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Big Apple RailFest 2005 Poll #2


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Poll: Should we postpone plans to ride the L train until construction is completed? (6 member(s) have cast votes)

Should we postpone plans to ride the L train until construction is completed?

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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 16 November 2004 - 11:42 PM

This poll should only be used by those who will be attending the Big Apple RailFest 2005 in January.

I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the status of the L train. It is scheduled for some bustitution or other disruption of service almost every weekend, and they say this will last well into 2005.

Rather than be hit with last-minute changes to our route, I thought that maybe we should do something else with our time on Saturday, while retaining the LIRR trip to Far Rockaway, the trips on the A and S trains, AirTrain JFK, and the J and M trains.

If we did postpone riding the L line, then the 3 would see the same fate since we were going to transfer between them in Brooklyn.

What other subway lines offer ample outdoor (elevated or surface) trackage that we haven't yet ridden on one of our Fests since 2001?

There is the 1 line in the Bronx up to Van Courtlandt Park. This could be combined with a ride on Metro North at the Marble Hill station. We also have not ridden as a group the N W line to Astoria/Ditmars Blvd., the branch of the A line to Ozone Park/Lefferts Blvd., nor the S Franklin Shuttle in Brooklyn.

So in this poll, choose whether we should stick with the original plan come L or high water ;) , or go with another plan. We would not have enough time for all of the alternate ideas, but we can do something with one or two of them by juggling things around a bit.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#2 EdFindlay

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Posted 17 November 2004 - 06:29 AM

Has it been determined yet if lunch would be moved to either Times Square or Grand Central Terminal if either the ride on the N or the ride on MetroNorth and the 1 are chosen or will it still be at Jamaica?

#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 17 November 2004 - 07:16 AM

Serious consideration has been given, Ed, to reconstructing the day so that we're in Manhattan around lunchtime. From the experience of a small mini-Fest group this past December, Jamaica did not have much to suit us.

One other possibility, if we're taking the N, would be to eat lunch at the Manhattan Mall, which is on Herald Square.

Consider this possibility for Saturday morning: Meet at Grand Central rather than Penn. Take a train to Marble Hill, switch to the 1. Ride 1 north to 242nd St., then all the way back to Times Square (could use 2 3 express trains south of 96th Street as well) and switch there to the N. N to Astoria and back to Herald Square for lunch. Then the LIRR, Rockaways subway trip, AirTrain JFK, and the ride on the J and M lines would be moved to later in the day.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#4 KevinKorell

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Posted 23 November 2004 - 12:11 AM

Meet at Grand Central rather than Penn. Take a train to Marble Hill, switch to the 1. Ride 1 north to 242nd St., then all the way back to Times Square (could use 2 3 express trains south of 96th Street as well) and switch there to the N. N to Astoria and back to Herald Square for lunch. Then the LIRR, Rockaways subway trip, AirTrain JFK, and the ride on the J and M lines would be moved to later in the day.

Forget all that... I can't get it to work. If we try to cram in the LIRR Far Rockaway, the Rockaways trip on the A & S subway lines, AirTrain JFK, the J & M lines, the N to/from Astoria, and the 1 and Metro North, we will have to hit at least one of those lines well after it gets dark. Anything we ride after 4:30 PM it will be hard to see our surroundings.

I've developed another plan for Saturday that would keep the first half of the day as presented in the original itinerary before intact (as far as reaching Jamaica on AirTrain JFK). Then instead of stopping for lunch in Jamaica, we would go on to do the J & M lines, and then work our way back to Manhattan's Herald Square for lunch. After lunch, we would go north on the Seventh Avenue subway all the way to 242nd Street/Van Courtlandt Park, and then back south to 225th Street, where hopefully we have a good connection with a Metro North train to Grand Central Terminal.

The downside to this plan is that our lunch break will be between 2:01 and 2:45 PM, kind of late but that is when we would be closest to the greatest concentration of restaurants. Can you hold out that long?

Second drawback is the risk involved with switching from a transit line to a commuter line (in this case in Marble Hill) rather than the preferred other way around. If we miss the intended Metro North train, it is 46 minutes until the next one, and it will be very dark by then. Of course we would not be stranded; there is always the frequent 1 train running overhead.

This plan leaves out the Astoria Line, but then we have to leave something for the next New York fest, right?


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ





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