Bike Box For Luggage?

[BHT963]

I'm going to be taking the Missouri River Runner to St. Louis in May for a sporting event from Kansas City. The event I'm going to is one of those concerts where if you sit on the floor, you get to take your souvenir chair home with you.

My question is: How on Earth will I get a folding chair home on Amtrak? A buddy told me that I should just get a bike box and put it in there since the MRR doesn't allow checked baggage. But isn't that against the rules as Bike Boxes are solely for the use of bicycles?

Anyone have any suggestions how I can get that chair home? I really don't want to spend close to $100 to ship it via UPS or FedEx!

 

[pebbleworm]

Any folding chair I've ever seen folds up small enough to be carry on luggage, or close enough to pass.

 

[AG1]

No checked luggage also means no checked bike boxes !

 

[BHT963]

So from the sounds of it my best bet is just going to be to carry it on. I've seen pictures of people getting bicycles into overhead storage bins on Amtrak so I'm assuming I should be able to get a padded folding chair up there with no trouble. That is assuming I won't have a conductor that will be a stickler on the size of it.

 

[KrazyKoala]

You can always check it on another train that takes the same route. If there is one. But Amtrak does say you can check a bike. Whether is has to be dismantled into a box or they carry the bike straight on and hook it into a rack, like the Capital Corridor or Pacific Surfliner is another thing.

 

[stlouielady]

I'm not sure whether this will help you or not. I've seen many people take bikes, assembled, onto this train. They hop on in Kirkwood, take the train a stop or two west, and ride back. There are no bike racks on the MORR. I'm not sure WHERE the bikes are kept, but I assume they are in the vestibule between cars. No boxes needed, no disassembly required. It might be worth the effort to either call Amtrak, or call the station, and check with them. I've never seen the conductors give the bike riders any grief about bringing them on. There appears to be plenty of room behind the last row of seats in each car, where you can probably set the folded up chair. I've also seen some cars with a small storage area across from the restroom in the car; not sure whether it would fit there or not, but I've stored luggage there often, when I was in a car with no overhead storage.

 

[John Bredin]

Conductors don't give them trouble because bikes pay a $10 fare on the Illinois and Missouri corridor trains. As I recall, the bikes aren't kept in the vestibule but on the overhead luggage rack with the handlebars turned sideways.

 

[dart330]

You should have no problem carrying it on.

Since both STL and KCY offer checked baggage, I don't see why you couldn't check something between the two via the long distance routes. It would probably take an extra day as they have to send it to CHI first to change between the TE and the SWC.

 

[transit54]

I agree with everyone else. I'd just bring it on board. Provided you have aren't bringing enough that you can't carry everything on board in one trip, you should be fine.

Theoretically, you should be able to check it, however it would travel on the Southwest Chief to Chicago and then the Texas Eagle to St Louis and you'd have to stop by the station a different day to pick it up. I suppose this could be a backup plan, but really it should not be an issue to just bring it on board.