Transporting one's motorbike on a train through China.

[soberpete]

Hello guys,
I'll be calling someone in the rail business tomorrow morning to ask them whether or not it is possible to get a motorbike transported by train in China.
My plan is ride around in Hunan province for a week toward the end of July. My best friend, Graham, is currently working down there; He says that it's beautiful and the roads are really nice too.
I'm not ready to ride all the way down there from Shandong so I'm checking options for transporting the bike by train, ideally with me on the train too.

I'm hoping to hear from anyone who's had experience (whether good or bad) with transporting their motorbike via train or any other method. I will provide as much info as I can about train transportation as soon as I get some answers from the guy I'm going to call.
If this turns out to be possible and relatively convenient then it would provide an option for riding in places around China that I previously thought to be highly unlikely simply due to extreme distance and the unfamiliar roads between home and the destination.

I wasn't sure which forum to post this thread in. I am most familiar with the 'Street' forum and it seems that, each time I log on, the majority of the MCM viewers are in this section so I posted the thread here!

Looking forward to hearing about some experiences.
I'll update you all with the phone call result sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Pete