Originally Posted by
VT_Speed_TR
OP - There is also a Amtrak train that runs up the west side of Lake Champlain in NY state. I believe it starts in Albany, but perhaps originates in NYC and ends in either Plattsburg or Rouses Point NY. Check on what services that line has for baggage.
That would be the Adirondack. It originates at Penn Stn. in NYC and runs all the way to Montreal. Unfortunately, no checked baggage service either, so no way to bring a full-sized bike. The convoluted routing through Buffalo that I suggested is the only option that I know of in the area.
The only Amtrak route that crosses the border and allows bikes is the Cascades (Eugene-Portland-Seattle-Vancouver BC), which if the OP is coming out of Jersey (which I'm assuming) would be a very circuitous route! I guess theoretically one could "check" the bike to Montreal at a station in the Northeast. But if that did work, it would take about a week as the bike is shipped from east to west coast, up to Vancouver, and then eastbound across Canada. Not exactly efficient or fast.
but i wonder if anyones packed up a full sized bicycle into two separate soft bags. wheels and some clothes in one bag and frame / fork / everything else in the other and gotten onto amtrak undetected?
Could work, but don't know anyone who has pulled it off. Probably would work best with a bike that had couplers. As long as it doesn't register "bike" to the Amtrak employees...