Oy. Thanks, everyone, for some very helpful advice so far, and I hope it keeps coming. I am gaining a useful understanding of how to deal with Amtrak. This is good.

On the folding bikes question... I think I have seven of them at the moment. Let's see... the newest (1) is a Novara, not yet finished, still tweaking some minor details; it is to be a replacement for (2) my current Downtube 8H that is on its second frame and second set of wheels and at a bit over 6000 miles shows more serious signs of age; it replaced (3) a Downtube Mini that has about 9000 miles on it and is quite worn out; while the last was out for a frame repair I temporarily replaced it with (4) a generic Chinise POS folder; before that I tried (5) a Kent Ultralite before which I got a couple years hard service out of (6) a Strida. Somewhere along the line I also picked up (7 and 8) two Raleigh Twenties.... oh, wait, that's eight. Anyway, I love folding bikes, ride one every time I go to work. But I'm not taking one on vacation. I suppose I could outfit a Moulton Stowaway as a touring bike... doesn't fold, but separates into two halves... neither of which is small, though.