Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I do not know what the hooks look like in Amtrak luggage cars, but if they are like the hooks in my basement that I hang bikes and wheels from, I am using my two arms to hold the bike up when I hang it from the hook that is well above my head.
For what it is worth, in over a dozen times using Amtrak trainside luggage, I have never been the one in the baggage car hanging the bike. Instead, I've been the one lifting the bike up and handing it to a staff member in the car - or on the reverse receiving my bicycle handed down from a staff member. This accounts for my Amtrak travel on:
- Sunset Limited
- Texas Eagle
- Empire Builder
- Southwest Chief
- Capital Corridor
- Cascades (though that may have changed after I used it)
All fairly similar but handing things to staff in all my experiences...
So these questions about alternate ways of hanging things in an Amtrak baggage car, one needs to keep in mind that most likely you are *not* the person hanging the bike. Also as I mentioned before, the staff doesn't always hang my bicycle. Probably half the time, they lean the bike with other luggage in the car.
That is different from train cars where I bring my bike into the car with me - either in special location in a cafe car - or hanging in an area in the same train car that I travel. In that case, I have been the one placing my bicycle. It has also been slightly different exactly where/how. This accounts for trips on:
- Wolverine
- Pacific Surfliner
- Downeaster
Where each has been slightly different.
There are also trains like the Coast Starlight where I have only boxed my bicycle and understand didn't have roll on/roll off service when I checked them four months ago to travel from Seattle to LAX. In that case, rather than box my bike, I took the Empire Builder to Chicago and Texas Eagle to Austin.