purchased knifes in Toledo - best way to get them to U.S.

Do they have an airport-style security check at the Toledo train station? I have never seen that in Europe - I doubt it. (Maybe for the Eurostar Chunnel trip there is that type of security, I don't recall). You can also take the bus, which is as easy as the train and maybe even faster. The train was not running when I was there in 2001 and I took the bus, and it worked very well.

When accessing the platforms where the high speed trains depart from, there might have airport security-like arches. I've seen it in Madrid and in Barcelona, but again, not for all high speed trains, I don't quite catch what's the pattern for having this in some and not in others.

Just ask at the station, but if it comes to the worst, simply take a regular commuting train, those don't have any security check before boarding.

I have no idea whether there are machines 'raying' your luggage at Toledo station but it does not matter if you do carry knives. You can carry what you like so long as you can excuse it if challenged. Carry them on your person, you will not be examined.

For the train, are you taking a fast train or regular train? The AVE trains do x-ray your luggage before you board. I'm not sure what their exact standards are? You may be able to get them on board since they are obviously souvenirs and you are obviously American tourists. They may be only looking for bombs (which is why they started the x-rays).

The regular trains are like any trains, you just board with your stuff - no pre-boarding security. The time difference shouldn't be much, Toledo is pretty close to Madrid.

We recently travelled from Madrid to Toledo (round trip). There is security in both directions.
In Toledo, which is a smaller staion you can't get to the platform without going through security.
However, I don't know if they are as strick as they are at airports.

If you still have time, why not check with the vendor you bought them from - or at your hotel.
My guess is with all those vendors selling knives in Toledo and most of the sales are to tourists who arrive by train
that it would be ok to travel with them through security. Unless the whole thing is a scam and at the end of every day all those knives that security confescated at the train station are returned to the shops - only to be resold and confescated again.

@travelguymiami... I resent that xenophobic comment of yours. Are you implying there's a collusion between the biggest train company in Spain (bigger than Amtrak!) and private shops to scam American tourists?

In November 2013, we had our bags x-rayed before boarding several trains in Spain, but there was never an issue, and we had small scissors that would've been confiscated immediately at an airport. Hopefully souvenirs on trains would not be considered a threat.

As far as confiscate-and-resell scams, imagine the millions of gallons of bottled water, soda pop, and other beverages that could be resold if all the bottles thrown out at airport security around the world were re-capped and resold! :-)

Enric, i follow your comments and respect your knowledge, but I suspect the posters comment was meant as a bit of scarcasm rather than of negative intent.

For those of you who are interested:
When you purchase knifes in Toledo, the shop will put them in a wrapped box. That is what Renfe is looking for. My bag went through security. The guard had me open my bag and saw that the knifes were in a wrapped box. No problem. Thank you for your input!

Karl

@Marbleskies... maybe so, but the wording is unfortunate at least ;)

When we visited Spain two years ago we did a day trip to Toledo via train. We bought all three of my kids swords.

We too were concerned but not until we approached security at the train station on the way back to Madrid. We weren't sure what was going to happen. All three boxes were x-ray'd and inspected. Security knew exactly what was in the box and had no issues.

I'm sure they see it all the time.

Just a response and update. I meant no offence with my comment, it was meant to be funny and I didn't think it would be taken literally. I only meant that all these shops are in business selling these items,- knives - etc and clearly tourists and visitors will be arriving by train. Meaning that one would think these stores are selling these objects with the knowledge that many of the customers aren't local, and will be traveling with them and will pack them as such. It would seem unethical to sell things to tourists if they couldn't safely take them on the train

However, it would also seem to make sense that the stores might have this information posted somewhere for customers to know....and/or customers can ask the store owners. After all they sell these objects every day whereas tourists are just passing through.

In doing some checking, this question was addressed previously on this forum: here is one of the links:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/to-the-west/65051

Lastly, these experiences are anecdotal. Perhaps someone fluent in Spanish can actually see if there is a policy on the Renfe website.

Again, sorry my comments were misunderstood.

@travelguymiami...thanks for your last post. Apologies if I took offence on your previous comment.

As per RENFE's regulations, unfortunately their terms are quite vague and cover a wide variety of circumstances (see 11 Prohibiciones). Their sentence in 11.E "Cualesquiera otras conductas prohibidas por la legislación vigente" (literally "any other conducts prohibited by Law" ) covers quite a lot, for example, there's another law prohibiting carrying concealed knives with blades over 4 inches (key word here being "concealed")

But again, it's not a problem to carry a knife on a train, providing it's being clearly carried as a souvenir/purchase (boxed or wrapped, sales ticket, etc....) and not as a concealed weapon.