Bass on a train!

[Leonard Smalls]

I've decided to go to our gig at Rebellion in Blackpool on the train in order to personally save the planet etc... (rest of band all arriving on different days).

As they're providing an AmpegSVT and 8x10 I only need to take bass, helix and an array of funky shoes and trees.

However, luggage policy seems a little confused - anyone know if train travel is easily possible with bass in soft case? It says max size 1m!

[goonerjoe]

Not here to answer your question but what is your band and when are you playing... I will fit it into our schedule!

[Woodinblack]

I have taken a bass on a train. Never occurred to me to check whether it was allowed!

 

[Lozz196]

8 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I have taken a bass on a train. Never occurred to me to check whether it was allowed!

 

Same here, on both regular trains and on the London Underground too.

[Leonard Smalls]

39 minutes ago, goonerjoe said:

when are you playing

We're Choked....

Playing it Rebellion Sunday 10th at a nice and early 1350, and at fringe festival at the Washington same day at 2100.

[Mrbigstuff]

Never looked at policy either. If it’s busy then a generic soft case should fit overhead, if not choose two seats together and give one to the bass.

[Jackroadkill]

Just choose an appropriately loud outfit; nobody will notice the bass.

[Geek99]

45 minutes ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Never looked at policy either. If it’s busy then a generic soft case should fit overhead, if not choose two seats together and give one to the bass.

Unless needed by a pregnant woman, or the elderly, in which case give the seat to them and show the world that bass players are better than guitarists who would fight all comers with sharpened plectrums 🤮so that their Les Paul might enjoy velour and comfort foam and a nice view through large windows 

[Mrbigstuff]

9 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Unless needed by a pregnant woman, or the elderly, in which case give the seat to them and show the world that bass players are better than guitarists who would fight all comers with sharpened plectrums 🤮so that their Les Paul might enjoy velour and comfort foam and a nice view through large windows 

Absolutely. I would say just if anyone else needed it there’s rarely harm in using the overheads. After six string guitarists*, there’s nothing worse than the bags on seats crowd on a heaving train.
 

* A joke before I get torched

[Dad3353]

To repair my road-side Thames 15cwt van breakdown, I took the London rush-hour tube with a six-foot long greasy, grubby, smelly prop-shaft in my hand, to get to a breaker's yard. No-one objected, and I had plenty of space all around me, both there and back. I don't think a bass would cause any issues. 

[Geek99]

4 minutes ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Absolutely. I would say just if anyone else needed it there’s rarely harm in using the overheads. After six string guitarists*, there’s nothing worse than the bags on seats crowd on a heaving train.
 

* A joke before I get torched

Just don’t mention them. It saves on tar and feathers. And matches and shovels. And time spent digging holes in remote locations 

[Jackroadkill]

8 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

And time spent digging holes in remote locations 

 

What are you, an amateur?  You make them dig the hole first, man.  Jeez....

[Geek99]

7 minutes ago, Jackroadkill said:

 

What are you, an amateur?  You make them dig the hole first, man.  Jeez....

Sorry - my sadism gene is malformed 

i did think however that it might be fun to prank future archaeologists by using an axe to cut off their feet and put them near their heads so that maybe the archaeologists could form a theory of the feet being somehow involved in the afterlife journey 

[JoeEvans]

I took the train from Manchester to Lancaster with a 4x12 cab once. 

[Bolo]

10 hours ago, Geek99 said:

 an axe to cut off their feet

You'd have to tune it sharp though

[CherryLine]

I’ve done a few train trips with a bass in a soft case, no big issues. As long as it’s not packed trains at rush hour, most staff don’t care. I usually just stash it upright near the luggage area or in the door space if it's clear. Technically over 1m, yes, but no one’s pulled out a tape measure yet. You should be fine.

[BigRedX]

I've travelled on the train with musical instruments loads of times and like others it has never occurred to me to check if there was a maximum allowed luggage size. Besides I've seen people with enormous suitcases that take up far more room than any bass ever could. One thing to note - last time I did this was on the EMT Nottingham to London and my bass in its Mono M80 case was too bulky to go in the overhead racks. 

[rwillett]

11 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

No-one objected, and I had plenty of space all around me, both there and back. I

 

I wonder why....

 

I've taken basses on trains both long distance (Oxenholme to London) and local (Leeds to Lancaster), both in soft cases and hard cases. Nobody has ever batted an eyelid. As a previous poster has said, some people have enormous suitcases and people take those on the trains all the time. Try taking the Gatwick to East Croydon train and you can't move for massive suitcases, some of which I suspect could easily take an 8x 10 bass cab and the amplifier and leave space for a Marshall stack

 

I think the key is being sensible. Doing this at rush hour might get a raised eyebrow in London., but offer to move for more needy people and/or go off-peak and you'll be fine.

 

Not sure what the biggest package I've ever seen. I know my cousin, fresh from the USA, brought a Marshall 2 x 12 combo in Nottingham and took it on the train to Chesterfield. He may have actually put wheels on it and made it a new carriage. It took two of us to lift it off the train in Chesterfield as I recall. 

 

Rob

[Leonard Smalls]

The bigger worry is my 100l Berghaus kit bag with wheels which will have my flightcased Helix and an exciting array of rock'n' roll shoes and trousers in it. It weighs a ton!

[chris_b]

10 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

The bigger worry is my 100l Berghaus kit bag with wheels which will have my flightcased Helix and an exciting array of rock'n' roll shoes and trousers in it. It weighs a ton!

I have no idea what that is. . . . but I have carried basses on trains since the 60's. I've also seen full golf bags, numerous full sized bikes, families with a dozen large suitcases off to Heathrow and workman with bags of tools that made my gig bags look small.

 

As long as you can get up and down the stairs, go for it.

[Mrbigstuff]

Forgot I took a 3/4 DB on trains a few times in my student days. I don’t remember any issues with that one either other than it being awkward to get through even the big ticket barriers

[Leonard Smalls]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

I have no idea what that is

Rock n roll shoes:

 

Rock n roll trousers 

 

Helix

 

Berghaus kit bag

 

 

😁

 

 

[Grooverjr]

Wear the trousers and then you will at least have somewhere to keep a cucumber/ mini baguette in case you get peckish 😵‍💫

[Geek99]

16 minutes ago, Grooverjr said:

Wear the trousers and then you will at least have somewhere to keep a cucumber/ mini baguette in case you get peckish 😵‍💫

And manage to remain so once you’ve caught the subtle whiff of sweaty pants on your food 

[Leonard Smalls]

No room for cucumbers or baguettes because of the armadillo in my trousers. It's really quite frightening!