56 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

If the timing worked out I would vote for a New York request fest. Obviously I am a pretty new face, so there is a lot of things I haven't covered with the group.

And it's the younger new faces we aim for, and those who didn't make it to the events between 2001 and 2003. But if we do plan things based on those suggestions, it sort of behooves those making the requests to be present at the resulting Fest.

[steve4031]

The 96XX cab cars date back to the earlier Metroliner days. Inside with the refurbishments of the past several years they resemble Amfleet I coaches (except for the cab itself).

A Vermonter round trip (overnight of course) was once one of my Future Fests, but I took it off the table because the pickings are very poor for hotels in St. Albans, VT. There's a La Quinta about a mile east out by the freeway, and downtown (but still requiring a taxi ride or very long walk) is an Econo Lodge and another non-chain motel. Also going to St. Albans would be more appreciated in warmer months when it may still be light when the train gets to its destination.

At least with turning at HFD or SPG there is a choice of trips and it can be worked out to take advantage of the shorter daylight in winter, whether we do a one day round trip or stay overnight.

I tend to agree that this should be done in the summer. Also I probably will wait until new coaches come out with bigger windows.

[KevinKorell]

OK well so far with the responses I've seen, here is where we stand for January.

• It's agreed Pittsburgh is out due to weather concerns and its fare issues.
• The feeling is generally lukewarm about Charlotte as well, at least for January. The weather would be anything but lukewarm unless we happen to get very lucky with abnormally mild weekend. And as constructed to include a night in Raleigh, hotels are not plentiful there. For those who suggested Charlotte, it was not on the top of their list of venues.

Which brings us back to the Northeastern megalopolis. What do people want in the greater New York area?

• I have not seen any positive feedback on a suggested Amtrak trip to Hartford or Springfield. St. Albans was suggested to take in the entire Vermonter route, but my concerns about that are documented in a previous response in this thread. A same day turn has not yet been ruled out; as I indicated the fares are not too bad. I will work out a potential itinerary for this in the days to come.
• ACES. It is possible to do a day all-ACES round trip on either Saturday or Sunday. The Atlantic City-bound morning ACES trains run at the same times either day (9:16 AM departure from NYP), but the return trips are different. Saturday's is later than Sunday's. Either one would work if we agree on returning to New York, since we traditionally have dinner in or around the city on the Saturday of the fest, while on Sunday we prefer to disperse and get back to our lives at home.
  
  Or, we could do ACES one way, and the NJT Atlantic City Line the other way. With ACES reduced to $29 for coach class, a one way trip back to New York involving the regular NJT ACL and Amtrak would be a LOT more money. To go the route of ACY-PHL-TRE-NYP on NJT, SEPTA, and NJT again would cost a total of $25.50; one would need to change trains twice and you only save several bucks doing it this way.
  
  However this opens another option to do ACES on Saturday, and then something in the Philadelphia area on Sunday, staying in PHL overnight. This of course means bringing luggage along for the entire excursion. One could then return to the New York area on Sunday after whatever we do in Philly.
• Since we already have done a lot of LIRR lately in January and August of this year, I looked at potential MNRR lines we haven't done in a while. For aforementioned reasons, Port Jervis is out for the winter, but it's possible on a weekend when the weather is warmer and the days longer. Waterbury was done earlier this year, and we were in New Haven a year before that. We also did the entire Hudson Line within the past couple of years, and in recent memory went up to Wassaic on the Upper Harlem Line. That would leave the Danbury and New Canaan Branches, which we last saw back in 2003. Daylight is shorter in January than it is in October when we did this last, so probably one of the two branches would be possible.

And that is where things stand for now.... hopefully we can arrive at a decision by the end of next week.

[steve4031]

Kevin, I am interesed in the Springfield trip first and aces 2 nd, and phl 3rd. Based on your most recent post. Of course I am open to other ideas too.

[KevinKorell]

Here's an interesting concept to kill 2 birds with one stone. If we did an overnight Springfield run (Saturday up, Sunday back), we could also do a New Canaan Branch trip first on Saturday morning.... we'd just get on Amtrak in Stamford. It might work coming back too on Sunday afternoon -- get off Amtrak at STM and the rest of the day Metro North.

[steve4031]

That is a possibility. But that would mean hauling luggage around from hotel to hotel to hotel for Friday Night, Saturday night,and then Sunday night back in NYC. I quickly looked at trying to do Springfield and New Canaan and back to NYC in one day, and that is not possible to do in day light for the entire trip. Has the group ridden the New Canaan Line? If not, they it makes since to do it officially before doing something else that has already been covered. I am intrigued by the Springfield ride too. Plus one would pick up 400 agr points with that trip. On an un related note, is it possible to pick agr points on ACES?

[KevinKorell]

OK in the last few hours I've sat down and worked up some projected itineraries that result from putting these ideas out there. You don't know how difficult it was working on it standing up!

First, here are the ACES options. The chart in yellow represents a Saturday all-ACES round trip. The one in light green is a Sunday all-ACES round trip. It's identical to Saturday, except that the return trip is earlier. The chart in light blue is a trip we could take one way on ACES either Saturday or Sunday to Atlantic City, and then come back on the conventional AC Line to Philadelphia. If it's Sunday we disperse, and if it's Saturday we could stay overnight in Philly then do some SEPTA on Sunday. Or the daytime Amtrak suggestion for New England could originate in Philly Sunday morning instead of New York.

A Springfield day trip is on the green chart here. You can see at the bottom some pros and cons. Importantly is that we have no time to grab lunch (35 minutes doesn't cut it, and I fear a situation similar to Waterbury where Downtown is closed for the weekend.

The overnight in Springfield proposal would take both days to accomplish the round trip, and involve hotel stays and most likely taxicabs as well. A simple Springfield round trip over the 2 days would use both blue charts on this page. If we want to stopover in Stamford in either direction and take a Metro North trip to New Canaan, we would use one (but not both) of the red charts on this page. If we did choose a New Canaan side trip, I think it works better if we did it on Saturday morning, then catch Amtrak in Stamford. Then on Sunday we can just head wherever we have to go on Amtrak and not worry about getting back too late.

Finally, the orange chart on this page is an all-MNRR day trip that would hit both Danbury and New Canaan. Note that the day would have to start at 8:07 AM due to the limited Danbury service, but we get back into New York well before dark.

All options involving New Canaan allow ample transfer time in Stamford; in fact that would be our lunch stop (2 to 2.5 hours) as we can walk to Stamford Town Center.

[KevinKorell]

Steve, we kind of posted things at the same time. To address your latest message:

A New Canaan side trip only works with the overnight Springfield option. This time of year both cannot be done in the available daytime hours. And yes, it involves hauling luggage on the trains, including commuter trains (MNRR). A strike against that option.

As was mentioned before, we've already aced everything in the NYC area -- so we're having do-overs for the benefit of those who missed the first time around. New Canaan & Danbury we rode in October of 2003.

You can only pickup AGR points if you dropped them someplace. But seriously, no you cannot earn AGR points on ACES, despite Amtrak handling the reservation/ticketing. You cannot even get Amtrak discounts you may be accustomed to, such as AAA. On the regular AC Line, the train acts as a Thruway feeder to/from Philadelphia because Amtrak service once existed on the line. So you can technically earn 100 AGR points for your $10 NJT trip, however the trouble one has to go through, since it's not Amtrak lifting the ticket from you, to get the points credited usually isn't worth it. (I don't know if it's gotten any better since AGR came under Amtrak control.)

That is a possibility. But that would mean hauling luggage around from hotel to hotel to hotel for Friday Night, Saturday night,and then Sunday night back in NYC.

I quickly looked at trying to do Springfield and New Canaan and back to NYC in one day, and that is not possible to do in day light for the entire trip.

Has the group ridden the New Canaan Line? If not, they it makes since to do it officially before doing something else that has already been covered. I am intrigued by the Springfield ride too. Plus one would pick up 400 agr points with that trip.

On an un related note, is it possible to pick agr points on ACES?

[steve4031]

Kevin, As usual, these plans should be hung in the museum of modern art. They could stash a Picasso or two in the basement to make room. LOL. I found a Marriott with reasonable rates, and Mike could get his employee discout. It seems to be close to the station. I do not know about the Hilton properties. I think if we do Springfield it would be more enjoyable to overnight there rather than do a same day turn. Then we could eat at regular times. Additionally, staying overnight, and combining the MNRR stuff makes the most sense on this too, and maximizes train riding. If we don't overnight in Springfield, I think the combination of an all ACES trip to Atlantic City and the all day metro north would be the most interesting. Why were you standing up as you did those plans?

[KevinKorell]

If it's an art display, then you all had better check it out soon because it's a limited engagement. In just passing these ideas by everyone, I made temporary pages which will be eliminated (as will the above links) once a plan is in effect. Only problem I could see with the all-CT day trip is the early start. If we did that one on a Saturday, folks could go up somewhere and stay in a hotel Friday evening (maybe Norwalk or Stamford) so they could join us later in the morning.