help with luggage in Chicago question!

[sutton8596]

Guys, I apologize! I know this has been asked before but couldn't find the answer.

A quickie anyway: I'll have a few hours between Three Rivers arrival and California Zephyr departure (unless 3 R is VERY late). I'm traveling coach this time, and want somewhere to store a single bag while I walk around downtown. Suggestions?

 

[EmpireBuilderFan]

Chicago has lockers that you can put your bag in during your time downtown. If I remember correctly, it was $1.50 an hour, maybe less, I don't remember for sure. I used the lockers last summer when I transfered between the Capital Limited and the Builder. They really came in handy.

 

[AlanB]

Well assuming that the recent bombings in Spain hasn't forced their closeure, there is a locker area where one can leave a bag. The lockers however only take quarters, and they want a lot of them. There are change machines available, but bring small bills for those machines.

If the recent bombings in Spain have forced the closure, then you are out of luck if you are in coach for both legs of your trip. The lockers were closed for a while after 9/11 so it is possible that they have been closed again.

 

[gswager]

If you're checking in check-in baggage, you shouldn't have to worry about it, depending on on-staff stations at start and end of journey.

For carry-on, you might want to try using backpack, if it's not too big.

 

[jccollins]

I used these lockers for luggage when I was at Chicago Union Station at the end of January of this year. Maybe they are newer ones since you have been there, Alan, because they accepted debit/credit cards, cash, or coins. I believe the smaller ones were $3 for the day and the larger ones were $4 for the day. Both were surprisingly bigger than they looked from the outside, so unless you have a HUGE bag the smaller one should work fine for you.

 

[sutton8596]

many thanks all!

Let's hope the lockers are still available!

 

[battalion51]

I think I know the answer to this, but there is a bag check in New Orleans for First Class passengers, right?

 

[AlanB]

I think I know the answer to this, but there is a bag check in New Orleans for First Class passengers, right?

Sort of but not really. I know that sounds confusing & contradictory. Here's how it worked when I was there in 2002.

There is no special area for first class pax to day check their bags, like there is in Chicago and a few other places. What you do is to go up to the Amtrak ticket counter, which is also where they check luggage for the trains leaving NOL. Show your first class ticket and tell them you'd like to check your bag for the day. Without a first class ticket, they charge $1.50 per bag.

When you return to the station later, you then have to walk outside to the platform area. There is a door to the luggage room, almost directly behind the ticket counter. You'll retrieve your bags from the attendant in the checked bag room. Then you come back inside to the Magnolia room to await your train.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I think I know the answer to this, but there is a bag check in New Orleans for First Class passengers, right?

There was the last time I was there, 2 or 3 years ago.

 

[battalion51]

OK Thanks Alan!

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Battallion, Alan answered the question with much more detail than did I. My memory of it is exactly the same as Alan's.