This is not a Fest announcement, just a means to choose the activities. Traditionally, at least twice a year we get together to ride the rails in a particular city or area. Our Fests have happened mostly in January and July.
The Fests during the winter have largely been in East Coast locations since for most the available travel time is much shorter for folks to travel to & from the host city. For the upcoming 2017 event, there is not much new that we can do. We waited for several years while DC Streetcar was being cleared to open, and finally it is a reality. However that in itself is not a prudent reason for going to Washington, DC. It was suggested during one of our weekly Sunday Chat sessions that we could focus on Amtrak and do day or overnight trips out of Washington into the state of Virginia. We can then work the DC Streetcar into an itinerary based on what else we end up doing, since it starts & ends behind Union Station on the H Street Bridge.
We again can meet over the MLK holiday weekend. There was some concern about the Washington, DC area with this being a presidential inauguration year. However the 20th falls on the following Friday so things should be OK for the desired weekend.
I have put together a number of potential one-day and overnight trips. It would be possible to mix & match multiple options – perhaps two one-day trips, or one day trip plus one overnight trip. Some of these ideas will probably eliminate themselves due to poor calling times (such as a 6:15 AM start), but they are there for purposes of comparison. My analysis follows. Based on what the preferences end up being, we can then add a trip on the DC Streetcar while in Washington either before, between, or after the Virginia trips. So the full actual itinerary for this event is yet to be written once we have an idea what the majority wants to do.
The web pages with the potential ideas are indexed here: http://kevinkorell.com/vrf/vrfideas.htm
Let’s preview each option. First, the same-day trips.
· Plan A is a round trip between Washington and Richmond, southbound on the Palmetto (89) and northbound on the Carolinian (80). It provides about 2 hours layover at Richmond-Staples Mill for lunch off the rails.
· Plan B is a round trip between Washington and the Tidewater area, southbound on Regional 65 and northbound on Regional 66. I broke it down into 3 sub-plans. Plan B1 is strictly the train to & from Newport News. This would be approximately 6 hours layover in Newport News. Plans B2 & B3 utilize the Thruway bus connection to Norfolk & Virginia Beach respectively. A Norfolk layover would be about 3 hours, during which lunch and possibly a quick spin on Tide light rail could take place. Going all the way to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, that would result in about 1-1/2 hours for lunch.
· Plan C is a round trip to Charlottesville using the Cardinal (51 westbound, 50 eastbound) in both directions. By the timetable there is a little under 1-1/2 hours dwell there. This choice is only possible on Friday or Sunday given the Cardinal’s thrice-weekly nature.
· Plan D would be a round trip to Manassas, using the Cardinal (51) there and Northeast Regional (156) back. This trip is only possible on Sunday given the Cardinal’s thrice-weekly nature and the Regional train running later than it does on weekdays. (It does not work on Friday.) Dwell between trains here is 47 minutes.
Now the overnight choices:
· Plan E would be an overnight trip to Charlottesville, using Northeast Regionals. It was broken down into Plans E1 & E2 only because the Friday evening southbound train runs on a different schedule than the weekend southbound train. E1 would be Friday night returning on Saturday, while E2 would be either Saturday night returning on Sunday, or Sunday night returning on the holiday Monday.
· Plan F represents an overnight trip to Richmond, using Northeast Regionals. This was broken down into Plans F1, F2, & F3 only because of different train numbers and/or slightly different times depending on which pair of days might be chosen. This would be to Richmond’s Main Street Station downtown, not Staples Mill. Downtown hotels offer free shuttle service from & to this station.
· Plan G would be an overnight Tidewater trip using the Newport News Regional trains. These hinge on using the Thruway bus connection at Newport News with either downtown Norfolk or the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Both offer many hotel choices. Sub-plans again are as follows: Plan G1A is Norfolk leaving Friday evening & returning Saturday. Plan G1B would be the same days only for Virginia Beach. Plan G2A would be for Norfolk either originating Saturday & returning Sunday, or starting Sunday and coming back on the Monday holiday. Plan G2B would be the same days for Virginia Beach.
· Plan H would be an overnight Tidewater trip using the Norfolk Regional trains. The sub-plans are for different train numbers and times for different days of the week: H1 is Friday into Saturday, and H2 would be for a Saturday or Sunday start and a Sunday or Monday trip completion.
Obviously, overnight options mean bringing luggage along. But it’s Amtrak so that is less of an issue than riding subways, light rail, or commuter rail with it. Day trips would allow luggage to be left behind at a hotel in the Washington area.
Please respond and let me know your preferences. I'll create a separate forum for this event once we have an idea of what the itinerary will be. Hopefully we can have a decision by the end of November.