could take all 8 bags with no extra fee. But when it came time to board the bus, the bus driver said we needed to pay a fee for extra bags. However he let us off with the fee for two extra bags, a total of $10.

In total, the cost to move 8 bags from California to Maine was $30 Amtrak extra bag fee + $20 Red Cap tip + $10 Concord bus bag fee.
 
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The south end of the Downeasters has a cabbage engine. Yes, it is meant to hold bags but I don't know how you would proceed to get them in there unless you ran into a sympathetic conductor.
 
The south end of the Downeasters has a cabbage engine. Yes, it is meant to hold bags but I don't know how you would proceed to get them in there unless you ran into a sympathetic conductor.
but it doesn't always have a cabbage. There have been videos of it with 2 P42s instead. If they offered checked baggage and they decided not to run with a cabbage then what. Do any Amtrak trains put luggage in the cabbage?
 
The south end of the Downeasters has a cabbage engine. Yes, it is meant to hold bags but I don't know how you would proceed to get them in there unless you ran into a sympathetic conductor.
but it doesn't always have a cabbage. There have been videos of it with 2 P42s instead. If they offered checked baggage and they decided not to run with a cabbage then what. Do any Amtrak trains put luggage in the cabbage?
The Hiawathas do. They offer checked baggage service at CHI and MKE for each train every day, and use the cabbage for it. Truth be told, I'm a little surprised that the Hiawathas offer checked baggage service (pretty sure none of the other Midwest corridor trains do), although I suppose with major cities at the terminal points, and no significant intermediate stops, it is a little easier to offer it.
 
The Cascades handle checked baggage, but I believe there is a dedicated baggage car in each set, so the NPCU isn't used as a baggage car. I don't know what is done with checked baggage when Superliners substitute for the Talgo sets, however.
 
The Cascades handle checked baggage, but I believe there is a dedicated baggage car in each set, so the NPCU isn't used as a baggage car. I don't know what is done with checked baggage when Superliners substitute for the Talgo sets, however.
maybe they use a coach/baggage car. Also the cascades while it uses a cabbage the ones in cascades paint don't have the roll up door in the side.
 
The Cascades handle checked baggage, but I believe there is a dedicated baggage car in each set, so the NPCU isn't used as a baggage car. I don't know what is done with checked baggage when Superliners substitute for the Talgo sets, however.
maybe they use a coach/baggage car. Also the cascades while it uses a cabbage the ones in cascades paint don't have the roll up door in the side.
The San Joaquins have checked baggage, cab forward, no baggage car. That's why I was able to check my bags in SKN (even though the went the first segment to SAC on a Thruway bus).
 
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maybe they use a coach/baggage car. Also the cascades while it uses a cabbage the ones in cascades paint don't have the roll up door in the side.
They don't have a roll-up door on the side, but they do still have a door that can be opened to access the baggage storage area.
 
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