I don't want to be a buzz-kill, but I want to impose my reality on this Mendota group, who I wish well in achieving their 200 AGR tier qualifying points.
As I mentioned in my new MWRF Walking Distances thread, I really would prefer to make the 4:02 PM express train inbound from Blue Island to Chicago LaSalle Street. If the worst happens with that transfer, we wait another 16 minutes to 4:18 PM, and then take an annoyingly slow SEPTA-like trip between closely located stations that one could throw a rock between. The result is that the arrival time into Chicago becomes 5:04 PM, a good deal later than the Fest calls for. This in turn allows those coming in on that later train to have 51 minutes to detrain, travel from LaSalle to Union Station, and prepare to board Amtrak 383. It is a closer call than some may have expected with the earlier Express train, but I wanted to throw that one out there in my practice of being candid.
