How strict are they about carry on?

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deathcabforchristina

Train Attendant
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
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The first (and very shortest part of my trip) is a train from Baltimore to DC and it has no checked luggage and 2 carry on bags. Where as the longest part of my journey from DC to Chicago allows 3 checked pieces. Will I be okay with my 2 suitcases and a Backpack to get by on that first train (which is only a 45 minute ride...)?
 
deathcabforchristina said:
Will I be okay with my 2 suitcases and a Backpack to get by on that first train (which is only a 45 minute ride...)?
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As long as you can board the train, and walk down its narrow isles carrying all that, you will be OK.

The conductor and the car assistants don't really care, unless you start interfering with the smooth and quick boarding of the other passengers.
 
deathcabforchristina said:
The first (and very shortest part of my trip) is a train from Baltimore to DC and it has no checked luggage and 2 carry on bags. Where as the longest part of my journey from DC to Chicago allows 3 checked pieces. Will I be okay with my 2 suitcases and a Backpack to get by on that first train (which is only a 45 minute ride...)?
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I think you should be fine. The unwritten rule of Amtrak carry-on baggage is that if you can bring it on without assistance, it doesn't matter how large/heavy/how many pieces it is. If you need help from Amtrak, then they will enforce the carry-on limits.
 
While the official line is 2 carry on bags, I have NEVER seen this strictly enforced! (Especially on a Regional.) If you can easily carry the bags yourself without assistance, and can easily manage inside the train, you should have no problem!
 
Many years ago, I used to take my tuba on board the metroliner from Philadelphia to New York. Depending on the car attendant they were either cooperative or cranky about it. One made me buy an extra ticket even though the train was far from sold out.
 
Three bags isn't even going to raise any eyebrows. As long as you can handle them, and they aren't oversize or overweight then you'll be fine.

I work the Empire Builder which has a fair number or stops without checked baggage. It's hard sometimes not to roll my eyes when someone walks up with seven bags to carry on. As long as we don't hold up the train I don't complain.
 
the_traveler said:
While the official line is 2 carry on bags, I have NEVER seen this strictly enforced! (Especially on a Regional.) If you can easily carry the bags yourself without assistance, and can easily manage inside the train, you should have no problem!
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Must be true. Maybe in the sleepers they are more lax.

On a recent trip I saw two huge abuses of this:

S/B CONO - On one of two stops before Memphis, I happened to be downstairs when I heard the Conductor tell the couple boarding, "I don't know where I'm going to put all your luggage." It appeared to be 7+ large suitcases.

Days later on the Crescent at Atlanta, a woman was carting endless bags and boxes into her roomette. The train was past the departure time when she informed the attendant she still had to make the long trek back to the stattion to get her infant! As

she hustled off, to save time they pulled the train forward so the sleeper car was next to the depot doorways.
 
Gee, now I don't feel so bad. When we went from SLC to OLW on the CZ & CS for two weeks this past summer, we took 4 bags (28"x 18" x 14"), a very small wine cooler, a purse & a notebook computer bag. Since the destination did not have checked baggage, We loaded it all into the sleeper, & we actually took 2 of the big bags into the bedrooms with us! (I don't recommend this unless you must.) On the return, I was able to check all four bags-I figured out exactly what I needed to have with us. I did think I was taking alot with us, but I knew if I didn't pack it, we would need it. I was also worried about the staff not wanting to handle that much stuff. There was a couple of them that kind of looked at us funny, & one said he wasn't sure he had a place for it, but he did find room for them. I just explained why & they seemed okay with it.
 
sunchaser said:
we took 4 bags (28"x 18" x 14"), a very small wine cooler, a purse & a notebook computer bag
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You are allowed 2 Bags per person

  1. 4 bags for 2 people = OK (allowed)
  2. wine cooler = excess (overlooked)
  3. purse = doesn't count in the count at all
  4. computer bag = doesn't count in the count at all
So only 1 small bag (the wine cooler) was "over the limit"! Even if I were being strict, I'd let it go.
 
Worst streching of the policy I've seen occured in KCY last month on my KCY-CBS AGR trip. A couple in the waiting room had two small children in child carriers, the guy went to check four bags, all were over 50 lbs. so the agent gave them a couple of boxes to take some stuff out of the suitcases to be checked, which worked fine. The boxes were then taken to the waiting room where they already had four other bags, fairly large suitcases, a stroller, the usual baby bags etc, which don't count. All of this had to be taken down the passageway to the elevator, down to the ramp and loaded onto the train! I heard the SA exclaim "Oh my God!" when they got to their coach (I was helping them with some of the stuff since I travel light as bjg says! She helped them load all their stuff which caused a delay so actually guess she was in violation of strict policy on several accounts! The couple told me they were moving to Calif., I wished them well and went up to m y sleeper and we rolled out for the West on time! :lol:
 
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GoldenSpike said:
The train was past the departure time when she informed the attendant she still had to make the long trek back to the stattion to get her infant!
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Did she really have an infant, or was that just a ploy to get the train to wait?
 
I was once boarded at ESX and there was a girl there who had four enormous suitcases that were hovering around 50 lbs each, if not a bit over. The station agent asked if I'd be able to help her with two of them and I was more than happy to do so. She was moving to DC, so it made sense. Other than that, I haven't seen any major baggage abuses, but I'm mostly on corridor style trains, so that might have something to do with it.

I've been indirectly involved in coordinating two moves via Amtrak - my younger sister heading to college for the first time and a friend of mine who was moving to California. However, both times the bulk of the belongings were sent via checked baggage and the passenger(s) didn't carry an excess of carry-ons. I think Amtrak checked baggage is a great means move large quantities of baggage on the cheap, but one has to be much more reasonable with carry-ons.
 
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