Bike on Amtrak's Vermonter
 

For those who have never seen how it works on at least one service, below is a photo of my bike on the Vermonter heading from Philly to the end of the line in St. Albans, VT. Sorry for the sideways orientation. Cannot get the thing to rotate.

Getting the bike on board is a bit of a pain. You first have to remove the panniers to negotiate the tight turn in the coach vestibule. I brought a sleeping bag storage sack and put the pannier in it while waiting on the platform in Philly.

The bike cubby is at the end of the car. (There are three total in each trainset.) Once you get there, there is plenty of space across from the cubby to prep your bike for hanging as there are no seats immediately across from the cubby.

The one thing you have to be mindful of is that there are fold down racks in the cubby that fold down to accommodate regular baggage. Despite the bike only stickers, someone had stored their luggage in the cubby. I simply moved it and folded up the racks.

Hard to see in the photo, but there is a metal arm with a strap that you pull down. Because of my long wheelbase, I had to remove the front wheel to hang the bike. Once I did, I used the strap to prevent the bike from swaying. The whole process isn't that difficult. The biggest PITA is probably getting off at certain stations. Not all doors open at all stations, so you may have to roll your bike up a few cars.

Overall, the ride was quite pleasant, especially since my travelling companion and I got seats in business class. (No. We weren't worried about our bikes being stolen.) The train left Philly late. It looked like we were going to make up most of the time, but that was thwarted by a tree that came down across the tracks in MA earlier in the day. The delay caused by that was close to an hour. In the end, we arrived in St. Albans about 1 hr. and 20 min. late.

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FIFY!

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thanks for sharing

Is the business class upgrade worth it? Planning a weekend ride and coach is $40 and business $60.

Thanks. I plan on taking the Vermonter in September. I shame they did not make the rack a bit higher. I will likely keep the front fender at home again. A PITA to hav eto remove it.

Indy's photo was correct. He just forgot to tell us about the train wreck. ;)

It was for what was supposed to be an 11.5 ride but turned out to be longer. Comes with free coffee and soft drinks. The seats are larger and there is a leg rest that folds out.

It might fit. My fork isn't touching the floor. Neither is my big front rack. You are supposed to lay the wheel flat, but I don't think anyone will care if you stand it up.

Thanks.