You'll do fine on the metro.

And you won't need an hour.

Thanks for the advice - and I'm sure my daughter will be glad for even 15 minutes more sleep in the morning.

My parents are traveling with us and my mom tends to be somewhat poky, so I figured I'd rather get us there with plenty of time rather than rushing.

Check out the metro site to figure out how much time u need. Its probably less than 10 minutes via the Red line to Union Station. http://www.wmata.com/index.cfm

And another ten minutes within the station to the track.

Amtrak is good about letting the old folks and people with young children through the gates first before the thundering herd of hustling humanity. Be at the gate at least 20 minutes before the scheduled leave time.
From the Metro you may want to try for an elevator instead of the escalator with parents and luggage.

I had read on someone's recent DC trip report that they had used the Red Cap service for Amtrak - apparently they received luggage assistance and were able to board a bit earlier ahead of the herd.

I'm going to see if I can get more details on that when we're at Union Station for a moonlight monument tour at the beginning of our stay. There's no checked baggage for our train, so if I can get some luggage assistance it would be a big help for my mom.

IMHO Red Caps are well worth the money. Not only do they haul your luggage onto the train, but they also get you on to the track (special keys) before other passengers - so you can get on as soon as the departing passengers leave - and have the best choice of seats and possibility of sitting together.

For Metro with luggage, try to enter the train through the first or last door and scoot the bags toward the end of the car. There will be fewer commuters tripping over you than you would encounter if you board through the middle doors. Though you may be early enough to beat the morning rush, the advice holds for any time of day (and for strollers, and other bulky items too).

There won't be a herd heading to Williamsburg. It's much less of an issue for trains heading south of DC than it is for trains on the Northeast Corridor between DC and Boston.

Thanks for all of the advice. I live in a state where tourism is the #1 industry, so when I travel I try to be cognizant of situations where my actions may impede/irritate the local commuters.

Yup, I had mentioned that we used the Red Caps in my report. Excellent use of money. Not only did we get seats with extra legroom due to the layout, we were the first ones on a full train.

I will say that, going from the metro station to Union Station was tricky only that the escalator wasn't working. We were only hauling carryons, so with more luggage, I'd suggest you find an elevator. Then you'd have no problem at all.

Thanks for the info, it certainly sounds like using a Red Cap is the way to go but how much do you tip them?

For Red Caps, I've given $10 for curb to train service; but would add to that if it takes more than 10 minutes.

Thanks kayd, good to know.

Depends on how many bags you have to haul. I would do at least $5 per sizable bag (not small carry-ons).

We tipped $10 for two carryons, a camera bag, and my oversize purse. This was from inside the twrmianl, since we came by metro, to the train. Maybe too much? Regardless, well worth it to have a 3 1/2 hour ride with so much legroom. On one side of the aisle were tables with seats facing; the other side didn't, but offset seats to compensate--which is how we ended up with extra legroom, we were in the offset seats.