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Our next Fest!


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#11 KevinKorell

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Posted 10 September 2003 - 11:45 PM

You mean the Philly Fest 01 and Windy City Rail Fest 2003 were your only fests that stuck(mostly) to their schedules? :o  Wow, i thought only the T Party and the Apple Fests were the only ones

Ed,

What I meant is that the PhillyFest 2001 and Windy City RailFest 2003 events were the only ones in which the local transit agency did not throw us any last-minute curves, such as lines closed due to scheduled or unscheduled trackwork. The two aforementioned Fests went off without such hitches, sticking to the itinerary I had conceived months in advance.

Unfortunately, my failure rate is much greater.At the Boston "T" Party 2002, it was you who brought me the bitter news that the "T" had decided (unannounced until Saturday morning) to do trackwork on the Green Line B route to Boston College.

JerseyFest 2002 last October, we got to Newark Liberty International Airport, and paid the inflated access fee for the monorail, to find it not running and a substitute bus in its place.

At AppleFest 2001 we were supposed to go to Coney Island twice, utilzing the four different routes that meet there (although right now, they don't due to construction). The second pass through Coney Island had us coming in on the N train, and leaving on the inbound F train. The F was truncated back to Kings Highway, so we took the N as far as Kings Highway, and then walked over to the F.

AppleFest 2002 brought us trackwork in the Bronx, with 5 trains not running through between East 180th Street and East 149th Street/Grand Concourse. We had to switch to a 2 train to fill in the gap, and then switch again to another 5. All the extra switching set us back about an hour in our schedule.

AppleFest 2003 seemed like things would go smoothly, until we found out very close to the Fest that the 7 train was not running between Queensboro Plaza and Manhattan. We had to switch to a W train to bridge that gap.
So the only surprise this time was the advance notice we got through the media that things may not be working out as originally planned. At least I won't be surprised when Metro North officially announces it. On the other hand, as I said, we could be among the lucky last ones to ride the Waterbury branch before they close it.


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#12 KevinKorell

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Posted 11 September 2003 - 06:39 PM

I have a non-refundable reservation at the Doubletree Hotel in Jersey City for Friday & Saturday, October 3 & 4, so that we can be closer to the city. Since they offer a special rate for reserving 21 days in advance, that means that if you want to stay there while attending the Metro New York RailFest 2003, you would need to reserve by tomorrow, September 12th.

In all honesty, this hotel has received national attention as it was the site of some gunfire earlier this week when a well known gangsta rapper arrived with his entourage to check in. See here for details. It has not changed my plans to stay there, but I will probably take the train there instead of risking having bullet holes in my car for my $10 (that's 50 Cent times 20) per day parking fee.


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#13 KevinKorell

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Posted 12 September 2003 - 09:40 PM

I have been vigorously working today to come up with an alternative plan just in case the Waterbury Branch is down on October 4th. I have 5 alternative itineraries, each with its own unique features, each of which ignores the Waterbury Branch. A couple of them are different only in what town we eat lunch, and three of the alternate options include an AMTRAK ride to New York's Penn Station, rather than taking Metro North to Grand Central.

A menu of the alternate plans is here. Which one would you choose?


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#14 NickG

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Posted 18 September 2003 - 08:25 AM

I have bad news for you all. :(

From MTA's website:

Busing on the Waterbury Branch Starts Sept. 27, 2003
Starting Monday, September 27, buses will operate in lieu of train service on the Waterbury Branch for approximately 38 days.

Bus service will follow train schedules, making stops at all Waterbury Branch stations, as well as connections with New Haven Line trains at Bridgeport.

The branch is being closed to allow for the replacement of the overhead power wires on Devon Bridge as part of the New Haven Line catenary project. At the same time, repair work and rail replacement will occur on Naugatuck Bridge in Derby and Tail Race Bridge in Ansonia, and track maintenance will occur on various sections of the line.

We appreciate your patience while these service improvements take place.


Would it break the MTA's heart to cooperate with Kevin for once???
Nick Gibbon

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#15 EdFindlay

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Posted 18 September 2003 - 10:43 AM

At least he had congingency plans made ahead of time, but man that stinks. I hope the fest this winter goes off without a hitch.

#16 KevinKorell

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Posted 18 September 2003 - 11:46 AM

I have bad news for you all. :(

From MTA's website:

Busing on the Waterbury Branch Starts Sept. 27, 2003
Starting Monday, September 27, buses will operate in lieu of train service on the Waterbury Branch for approximately 38 days.

Bus service will follow train schedules, making stops at all Waterbury Branch stations, as well as connections with New Haven Line trains at Bridgeport.

The branch is being closed to allow for the replacement of the overhead power wires on Devon Bridge as part of the New Haven Line catenary project. At the same time, repair work and rail replacement will occur on Naugatuck Bridge in Derby and Tail Race Bridge in Ansonia, and track maintenance will occur on various sections of the line.

We appreciate your patience while these service improvements take place.


Would it break the MTA's heart to cooperate with Kevin for once???

And There goes That. :angry: :angry: What can one do, construction repairs are necessary, although taking the line totally out of service is not the way to accomplish it. The MTA is risking losing some of their business forever, as some people won't return once the trains begin to run once more.

Yes, I had contingency plans, but now we need to decide which one to follow. It's only a little more than two weeks away. We living this one by the seat of our pants, folks, and this should illustrate why there won't be any route guides for this one.

Thanks, Nick for the update, as unpleasant as it was.


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#17 KevinKorell

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Posted 18 September 2003 - 11:50 AM

At least he had congingency plans made ahead of time, but man that stinks. I hope the fest this winter goes off without a hitch.

Ed, I hope things run smoothly too in Philadelphia. At least there are plenty more alternatives should something go wrong. In the mid-winter it is less likely that there would be any weekend construction projects necessitating total closures of the lines. But I am ready for anything, because anyone can argue that parts of SEPTA's infrastructure are held together with cardboard, spit, and chewing gum. ;) :angry:


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#18 AlanB

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Posted 19 September 2003 - 10:41 PM

Kevin, I'd vote for either A2 or B2, either one works for me. I like the slightly later lunch time in Norwalk, as opposed to the earlier times should we eat in Stamford.
Alan,

Take care and take trains!

#19 KevinKorell

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Posted 20 September 2003 - 05:45 PM

I'm taking what I hope is my final preview trip to Connecticut tomorrow (Sunday). After checking out what there is to offer in Norwalk (near South Norwalk train station) and also more in Stamford, I can make a final decision on the itinerary.

On my last trip there at the end of August, we went to Bridgeport (which is now out of the running as a lunch stop due to the closure of the Waterbury branch) and Stamford, although with just 1/2 hour in town we did not walk too far. From the internet I have the names of the eateries at the Stamford Town Center mall, which is a few block's walk north of the Stamford train station. However, to eat there during our Fest would necessitate spending 1-1/2 to 2 hours in Stamford, to allow time for the walk. I've already learned there is nothing much in the general area of the station.

Since the Waterbury branch is definitely going to be down, I threw out the original itinerary. On my website for this Fest, the list of possible Saturday alternatives is now the main itinerary page, at least until tomorrow night when I have some more definite information.

While you're there, I've updated my food page to include more places to eat, including at the Stamford Town Center. I'll add still more for Norfolk after my visit tomorrow.

The Metro New York RailFest 2003 homepage has been slightly updated too, to reflect the slight change in plans. At the bottom are links to all of the other pertinent pages, including the Guest List.

Sunday 10/5 remains unchanged: our Secaucus Junction and Montauk excursions will fill the entire day.

It's never to late to join us. Please let me know if you are coming, whether you are bringing somebody else, and whether you can join us on Saturday, Sunday, or both days.


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#20 KevinKorell

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Posted 21 September 2003 - 10:20 PM

I mentioned this in the Chat session tonight, but I'll say it here for the benefit of the rest of you.

My preview mission was both successful and unsuccessful. Successful in terms of knowing where the best place is for a lunch break. UNsuccessful in finding anywhere to eat in Norwalk.

We walked roughly a mile through the streets around the South Norwalk station, on both sides of the tracks. I only found a couple of eateries on Main Street, but ( a ) I could not pronounce their names, and ( b ) there were seedly-looking characters nearby. Other than a very sparsely-stocked coffee stand in the westbound station itself, plus vending machine snacks, this is NOT a suitable place for our group to stop for a good meal.

Our second stop was back in Stamford, and this time instead of spending just 1/2 hour in town, we were there for roughly three hours. We walked to the Stamford Town Center, a downtown shopping mall that I had never entered on previous walks through downtown. When we approached it today, we walked to where I thought the entrance was, and ended up walking into the parking garage, which at least gave us access into the mall itself. I used the time to explore the best walking route between the station and the mall, and found out that it can be done in roughly 15 minutes involving walking through the lower level of the station, around the UBS Building (I could walk through it if I wanted, but nobody else can! ;) ), and through one department store that has an outside entrance.

If you consider two 15-minute walks, plus the walk through the mall itself to get to/from the restaurants (most of which are on the 7th floor via a series of elevators or escalators), that leaves little time to relax and actually eat. So I decided to make it a TWO-hour layover in Stamford.

You know those five alternatives I have on my website? Throw them ALL out now, as this caused me to create something all new. And in doing so this also accomodated Alan's wishes for a later lunch period. :)


I'll get my final decision up on my site in a couple of days. Meanwhile, know that we would be starting out from Grand Central at 9:07 AM, which is an hour more sleep than if we began at 8:07 AM, and we would get back to GCT at 6:40 PM, kind of late but thanks to the two-hour lunch break. We would make a round trip up to Bridgeport first, then return on a "tweener" (one on the opposite half hour from the base service), which would give us time to catch the train from Stamford to New Canaan. Arriving back from New Canaan, we have our 2-hour lunch break, and would then board an eastbound train once more to South Norwalk for the Danbury part of the excursion.

One other thing that I observed: New Canaan-bound trains, which leave Stamford at :57 past the hour, will only wait for the eastbound (New Haven-bound) trains if they are late (the express comes into Stamford at :51). Westbound trains, scheduled into Stamford at :53 past the hour before they run express to Harlem & GCT, if they run late the New Canaan shuttle will NOT wait. I've seen the shuttle and the westbound mainline train passing in opposite directions, where if the shuttle had waited just one more minute, people could have made connections. So that type of a transfer is out, again hence using the available "tweener" which gets to Stamford at :24 past the hour, so we won't have to wait a full hour for the next New Canaan shuttle if we miss it.

Again my two preview trips were well worthwhile. Already up to my teeth in trip reports, perhaps I can put the two preview trips together for yet another one. There's always a story to tell, and certainly AMTRAK and Metro North as always did not let me down! ;)


Kevin Korell


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