Dee,

I'm not sure if you got an official word from Amtrak, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

I commute to work on Amtrak, and while I haven't seen a tandem on there, I have seen bikes bungied to rails on the lower car if the racks are full. It seems to me that if the conductors are flexible during commute hours, you're probably in good shape for the weekend.

But then again, I could be wrong...

Good luck, and have fun riding down the coast!

-- Melissa

PS I agree with SK that the bike racks are too short to accommodate a tandem.