50 replies to this topic

[steve4031]

Not yet.  I am just glad that there will BE a rail fest.  

[KevinKorell]

Everyone please take a deep breath.  Relax.     Nothing has been announced or posted yet.

 

It would be hard to plan a Fest involving Burlington at this time, since i doesn't exist yet, thus no timetable has been published.   It we did a hybrid of the two, my thought was to stay in St. Albans, take the morning train to Essex Junction (1 stop) and then get car service to Burlington.   But it could end up  being an impossible feat once the schedule comes out.  The cost notwithstanding, this makes a double round trip more attractive if we were to do both the Vermonter and the Ethan Allen Express extension.   It would have to involve an overnight stay in NYC or someplace else along the NEC to be able to do both.  I'll try to work out scenarios with what schedule is known when I have more time.

[steve4031]

I appreciate your work. Your fests are the highlight of the summer for me. I do regret putting pressure on you.

[Long Train Runnin']

Definitely looking forward to grabbing the fresh track between Rutland and Burlington on the expanded Ethan Allen and simultaneously joining another railfest. I do have to ask though, how much longer will they be Amtrak only?

I am still very much looking forward to covering the trackage laid out in the Boston railfest 2020. Along with so many other US transit systems.

Just seems like a shift in what these fests have been about although I admit I'm relatively new to the whole thing only participating since 2009.

I know everyone has their own covid risk tolerance and mine might be higher than the rest of the group, but I'm literally sitting on Line 3 of the Seoul metro right now and am just wondering when Railfests might look more like they did in 2019 than the past few years.

Respectfully,
Steve

[KevinKorell]

Definitely looking forward to grabbing the fresh track between Rutland and Burlington on the expanded Ethan Allen and simultaneously joining another railfest. I do have to ask though, how much longer will they be Amtrak only?

I am still very much looking forward to covering the trackage laid out in the Boston railfest 2020. Along with so many other US transit systems.

Just seems like a shift in what these fests have been about although I admit I'm relatively new to the whole thing only participating since 2009.

I know everyone has their own covid risk tolerance and mine might be higher than the rest of the group, but I'm literally sitting on Line 3 of the Seoul metro right now and am just wondering when Railfests might look more like they did in 2019 than the past few years.

Respectfully,
Steve

 

Steve (LTR):    I am more than ready to hit Boston and do a whole fest including transit (getting the new segments of the Green Line northern extensions), commuter (notably the unridden segment between Fitchburg & Wachusett and the refurbished Fairmount Line) , and the Downeaster to Brunswick & back.   I've been on Amtrak now in the post-face-diaper era, and I survived with no ill effects.    The issue now is inflation.  Check the hotel prices in a major city like Boston for late July.... some are north of $400 per night.    I am more than willing to "eat" that increase for one weekend for the sake of our group getting together and having fun on the rails, but it might be discouraging to some. We've all been there with holding down expenses.  It's a matter we surely should continue to discuss here.  The other thing currently keeping me away from Boston is the second and longer branch of the Green Line Extension (GLX) which is now slated to go into service in July but no specific date has been announced.   As I have said  earlier, Vermont posed a problem in the Fall months with "leaf peepers" either booking the hotels or sending the rates as high as where the leaves are falling from.  So Vermont may be better in the summer, while hopefully by September we can do a weekend in Boston once the GLX is fully open and hopefully the hotels come down a little bit in price after the summer travel season.

 

The Boston fest as laid out in 2020 might not look anything like that in 2022.   There were some PTC related service disruptions back then on the Fitchburg Line, and station work on the Fairmount Line.   The Foxboro Line was another idea back then, but it was only a pilot and hasn't returned post Pandemic.   That had to be done on a weekday, which would therefore extend activities into Monday morning at the least.    One idea that popped through my mind was to arrange the Downeaster ride to have us stay in Maine overnight rather than Boston, which would mean doing the Boston activities in the early part of Saturday and the latter part of Sunday.   There's not much in Brunswick, but I know from experience there is a Hilton Garden Inn very close to the Freeport station, and a few others in town that would require a car service/taxi.   Or..... come back to Portland where there are many chain hotels within a few miles of the station and then return to Boston from there Sunday.

 

 

Steve (Steve4031):   Vermont of course could be done in separate 2-day weekend trips, which would be necessary if the Burlington extension is not yet in service when we plan to travel.   If it is in play, then we can consider a 4-day trip with both Vermont round trips done during the same visit to the area.   This is the article that only mentioned "July" as a startup time, and also alluded to the ~10 PM arrival of 291, and ~10 AM departure of 290.   If this is the case, then your #3 option above becomes impossible unless we spend 24 hours in Burlington.    Now I know that trains are booked up for the summer and plans should be made soon, but there are too many questions hanging over us.   Ethan Allen is not yet able to be reserved beyond Rutland.   At very least we should plan the best date for the Vermonter, book the round trip and hotel, and then we can tack on the Ethan Allen later (either before or after) if it becomes possible and reasonably priced an option.

[KevinKorell]

The Foxboro Line was another idea back then, but it was only a pilot and hasn't returned post Pandemic. 

 

UPDATE to what I said above...   i just noticed that the new summer MBTA timetables that take effect tomorrow 5/23/22  include the return of service to Foxboro.  But it is only available weekday middays, not on weekends and not in rush hour.  If we did Boston and enough people wanted to be in town on Friday afternoon or Monday morning, that might be a bonus.  New trackage for everyone unless they have ridden the specials to Patriots games.

[Long Train Runnin']

Kevin thanks for expanding on your thinking. 

I do agree travel costs this summer are entering comical territory. 

 

Just hoping that we can some day return to the more city based fests. 

 

Looking forward to those days again! 

[steve4031]

I think waiting for Boston to complete construction on both legs of the green line is a valid reason to wait to do Boston.  This a tough time for planning travel.  Kevin is going to have a hard time coming up with a trip that meets everyone's desires.  With reduced consists and high sleeping car fares focusing on day trips from NYC makes sense for the time being.  Hopefully, the current Amtrak management team gets replaced with one that is proactive and less reactive.  

[KevinKorell]

That said, I worked out some scenarios for a future Boston RailFest.  One would be close to what was previously planned.   #1 would be doing a full Downeaster round trip on Saturday, 2 MBTA commuter rail round trips on Sunday, and work in the Green Line on Saturday evening after the Downeaster.  #2 & #3 would be taking the Downeaster later on Saturday to Brunswick and return part way, stay in either Freeport or Portland over Saturday night, returning to Boston on the Downeaster Sunday morning.  The MBTA activities would then be spread around Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.  And finally, to ride the MBTA line to Foxboro, I made 2 scenarios, one for a Friday afternoon and one for a Monday late morning.

 

http://kevinkorell.c...itinbrf2022.htm

[steve4031]

I like the options of staying outside of Boston.  September would be difficult for me because I am videotaping for the football team next year.  The games are usually on Friday night which pretty much eliminates the my ability to fly out Friday and get to Boston at a reasonable time.