Tuba by Amtrak

[Tom Mason]

I am about to ship a tuba by amtrak this week. I need a question answered by those of you who have done this before.

Will I need to box the horn if it is in the case?

I know some of you will read this the wrong way, so here it is.

If I ship it in the case, will I need to box the case?

Thanks for the serious responses..........LOL

Tom

[Tom Mason]

Thanks.

How well do the people treat you there in Memphis?

What should I look out for when I go?

Make sure you look in the door this morning, btw.

Tom

[docpugh]

I guess it depends on the case (obviously), but I had my yamaha yfb-621 shipped to me by Greyhound, and had no problems. Mike Milnarik from tubastudio.com sold it to me and shipped it that way. I had no problems. I think the key was the sturdy yamaha case. He did add a couple layers of bubble wrap around the bell. I'm not sure how much you're paying for the Amtrak shipping, but greyhound shipped from Boston to Altoona PA for $70. I'm sure Amtrak is pretty good too though; I heard plenty of good reports on this at the old BBS. Good luck!

[tclements]

The biggest thing is to be sure your local station will take it. I USED to ship via SLAmtrak all the time, until San Jose stopped taking boxes over 50 pounds, not possible with a tuba and a box. You need to make sure that the DESTINATION station will also take it.

[LoyalTubist]

Wow. An eleven year old post but someone close to me has this problem. Fewer train stations have baggage services than they did in 2004. For example, on the Southwest Chief (which goes through Needles in the wee hours of the morning) the closest stations with baggage services are Fullerton, California, and Flagstaff, Arizona. It is convenient if you want a tuba sent from Los Angeles to Chicago. Amtrak has a strict rule about transporting musical instruments in their cases. About 40 years ago, when I was in college, I tried to get my tuba mute in the baggage car and, even though it was in the original shipping box, the baggage guy said that it wasn't a case and it wouldn't be allowed. (I don't think this question was ever answered in the original post anyway.)