OTOL BOSTON RAILFEST 2020
March 28-30, 2020
This is the announcement for our next Fest, the Boston RailFest (BRF) 2020, which will take place over the last weekend of March, 2020. While in the past the tradition has been to have a winter meet over the MLK weekend in January, both common preference and last year's weather postponement led to decision to just plan this event for March. Decision to do it on this particular weekend was based on majority availability of regular participants, avoidance of known busier weekends such as events surrounding St. Patrick's Day, and the fact that a date later in the month should yield both more daylight and hopefully warmer temperatures.
The desire to do another Boston RailFest has existed for a few years. Since this group last visited Boston for an official Fest, the following has come into existence:
- Amtrak Downeaster now has 5 weekend round trips that run the entire route to Brunswick.
- MBTA Fitchburg Line commuter rail was extended to Wachusett.
- MBTA Fairmount Line commuter rail line has been greatly improved.
- MBTA Foxboro Pilot commuter rail service has begun.
This Fest was planned to achieve those 4 goals. Because Foxboro is only possible (for now) on a weekday, that is why this event will last until midday on Monday rather than wrapping up Sunday.
Discussion of MBTA fares is
here. No MBTA subway trips were planned, but there likely will be some necessary anyhow. Read below.
Already, all should be aware of the following diversions of service that will affect us:
- Due to trackwork, the Downeaster is routed on weekends via the MBTA Haverhill Line between North Station and North Wilmington rather than its regular routing via the MBTA Lowell Line and Wildcat Branch. No significant effect on our timekeeping. Service alert here.
- The MBTA Fitchburg Line will not be serving North Station due to construction work being done on the Green Line Extension. Alert here. Trains on this line will be starting and ending at Porter Square, which normally is accessible by the Red Line. However....
- The MBTA Red Line is not running west of Harvard Square due to trackwork; substitute buses are running between Harvard Square and Alewife. Alert here. The trip between Harvard Square and Porter Square looks to be about 10 blocks, or not much more than a 5-minute bus ride.
Because of the uncertainty of Sunday's activities, the
Tentative Itinerary is even more tentative. Refinements will definitely have to be made. The activities may very well be inverted due to the longer travel time and connections required to achieve the trip to & from Wachusett. So anyone possibly planning to join or leave the group on Sunday please do not yet base those on the times shown as it is highly likely they will change.
So far, here are the travel plans you would need to make:
Amtrak
- Your own travel plans, whether by Amtrak, bus, or air to & from Boston.
- "Official" trips on our Saturday itinerary would be Train #691 Boston to Brunswick, and Train #696 Brunswick to Boston.
- The classes of service that we choose to take will be discussed separately, and there is the chance we could be split up in different parts of the trains. The Downeaster offers a choice between Coach or Business Class.
Hotels
Hotel(s) of your choice would be needed in the Boston area. Depending on the length of your stay in the city, you would need between 1 and 3 nights starting:
- Friday night, 3/27/20
- Saturday night, 3/28/20
- Sunday night, 3/29/20
When choosing your hotel location, always consider the ease of getting to our starting points (probably North Station and/or South Station) in time to board the respective first trains each day.
Meals
- Saturday: Breakfast on your own. Lunch in Brunswick. Dinner in Boston. Locations to be discussed separately.
- Sunday: Breakfast on your own. Lunch most likely at South Station between commuter rail runs. Dinner in Boston to be determined; likely a smaller number of folks will be left by then.
- Monday: Breakfast on your own. Lunch following Foxboro trip or on your way home.
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To attend, all you need to do is contact me BY E-MAIL to let me know you are attending. Please state whether you will participate Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or all. No pre-Fest or post-Fest activities are anticipated at this time.
Fest information tends to play to more than one audience because some do not regularly visit the board. Outside this one initial announcement, all further updates will be done via the OTOL board in the
Boston RailFest 2020 forum. It is up to all potential participants to check the board regularly for updates, as things can change.
Please do NOT at this time send me hotel or travel plans. That will be done separately closer to the event weekend. In mid-March, a confidential contact list will be created, which will then show everyone's hotel plans and phone numbers in the event of emergency or unlikely last minute changes of plans.
More to come soon, but again keep on watching the board!