Time for a fresh Future Fests thread now that we are back in business and actively planning our Roanoke excursion in a few weeks. One customary activity during our trips is to discuss what we do next. It can also be discussed here, but you can be thinking of ideas to talk about during our roughly 5 hours on the rails in each direction between Washington and Roanoke.
The world has changed, and as of this writing while things slowly return to normal, Amtrak has returned to daily long distance service (except its usual holdouts the Cardinal and Sunset Limited), but some corridors are not yet up to full pre-pandemic frequency.
In the world of commuter rail and rail transit (including light rail, heavy rail, streetcars, etc.), in most locations things are still not at the levels of service that existed before March 2020. Some local streetcars that were suspended have not yet resumed.
That all said, in 2019 we achieved 3 RailFests, which took place in March (New York-Massachusetts), July (Toronto), and September (Denver). While everyone is welcome to join and partake, what was found that year is that some dates are good for some and other dates are good for others -- which results in smaller groups of people. So with Roanoke for July, planning something for September of this year puts us back on that schedule.
What can we do? While it looks like the Roanoke trip will be successful (and relatively popular) if we enjoy that type of activity then we could do another weekend-only excursion. The Vermonter might be a good idea in September, although maybe a little early for fall foliage. Going all the way to St. Albans, there is a Hampton Inn very close to the station, and a LaQuinta outside downtown by a freeway. The Ethan Allen is another idea, but for a group trip I would wait until it is extended beyond Rutland to Burlington before doing it.
Or, we could take a longer trip. If the group is ready for long distance trains, we could maybe travel between the east coast and Chicago. Or, another idea is to revisit Tidewater Virginia and North Carolina. Since our 2013 Fest, Charlotte's light rail Blue Line has doubled in length, and its streetcar Gold Line has already opened its first phase, then it closed for work on extensions, and the longer version should be open and ready by August. Also in North Carolina, I would do a visit to Raleigh to see that city's relatively new Amtrak station. In Virginia, a stop in Richmond Main Street might be interesting, as well as a day in Virginia Beach via Newport News and the Thruway bus, and then returning on the Norfolk Amtrak train. Optional riding TIDE LRT but not necessary since it apparently won't be growing in length anytime soon.
I've spent my downtime planning potential trips for myself, and many of those could be turned into Excursions or Fests. See my personal trip itineraries page for some more ideas.