How much luggage can I take on rail trains?

Unlike plane travel, you can take ANY luggage you want on a train !

But, just know that you may have only minutes to find your rail car and get into the train. So you want to travel lightly. People carrying 24" and larger bags are heaving to lift their bags into the train. Much to the chagrin of us who are attempting to get on with a smaller bag.

Luggage is stored at the front of the car on racks similar to an airport parking bus or car rental bus. You may also store bags above your seat on open racks.

There are no baggage cars; you take what you can personally carry (including stairs in stations and the high stairs into the train) and can put in the racks above you (generally small carry on type bags) or at the racks at the ends of the cars. (this space goes fast,so try to get on as soon as the train opens). If you are taking lots of trains it is very wise to use a backpack or luggage you can easily handle; nothing makes train travel more miserable than having to lug huge suitcases up and down stairs and through trains. Trains are also risky for theft, so be sure your money and passport and such are well secured. I usually use a money belt in transit. If you carry a computer bag or purse, be very vigilant with it. I have actually observed a situation in Italy where the woman across from me put her purse on her seat as she hoisted her bag into the overhead rack; some thief making a pass through the train grabbed the purse without being noticed and she lost her money, cards and passport before even leaving the station. In France and Italy it is often possible for thieves to board a train and make a pass through while it is in the station blending in with passengers and light fingering small valuables like purses and computer bags.

If I were young and making a trip on trains, I would use a backpack or a suitcase that converted to a back pack for brief trips through train stations. (never however put valuables in a backpack as they are easily picked)

There is no real luggage limit. Any reasonably-sized suitcase is okay.
It's ages since trains had a goods carriage.

There is no limit of size and weight. It's up to you as to what you can manage. As to where you'll store your luggage, it depends on which type of train. Some have storage above your head, like an airplane. Some are located between seats and some are at the back/front of your train car/coach. As an unsolicited bit of advice, travel light. I have always been one to over pack on trips. When visiting Italy, I only brought a small carry on suitcase (for 3 weeks). I'm so glad I did. You will encounter many stairs.

You will encounter many stairs.

I can't overestimate how important this is. It not only applies to stations - mostly small ones - which do not have lifts but also to many accommodations. They just can't retrofit lifts into wonderful-but-old buildings. Being able to quickly and easily manage your luggage by yourself in and out of trains and up and down flights of stairs is something to consider when packing.

Julie, you don't say where you're from but if you ever been on the subway/metro/BART/MARTA or any other US city transit or bus system, its like that, not like an airline. There are no official porters to help you on or off, no baggage claim. Heaven help you if you are blocking the doors for other people while you are handling your bags. Trains are often timed to give only a few minutes for people to transfer to another train.

Also, trains don't always make a long stops giving you a leisurely time to get your luggage off of the train. If your destination is the final destination of the train there is usually a good amount of time. However if your destination is one of the stops along the way the time that the train is stopped is pretty brief. In those cases you should be waiting at the exit with your luggage ready to hop off as soon as the train stops. If you wait until the train stops to start gathering your belongings and then try to get off, it may be too late!

A better question is, " How little do I really need?" As stated, you will be carrying your luggage yourself. If you say where you are going, perhaps we can help with train station layouts. More stations are installing elevators, but you can't count on them. Plan for stairs.

How much? How much can you carry all at one time all by yourself?

There are no porters. There is no baggage car (on most trains). There is only a couple minutes to get on or off a train or it will leave you or whatever amount of luggage is still sitting either on the platform or in the train (depending of you are getting on or off). And you better not be blocking the doorway trying to shove all your bags around and prevent someone from getting on or off at their stop!

So a better question is "how little can I take on the train?" Pack light and small and be able to move quickly with what you have.

If you do travel heavier (even if you don't), take the advice about being ready to get off the train when it gets to the station. My mom came with my hubby and me to Rome and when we were pulling into the stn in Rome, I got up and grabbed our two carry ons and went up towards the door (hubby and I always only take carry on size; my mom had been visiting my sister in the UK beforehand and had a carry on and a 32 or 34" bag). For some reason, hubby decided to wait until the train stopped (along with my mom) then grab the other bags and try to get off - in that span of 60 sec or less, everyone else was off and people were already loading on, so there they are trying to get off the train and generally being in the way. And I'm on the platform with a 'really?!' expression on my face. It's not like it was the first time we've used a train before.

And again - if you have connections to make, travelling lighter is better - if your train comes in late (which has happened to us a few times) and you only have a minute or two to catch your connection, and you are hauling large bags and have to go down the stairs that run under the tracks and back up, being weighed down is NOT a good thing. I can't count on both hands how many people I've seen trying to wrangle two or three bags up and down those stairs...and hoping no one steals the ones you have to leave untended.

Travel light, travel smart - we've done upwards of 23 days with only a 21" and a personal size.

If I have train travel in my plans then I take my smallest suitcase, because heaving that and my carry-on tote and purse up the narrow, steep stairs of the train is a challenge that a bigger bag would make even worse. Trains are sometimes empty and waiting, sometimes they arrive and are already full of people, and you need to get on, find your seat if reserved and stow your bags fast. One trip I put my suitcase in the storage area in the middle of the train, but the second trip I knew to bring smaller and was able to heave it over my head onto the rack above my seat.

I also learned that trains seem to board from one door and people exit from another after I unfortunately tried to drag my suitcase the wrong way, like a salmon swimming upstream, people muttering "tourist!" at me...

Christa makes a good point: the newer trains have the carriage number and the sequence of seat numbers (I.e., 1-18, 19-38) posted on the outside of the doors, so you have a better chance of boarding through the correct door (avoiding the upstream swim).

Julie, Read this webpage (and look at the photos): http://seat61.com/luggage-on-european-trains.htm
It should answer all your questions.

You tote what you brung. How strong are you?

Generally speaking, when I travel by train I bring smaller and lighter luggage - I am unable to travel with hand luggage only but I step down one size or two on trains.
When you are traveling by air the luggage size and weight are usually monitored, but you actually have to move your luggage usually on flat surfaces and only for the distances from the taxi arrival to check-in and from luggage retrieval to taxi stands. In stations you are on your own and you cannot rule out stairs and steps to carriages. A smaller piece of luggage usually can stay closer to you and this is a good thing. Nobody cares about size and weight, unless your luggage becomes an obstruction (always possible on crowded trains), but you are really on your own. Traveling by train with a lot of luggage is just a form of self-inflicted damage.

Wow a 32 inch bag -- I cannot imagine trying to travel on trains with that. It would be too heavy for me to life. We try to travel with 22 inch bags, but this fall we will be in Europe for 3 mos across seasons and so will travel with 24 inch bags of 20kg each. That is still not easy to wrangle on a train, but at least I can lift it if I need to. The choice to travel by train is the choice to pack light or be miserable. And with a heavy bag you run a huge rusk of losing smaller bags like computer bag or purse as it is hard to keep good control of small bags while wrestling with the large one.

Wow! I can't imagine wrangling a 20 kg bag. That's 44 pounds. I stick to 22" or smaller with a total weight of 20 pounds, not kilos. That's for trips of 1-2 months, usually across a variety of weather extremes.

I pack for a week and a day and use all the usual methods of keeping those clothes clean: sink washing, self-service laundry, drop-off and pick up later, done by the lodgings. Note that the last is not using those forms, but rather having it all washed, dried and folded in one load which is much cheaper.

To add to the chorus, there are no weight limits for luggage but if you packed it, you're going to be lifting them on & off the trains (or onto the overhead racks). I can't recall ever seeing a baggage car, so that won't be an option. In most cases there are no Porters.

Regarding the luggage racks at the end of each car, in my experience these tend to fill up quickly so if you don't board first there may not be any room for your gargantuan steamer trunk. Even if you were able to put your bag on the luggage racks, in my experience if someone wants to put a bicycle (or whatever) in the rack, they will unceremoniously toss your bag into the foyer where it will be in the way of passengers boarding / disembarking so it might just get kicked onto the platform at the next station. I can tell you that with absolute certainty, as I've had it happen to me. Fortunately I noticed my Pack sitting in the foyer so I was able to retrieve it quickly.

My husband and I have been traveling for many years. We are now 77 and 78 and go to Italy once a year. I cannot emphasize how little time you may have to change trains. People are getting off as you are attempting to board. If you have one light bag, you can almost certainly make it with ease. If you are laden with heavy bags, totes, etc., it may be a struggle. Also, lifting a bag overhead becomes much more difficult with age, so if you are going light, you may be able to put your bag under your seat or between the two of you. The trains have different places to store your luggage and you don't know until you board the train just what the availability is. You will never regret packing light and it could save you a lot of headaches and the possibility of a wrenched shoulder. Happy travels!