Minnie’s Musings

Since when – I ask you – were there weight restrictions on baggage for trains?

Not on British Rail I can tell you that.

Not on EuroStar, I can also tell you that.

But on ViaRail Canada they are as strict as Ryan Air (straight after they have reduced the size of carry on baggage, again).

We did not encounter this problem when we boarded our train from Cornwall to Montreal, primarily because the conductor was only loading a handful of passengers and all the trains were delayed.

But boy did they get the scales out in Montreal. And I mean literally.

It did not help that BB had disappeared in pursuit of coffee.

It did not help that McD’s lost BB’s order for coffee.

It did not help that our case was overstuffed because we had stowed it in left luggage for the day.

I was told to get rid of the weight.

But for goodness sake, the rampant repack was mere redistribution of weight as I testily remarked to the lurking ViaRail bod. He had zero sympathy and adopted the polite but firm manner of Canadians whose natural disposition is friendly, but in this case he had a job to do. So I just moved the excess into random carrier bags and tried not to swear too loudly.

By the time BB appeared, I was cross and dishevelled and very worried we were about to miss our train. As a railway professional himself, BB was flabbergasted that there was any maximum weight for luggage and would have paused to expostulate on this had I not been fizzing with panic and irritation, clearly about to explode.

I handed him his backpack – now stuffed with his shoes – and we made a dash for the platform.

I have since decided that someone has introduced a rule with a maximum weight of 50kg. This may be because transport companies want to save themselves thousands in work place injuries.

But I am still cross.