It's now Fall, so a fresh thread on what might happen in our ever changing future.
With regard to Fests in the summer, as indicated in our last thread, between the summers of 2016 and 2017 the plan is either a revisit to the Dallas area, or a circular West Coast swing trip. I'll discuss the West Coast shortly.
Dallas I am still watching for projected opening dates. The pieces of the puzzle still needing to come online within the near future are the second phase of the modern Dallas Streetcar, and the South Oak Cliff extension of the DART Blue Line to University of North Texas. Both are currently projected to happen sometime in 2016. If they will both be in revenue service before July 2016, this would be a go. We however know how opening dates can slip, but then DART has been pretty good at sticking to their plans once announced. Should Dallas happen, there are several scenarios that can be added to this trip as extra modules, since a simple Chicago-Dallas-Chicago trip with one full day and parts of 2 others would result in a little less time than we normally spend travelling during these events. Here is a list of ideas that can be added to the week:
- Side trip to Oklahoma City (adds one day and allows riding the Heartland Flyer)
- 24 hour stopover in Little Rock (adds one day and lets us ride Rock Metro Streetcar)
- Longer trip towards Dallas via Kansas City and St. Louis (adds two days, allows riding new KC Streetcar and St. Louis Metrolink light rail)
The above can be single choices added onto a basic Dallas trip, or we can mix and match adding more than one of the above elements. At any rate, besides the 2016 openings, new to us since 2005 we still have the entire Green and Orange Lines, the Blue Line extension to Downtown Rowlett from Garland, the A-Train commuter rail to & from Denton, and possibly the APT People Mover in Las Colinas in Irving.
A new West Coast swing was suggested as well. Overall it would feature revisits to Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles (but not the Bay Area other than passing through), rides on the Coast Starlight and Cascades, and new transit lines that were not yet running when we last visited. New to us in Seattle since 2010 would be the University LINK light rail extension and the First Hill Streetcar line, both yet to open but should be before mid-2016. (Unfortunately the Lakewood extension of Sounder is currently not possible to do on a simple out and back trip.) In Portland, the new MAX Orange Line to Milwaukie and the two loops that constitute the Central Loop would give us some streetcar riding as well -- more than we were able to do in 2010. In Los Angeles, since our 2009 visit the Gold Line now goes to East L.A., and on the other end will be open beyond Pasadena to Azusa by this Spring. Also the Expo Line Phase 1 has been in service several years, but by Spring it will be joined by Phase 2 which runs to Santa Monica within sight of the Pacific Ocean.
For the West Coast I worked out two scenarios, one clockwise and one counter-clockwise. Both would result in 10 days out from Chicago and back to Chicago afterwards, so those on the east coast would add whatever time is necessary from there. The clockwise option would be to take the westbound Southwest Chief CHI-LAX, 1 full day and part of another in Los Angeles, northbound Coast Starlight LAX-PDX, about a half day of MAX & Streetcar with the other half the Cascades to Seattle, a day riding trains in Seattle, ending with boarding the eastbound Empire Builder SEA-CHI. Counter-clockwise, the activity would begin with a westbound trip CHI-SEA on the Empire Builder, finishing the arrival day by riding streetcar & LINK in Seattle, Cascades to Portland, half a day of travel in MAX & Streetcars in Portland, with the other half boarding the southbound Coast Starlight PDX-LAX, and then 2 full days in Los Angeles, the end of the second one being the boarding of the eastbound Southwest Chief LAX-CHI. That is a nutshell. While I have worked out what we would do in each city, all my scenarios are based on weekday travel. Obviously during a 10-day trip there will have to be weekend travel sometime in one of the cities we visit. The dates have not yet been chosen either.
Again I am well aware of the desire to reserve and book Amtrak travel using the redemption rules that expire January 23rd. I share that wish. Since it is not possible to know without a doubt that I have the time off from work I usually take, I hope to make a formal announcement around New Years.... both whether this will be Dallas or the West Coast, and which of the options related to each that will work best for us. In the meantime between now and the end of 2015 we can discuss what can work best for us in all regards.
As for other summer trips, we still also have a Houston-New Orleans trip, that would take in round trip travel on both the City of New Orleans and Sunset Limited, and the 3 light rail lines in Houston as well as the newer streetcar lines in New Orleans (as well as the one we missed riding in 2011). In Houston, by 2018 we should have the Green Line completed as planned, and there should be more available to ride in New Orleans as well.
We also want to consider a revisit to Florida. Since the Florida RailFest in 2008, the TECO Line Streetcar in Tampa has been extended a few blocks, SunRail has come into existence and should have its Phase 2 segments online, TriRail has been re-extended back to the Miami Airport station, Miami Metro Rail Orange Line has been built also to the Airport station, MIA Mover has been built between the Airport Station and the airport itself, and Amtrak Silver Service should finally be extended to that same Airport station location by then from its current Hialeah terminus. In serious discussion is also a Coastal Link parallel TriRail line up to Jupiter, and the rerouting of some of some trains on the legacy TriRail line to a downtown Miami station rather than the airport. Finally, All Aboard Florida should be in service by then.
Moving to winter meets, it is almost certain that we will get together in the New York area in January 2016. The announcement has now been made, and it will be New York Area RailFest 2016. Do plan on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, and at very least Saturday and Sunday activities that will include NJT's Princeton Branch, Long Island Railroad to Port Washington & back, the entire subway between Flushing and Manhattan (including the newest segment to Hudson Yards), a Metro North round trip to North White Plains (White Plains turnback if outbound train is late), three Amtrak trip segments that can still earn 100 points apiece, and some Brooklyn subway riding to and from Nathan's for lunch over two different routes. I'll know more about whether a Friday evening activity is possible closer to the time.
We will take the winter events as they come and not plan too far ahead, since not much is happening on those fronts. Someday perhaps there will be a streetcar to ride in Washington, DC. They built it, but two January fests have passed without us being able to partake of it.
Edited by KevinKorell, 14 November 2015 - 11:53 PM.
Announcement was made for NYRF, refined text here.