OK, the postmortem. As I said in the earlier post, we went with Amtrak. Hours apparently vary by station, but the Philadelphia station where it was dropped off was open 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. The original owner actually dropped it off Sunday around 6PM!
The fees were exactly as stated over the phone, which is rather refreshing these days. Although they said all freight rides "space available", the counter guy apparently said that there's always "space available", and it would be on the next train to Tampa at noon Monday.
It was, and arrived around 1PM Tuesday. About 2 hours after that they called to let me know I could come pick it up. The box, (and the bike within) were both in perfect shape.
All in all, the experience was a good one. I'd definitely use them again if the need arose.
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BICYCLE - [[I]bahy-si-kuhl] - Noun :> A medical device used to correct the common geriatric condition of OFS, (Old, Fat & Slow), in a manner that does not induce brain-decaying boredom like walking or running.
2005 Trek T2000 tandem, Giant TCR, Eddie Merckx Majestic Ti, Fuji Team, Giant Revel 29er, Windsor Clockwork (Orange) fixie, and a BikTrix Juggernaut Ultra 1000 fat tire eBike