Since it took me for-freakin’-ever to actually get ahold of this number, but I am not under the impression that it’s, like, a secret or anything, I present:

Denver Union Station: Amtrak Baggage Department: (303) 629-6477

This number reaches a Real Live Person – as long as someone’s in the office, of course. Courtesy note! The best time to call is at least half an hour after the train has departed, I think; this should give them time to handle all luggage retrieval issues with arriving passengers. Trains depart around 8 AM (Train 5, Westbound) and 8 PM (Train 6, Eastbound). You may want to check the train status at Amtrak’s web site ^[1] just to double-check the train isn’t late and you’re not calling while the staff are frantically checking luggage for impatient departing passengers.

If you just want to get train arrival/departure status by phone, dial (303) 534-2812.* This gets you a recording which is updated several times a day. But use the web site if you can. It’s a lot closer to to-the-minute up-to-dateness. It has a nifty interface for mobile devices, too!

*(If you’re curious: I got the recording number via Google and called it several times over two days hoping it would finally get picked up by a human or get a “to speak to someone, press 0″ addendum.** It didn’t. But when I flailed around pressing buttons, dialling 1 made the recording shut off with a “beep” that made me think of answering machines. So I started spewing out my name, number, and concerns in hopes that I was actually leaving a message. Turns out I was; I got called back about 2 hours later by an exceedingly nice person who gave me the baggage department number.)

**(Because I’m leaving Friday and would like to take my bike with me. And because I don’t entirely trust Amtrak’s web site to tell me how the people in Denver want me to pack my bike.)