The point that is clear is that you should arrive at the platform early, look at the Composition of Trains diagram, spot where you car will come in and hop on quickly to stake out the best luggage space.

And on trains like Thalys that often will be sitting there, or the origin station, a long time early arrivals will have the first crack.

Last minute boarders could have problems it seems

When we took the train from Amsterdam to Paris on June 24 there was room in second class for my 29 inch hard sider with wheels and my wife's 22 inch carryon. Yes, that was 29 inch and, yes, the train was full and, yes, my wife uses a cane.

well that's been my experience on the zillions of trains i've taken usually but since several folks above say they had trouble i'd still say arrive early if the train is originating in that city and be ready to board asap if it's stopping en route.

PalenQ, did I suggest you shouldn't arrive early or board ASAP? I related my experience.

Obviously, it doesn't mean anything compared to your "zillions" of train trips which apparently overrides anyone else's experience.

BTW, tomorrow's my birthday. I expect there will be a thread started so I can be properly appreciative.

jsmith - i was agreeing with you! That your experience was the same as mine, yes on zillions of trips i've never seen a major problem with baggage.

??? Happy birthday

jsmith - we wouldn't want to ignore you on your b'day

Happy Birthday

PalenQ, I guess you haven't done the Thalys from Amsterdam to Paris. I've done it before and they set out flags marking the position of the cars. Not this time and there is no composition board. Several were even asking the platform conductors which end would be first class, but there was no answer. The train only arrived about 6 minutes before departure, with everyone trying to pass each other on the narrow platform to get to the right cars, it was a bit of chaos. Anyway, as I said, we had no problem, it was the ones who got on at later stops, who had no place for luggage.

No i haven't recently. It seems Thalys would have a better system than the chaotic boarding system - if they are trying to move business types off airplanes this is not the way to do it.

In Paris i believe you have to check in first with a Thalys person on the platform who then tells you where the car is.

Amsterdam Centraal is undergoing a big renovation and things like trains coming in on the right track may be the problem with not having the composition board which they used to have.

If you are travelling on a Duplex TGV, forget about the overhead racks - they can't accomodate anything else than a coat.

http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/fr/...uplex2haut.jpg

Do you think my 22inch suitcase would fit UNDER the seat? From the picture, it looks like it might.

do you mean so that the passenger sitting behind you has no place for their feet?

PalenQ, I apologize for misinterpreting your comment.

PalenQ:
Didn't think about THAT! I'm so used to airplane travel where no one has leg room. Okay, my suitcase will be back in the luggage area. Thanks for pointing out what should have be obvious!

Sorry I haven't replied to all of your comments--I just realized I had to double click on my name at the top of the screen rather than typing it in the search box. What I derive from this is that we should carry 2 soft sided pieces and that congestion may be a problem. Thanks everyone. I'll let you know how it goes---mid September trip.

Call me chickngrl, we just rented a car.

some of the tiniest cars may also have trouble accommodating large suitcases in the trunk, where you should put them when parking your car.

Funny, for me I'd be more scared of driving... than toting my suitcase on a train!

I just got back from my trip to Paris/Aix. It was wonderful. The TGV experience was interesting. We left from Gare de Lyon in Paris. Since they don't post which lane until 20 minutes before departure, it was a mad dash of hundreds of people down the platform. I was glad to have my 22inch rolling bag. The overhead bin is very small. My bag didn't fit but I think if you had a smaller bag like a duffle that squishes,you could put it up there. The hardest part was coming back from Provence. We had doubled the number of bags we were carrying b/c of purchase and our tickets were first class (prems) so our seats were upstairs. Lugging our stuff up was interesting. We had four of us so we managed a system. I was concerned that we wouldn't have enough time to board everything but from what I could tell, there are people walking around to make sure that everyone was on board. I would defititely take the TGV again. A great experience.