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Philadelphia Area RailFest 2005: Here we go again


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 13 February 2005 - 12:51 PM

Yes, here we go again, yet another rail fest in the Philadelphia Area: The Philadelphia Area RailFest 2005. We are holding it in March this year, so the weather may be a little warmer and dryer than it was at PARF 2004. The weekend is March 19-20, 2005.

New to everyone involved with our fests will be the R5 Thorndale-Paoli line to Thorndale, the R7 Trenton to Trenton, the R8 Fox Chase to Fox Chase, and the 36 trolley via Elmwood Avenue between Eastwick and Center City. Last year we rode the R5 only as far as Overbrook, but now we will make it to the end at Thorndale.

We will also ride the 34 trolley along Baltimore Avenue, which we did as part of a minifest in March of 2004. Segments of the R1 Airport line and R3 Media-Elwyn line will be covered again, and we will also ride the 101 Media and 102 Sharon Hill trolleys once more in their entirety. Included in our itinerary also is a portion of the 100 Norristown line, which we rode entirely in 2001. We also will ride twice on the West Philadelphia portion Market-Frankford line, which we covered fully in 2004.

In New Jersey, we will ride the entire RiverLINE (covered at a minifest last March) and then take the PATCO Speedline between Camden and Philadelphia (we rode it all in 2001). On Saturday evening, an optional post-dinner ride on the entire underground Broad Street Subway and its Broad-Ridge Spur will be taken.

So there is a good mix of old and new in this fest. Throw in a couple of healthy walks at Radnor and Eastwick and we will be getting our exercise as well.

My homepage for this fest is at http://pages.prodigy...lafest/home.htm . It has links to the usual restaurant listings, lists of all transit and commuter lines in the area, scanner frequencies, and a history of previous fests between 2001 and early 2005, leading up to this gathering. Coming soon will be a hotel listing for those planning to come from out of town locations.

If you are planning to attend, or know you absolutely cannot, please let me know via e-mail. I am forming the participant list this weekend.

I have tossed around the idea of whether to include route guides with this fest. I have decided that they won't be a total bother, since we are doing so much that we had done before. I have copied and altered guide pages from our past fests in 2001 and 2004 to fit this one. In doing so, half of the guide pages are already complete.

The only thing that will concern us is whatever SEPTA plans to do with their timetables if they don't get any more emergency funding. In that case, a fare increase is a certainty, and some service cuts may be coming as well. Barring any drastic changes to the timetables in March, hopefully we will be able to follow the tentative itinerary as it stands now. But there could be some major changes if connections are no longer possible where they were planned. An alternative backup plan could be to ride NJ TRANSIT's Atlantic City Line to the end and back. And although a little more expensive, Amtrak could be substituted for some of the SEPTA travels on the Keystone and Northeast Corridors.

Any changes to the itinerary or other aspects of the fest will be communicated via e-mail and here on the OTOL Forums.

Five weeks to go!!


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#2 KevinKorell

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Posted 13 February 2005 - 10:52 PM

Participant List now available online.

If your name is not on there, but it should be, please let me know. Also, if your name is there, but you think it should be removed, then let me know that too.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 05 March 2005 - 05:35 PM

Restaurant listing has been updated.

Hotel listing is now available.

The itinerary has been slightly fine-tuned. No times were changed, but more downtown stops were added at the start and end of each day since participants will have different origins and destinations.

Edited by KevinKorell, 05 March 2005 - 05:57 PM.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#4 KevinKorell

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Posted 10 March 2005 - 02:44 PM

Costs pages are now completed.

Most of us are going for SEPTA's weekly TransPass as the best fare instrument. Bill Magee is currently taking orders from participants so he can pre-purchase them for us. Those currently on the list should have received an e-mail to that effect with the details last weekend.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ





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