Future Fests as of Summer & Fall 2012
#1
Posted 26 July 2012 - 12:32 PM
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
#2
Posted 26 July 2012 - 04:44 PM
Technicalities suck and legal name changes are a mess after it happens.
#3
Posted 26 July 2012 - 05:06 PM
#4
Posted 26 July 2012 - 07:31 PM
#5
Posted 03 September 2012 - 08:51 PM
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
#6
Posted 03 September 2012 - 08:56 PM
If an all day round trip on the Downeaster does become possible, we could pencil that in for Saturday, and move the Lowell trip to Friday in place of the Old Colony trip, something we've already covered.
And now moving to the summer, we DO know the schedule for the Norfolk train. The original plan has been to arrive into Richmond, VA on #80, have a 2 hour 40 minute layover, then #95 to Newport News, and the Thruway bus to Norfolk, arriving there 7:50 PM. With the new direct train #125, we would have to wait in Richmond until 6:26 (making the total wait 4 hours 21 minutes, rather long). The direct train gets to Norfolk 8:50 PM, an hour later than the Ambus from Newport News. But consideration has to be given to the fact that there are not many hotels in downtown Norfolk, so some will still need to ride the light rail to get where they have to go. It will make for a late night after a very early morning start. The return trip from Norfolk to Washington still will be done by Amtrak Thruway bus leaving Norfolk 3 PM, and Train #66 from Newport News to Washington. But do share your thoughts on the two waiting periods in Richmond, and whether you feel it's worth waiting so long to ride over the newer route.
Here is another issue to consider, and this one deals with our transfer between the Silver Star and the Piedmont. I figured on doing so in Raleigh, given it's a big city, state capitol, etc. and the Piedmont (#75) begins there which increases the possibility of everyone getting the seats they want. It's about a 3-hour layover. If you book trips separately, you can still do this. The two trains run concurrently between Cary and Raleigh, so in an emergency if we were three hours late one could still short-turn in Cary. However if you book Jacksonville to Charlotte and let the system book the transfer, it will force the switch to happen at Cary instead of Raleigh. It's a safer connection, but the layover time now increases to 3 hours 42 minutes. So we need to decide before booking where this change of trains should take place. This might be a case of different sub-groups within the Fest group doing different things depending on their budgets and how they ticket themselves throughout the Fest. For now, the itinerary shows times in both Cary and Raleigh.
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
#7
Posted 07 September 2012 - 03:44 PM
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
#8
Posted 07 September 2012 - 05:55 PM
#9
Posted 13 September 2012 - 08:11 PM
#10
Posted 13 September 2012 - 09:34 PM
Generally, it's a vacation that you're taking for yourself, only you're doing it with other fellow railfans. So it's on your own with the travel (Amtrak, various transit costs in the cities we visit) and the necessary hotels where you would be staying. There are a few cases where people have gotten together and shared accommodations to save money, but for the most part everyone has their own tastes with hotels, often going to the places where they belong to loyalty programs. Because of this, we have never qualified for any group rates.
Everyone's welcome to join us, but the core of our group has been doing this since 2001 (a few even sooner). You can see the history of our OTOL Rail Fests here. The last 35 Fests we've had each have their own homepages, here.
So to determine your costs, when a Fest is officially announced, I'll provide the number of nights you would need to make hotel reservations for yourself in each city, and I also give the estimated transit costs (excluding your travel to & from the venue of the Fest) so you can plan on purchasing the correct fare for your needs. Remember that in some cities, you will probably need to ride that city's transit system to get to & from your hotel, which would increase your transit costs from those incurred on the "official" part of the Fest where we ride as a group. We also often ride Amtrak between our host cities, or take a round trip Amtrak excursion out of a particular city. In that case, with fares so varied you would need to check Amtrak's website to see what you would need to pay.
Furthermore, like on any vacation trip, you have to eat. We often opt for food court type meals, which allows everyone to get what they want, or we might hit a particular fast food restaurant. We do try to have one or two larger meals together, such as in a reasonably priced steak house or an Italian restaurant.
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
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