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WARF 2015 post-fest thoughts and housekeeping


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 19 January 2015 - 04:06 PM

As I head home to NJ on the Acela, I reflect on another fun winter weekend Fest. It was nice seeing all the faces again, whether regulars or new to the group. Thanks to all who took the time out to participate with us on the rails. We had a surprise in Piotr, we got to meet Ryan, and we were honored to have Don Weinstein with us, who I consider the father of these Fests, who passed the torch to me so many years ago. It was nice to have both Don and Ross along with us to provide the local commentary.

After ominous predictions of rain for Sunday, it turned out to be a little wet on Sunday morning, but nice enough that afternoon that some of us could combine a healthy walk with seeing the streetcar in passenger-less operation.

Now as always your thoughts on the weekend past are welcome. And please don't forget, if you have not already done so, to post your Amtrak mileage for the Tally, including the Baltimore-Washington run we made on Saturday afternoon on Regional 147.

I had a good time not only riding trains and hanging out with everyone, but fulfilling my own mission to start the year off with 1700 tier AGR points courtesy of my many shuttles between Washington and Alexandria. More than 1/6 of the way to Select Plus!

The work continues as things have to be updated post-Fest, and I prepare to write a report.

Again thanks to everyone for another successful event!


Kevin Korell


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#2 steve4031

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Posted 19 January 2015 - 10:40 PM

Thanks Kevin for another great weekend riding the rails. I enjoyed the new mileage in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Good job sorting out the mess with metro.

#3 pennyk

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Posted 19 January 2015 - 10:53 PM

I totally agree with Steve. Thanks for a great fest and post fest metro rides and deli lunch.

#4 KevinKorell

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Posted 19 January 2015 - 11:34 PM

Monday housekeeping activities:

 

Fest Homepage is rewritten in past tense, reflecting what happened instead of what we hoped would happen.  Also removed links to costs page (since costs will inevitably change, and Maryland MTA policies were confusing anyhow!), restaurant and hotel listings. The latter two can as always be found on my Rails to Restaurants and Rails to Rooms pages respectively.

 

Last 2 paragraphs of the Fest History were updated to show our WARF 2015 event and to update future plans based on rail lines that have opened recently or will open soon.  Washington remains one of the cities on the list of places to return to as its modern streetcar line was not yet ready to carry passengers.

 

More coming in the next week or so.



Kevin Korell


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#5 KevinKorell

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Posted 20 January 2015 - 12:08 PM

Tuesday housekeeping:

 

Fest Scorecard homepage received yellow background for WMATA Metro indicating we re-aced the system once we stepped off the train at Wiehle/Reston East. It was aced back in 2005 but then they had to go and build the Silver Line so when I instituted the yellow backgrounds about a year ago I left that one without it.   Incidentally, MARC is a commuter rail system that we will never ace, unless people are willing to spend one night in Frederick, MD and another night in Martinsburg, WV and do so on all weekdays.

 

The specific WMATA scorecard page was updated to give us credit for riding the Silver Line. Trackage ridden is ALL, and trackage not ridden is NONE.



Kevin Korell


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#6 KevinKorell

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Posted 20 January 2015 - 12:24 PM

Good job sorting out the mess with metro.

I only showed this to a few people, but I'll share it with everyone.  When I found out from Bill that there were serious changes to the Metro schedule, I went into my trip planning mode quickly. Unfortunately by that time I was in a hotel room in Woodbridge, NJ already (and it was well after midnight), in advance of my early morning Acela trip from Metropark down to Washington. I had no large paper to scrawl things out before putting the revised plan online.  So, knowing we were also going to Baltimore, I had no choice but to channel my inner Francis Scott Key and use the back of an envelope, the same envelope that contained all my printed Amtrak E-tickets.  So what follows below will always to me be an icon of this Fest:

 

envelope.jpg



Kevin Korell


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#7 KevinKorell

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Posted 21 January 2015 - 02:01 PM

Wednesday's project was getting my own personal itinerary done.  As indicated, the whole Fest was a microcosm of my 4-day weekend journey. But this has every train I set foot or butt on.



Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#8 steve4031

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Posted 22 January 2015 - 08:44 PM

That envelope should go in the art museum.

#9 KevinKorell

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Posted 24 January 2015 - 07:31 PM

Saturday's housekeeping project was updating of the Fest Status by Cities page. 



Kevin Korell


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