34 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

One issue might be we can no longer email you from the board only send PM so those who do not have your email cannot email you.

Regulars to the board have my e-mail, and I did send out the initial announcement by e-mail mainly for those who don't frequent the board as much. So all should have it.  Potential new people who might wish to join have figured out how to contact me via the board, at which time they can share their e-mail address privately and I give them mine.  Understand the need to keep facts in one place so that I don't have to search many places to put together Fest related documents when the time comes to work on them.

 

I do it this way because from time to time we do understandably have people who don't wish to publicize the fact on this public forum that they will be in travel at a certain time.

[KevinKorell]

Here is a bold suggestion, if you:

• Found Sunday evening's hotel rates in Chicago to be too high
• Are an earlybird able to go to sleep early Sunday night and arise very early Monday morning

 

There are still a few reasonably priced hotels available Sunday night in the Milwaukee area -- either downtown or closer to the airport.  You could ride the Empire Builder from St. Paul to Milwaukee, stay there overnight, and then take a Hiawatha train early Monday morning to Chicago. The catch is that Train 330 leaves MKE at 6:15 AM, but it would be necessary to get you to Chicago before the first Fest train at 9 AM.  You may however really appreciate doing this if the eastbound Empire Builder is running extremely late.  And this does get you a paid cheap tier qualifying Amtrak Guest Rewards segment!

[KevinKorell]

Itinerary as always may be subject to minor changes.  I just saw an item that Northstar schedule will be changing in early June.  No word on how drastic the changes might be  So we may have to adjust that Saturday accordingly.

[KevinKorell]

While in Pittsburgh, would anyone be interested in a tour of the Duquesne Incline?   The Incline's website states that tours are free for groups of 10 or more, which I believe we may have. I am trying to determine what they mean by "group rates apply", whether to get the tour we need to pay for the Incline under their group rate, or whether it will still be more cost effective for us to use the ConnectCard and free transfer between the bus and Incline.  The tour includes a visit to the machine room to observe the original hoisting equipment from 1877 in operation.

 

If folks want the tour (no idea how long it takes) I should be able to allocate more time, either by leaving slightly earlier in the morning, or taking a later bus from the Incline to Gateway Center to begin our light rail trips.  Remember we have plenty of time to kill in the evening between end of Fest activities, dinner, and the scheduled boarding of the Capitol Limited around midnight, so things can be juggled or shifted later if need be.

Edited by KevinKorell, 23 May 2015 - 11:36 PM.
added the word Juggled

[KevinKorell]

I am focused on Pittsburgh this weekend, and will try to optimize the itinerary to best fit our needs and minimize dwells.  The Blue Line trips to Library and South Hills Village can be swapped if necessary.  And depending on where we choose to have dinner, that could determine which lines we ride.  One possibility for dinner in Pittsburgh might be in the North Shore neighborhood.  If that ends up being the case, we could do our light rail trip to Allegheny later in the day to coincide with it, and concentrate more on the South Shore during the day.  And since PAT's fare structure surcharges passengers for every transfer, attempts are being made to minimize such transfers and ride through as much as possible, although our schedule may not allow for this. We still will more than likely do Duquesne Incline in the morning and Monongahela Incline in the late afternoon. Duquesne requires a short 5-10 minute bus ride between downtown and the base of the Incline, while Monongahela is within the Station Square area and adjacent to a light rail station. 

 

I have not heard any reaction yet on whether people want to do a tour at the Duquesne Incline. That could affect the timing of our subsequent activities as well.

[pennyk]

I am neutral regarding the tour of the Duquesne Incline.

[GG-1]

Aloha

 

If by some miracle  make it I would love the tour.

If folks want the tour (no idea how long it takes)

 

[KevinKorell]

Itinerary updated as of 5/25/15, to reflect changes for Thursday, 7/16/15 in Pittsburgh. As previously discussed, the Library and South Hills Village branches of the Blue Line were swapped so that we do South Hills Village first, and thus get to lunch at a more reasonable time. A correction was also necessary since one expected trip either no longer existed or was a mistake.  The downside of the change is that one more trip segment and transfer become necessary in order to still ride the Red Line.  In addition it should be pointed out that no matter how the day is structured, the schedule requires a 26 minute dwell at Washington Junction between the 2 branches.  If we did go further north and come back south to kill that time, we would then cross the zone fare line twice when passing Washington Junction, thus costing us more in fares. Those are the pitfalls of the lack of an unlimited instrument such as a Day Pass.

[KevinKorell]

Itinerary has had several minor changes for the day of Saturday, July 18th, our full day in the Twin Cities.  Here is what was updated:

 

• Some calling times in St. Paul and Minneapolis were adjusted to adhere to recent timetable changes.  Except for the next bullet point, the change was no more than 2 minutes earlier or later.
• Per our discussion on a recent Sunday chat, the over 3 hours of dwell time at Mall of America was too long. Therefore, the two segments from St. Paul Union Depot to Downtown East and from Downtown East to Mall of America were pushed back approximately one hour 12 minutes. This allows people to sleep a little later in the event we arrive late from Chicago the night before, and it reduces the Mall of America dwell time to a little over 2 hours, which should be sufficient If we have to split up to different food courts or if some do want time to walk around for a bit.
• Last timepoint of Saturday's activities changed from Union Depot to Central Station since it is closer to hotels we will be returning to.
• With dinner location in Minneapolis undecided, I added a segment from Target Field Station to a generic "dinner location", and another from that location back to St. Paul.  The latter of course is subject to change should dinner take longer than the time allotted.

 

Once dinner is decided, the itinerary will be readjusted with definitive times for the chosen location.

[KevinKorell]

 Minneapolis/St. Paul scanner frequencies page has now been completed for this Fest.  Next project currently in the works is the fares for Chicago.