LSL to Boston

[AudenHoggart]

I thought the storage cubby over the hallway was only present in bedrooms, not roomettes.  Is that not the case?

 

[PVD]

If 2 people are traveling in a roomette on a viewliner equipped train, using large cases (like someone going away for  longer period of time or hitting different climates, or perhaps going on  cruise) the VL my not be sufficient. Checked baggage is available in less and less places, even when there was  bag on the Boston section, you couldn't use Back Bay, Framingham, or Worcester.

 

[PVD]

It is definitely in the roomettes, and actually pretty useful, although it does take some strength and agility to hoist heavier bags.

 

[Rasputin]

What makes you say that? Between the ledge above the trash can, space under the seats, and the storage cubby over the hallway, a passenger would need to be bringing an unusually large amount of luggage onboard for it not to fit in their Roomette. That said, I think there was some mention a while back that they are taking one Roomette out of service for excess baggage. Not sure if that's actually confirmed, though.

Maybe one person is a roomette is fine but if two people are in a roomette and both bring the full luggage allowance, there will be far more luggage than will comfortably fit in their roomette. 

 

[cpotisch]

I thought the storage cubby over the hallway was only present in bedrooms, not roomettes.  Is that not the case?

Both.

 

[bratkinson]

One of the notices concerning the loss of the BOS section baggage car is that sleeping car passengers can still bring their monster suitcases aboard the sleeper.  The plan is that one of the roomettes will be used to store previously checked baggage.  I'm guessing roomette #12 is now permanently blanked out in the BOS sleeper for this purpose.  It should be noted, however, the bags are NOT 'checked', and will be provided to the passenger upon deboarding.  So, theoretically, one could have their large bags boarded/deboarded with them, even at non-checked baggage stations!

The bad news is this is for BOS section sleeper travellers ONLY!  No coach passengers, and no NYP section passengers.

 

[Rasputin]

One of the notices concerning the loss of the BOS section baggage car is that sleeping car passengers can still bring their monster suitcases aboard the sleeper.  The plan is that one of the roomettes will be used to store previously checked baggage.  I'm guessing roomette #12 is now permanently blanked out in the BOS sleeper for this purpose.  It should be noted, however, the bags are NOT 'checked', and will be provided to the passenger upon deboarding.  So, theoretically, one could have their large bags boarded/deboarded with them, even at non-checked baggage stations!

I hope we will have some first hand reports soon on how luggage is actually being handled on the no checked baggage Boston section of the Lake Shore.

The coaches have space for excess luggage at the end of the car (perhaps both ends of the coaches, I can't recall) and that is probably working out ok.  The business class/café car has space for luggage right at the rear of the business class section and they may be working out ok as well.

However the viewliner sleepers have no space for excess luggage.  In the past on some trips the sleeping car attendant has allowed passengers to place excess luggage in an unoccupied roomette or has taken excess luggage to the baggage car and has retrieved it from the baggage car as passengers detrain.  The latter took place on a couple of our trips and we availed ourselves of that service on at least one occasion. These practices seen to depend on the whim of the particular attendant.   (I believe the new viewliner sleepers will have space for excess luggage, but I am not sure.)

Now I understand from someone who was on the Boston sleeper in January just after the Boston baggage car was eliminated that the Boston sleeping car attendants have received strict instructions from Amtrak management that they are not to store excess luggage in an unoccupied roomette.  On that trip, the attendant offered to place excess luggage in the shower room (doesn't sound real conducive to taking a shower) or to place the excess luggage in the business class luggage space.  

I haven't heard anything other than that one report.  So what is REALLY going on?