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January 2008 Rail Fest


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 30 August 2007 - 12:51 PM

The annual winter Rail Fest taking place in January of 2008 will be over the weekend of Friday, January 18th through Sunday, January 20th. That Monday 1/21 is the MLK holiday, and it will make it easier for those travelling longer distances to return home after the Sunday activities. We have not in the past run into problems with hotels despite the fact it is a holiday weekend. Potential participants have requested this weekend over the preceeding one.

As for what the activities will be, that is not yet decided. Notice that it was not referred to as BARF 2008. One of the possibilities could be to ride the Atlantic City Line and one SEPTA route in Philadelphia, and if that happens BARF would not be an appropriate name.

The activities in New York City should include:
  • Entire G line
  • A out to Howard Beach and return
  • V route through 53rd Street tunnel
  • M route through Montague tunnel
  • 2 line to Flatbush Avenue
Some of the above are only possible on a weekday, so they would have to be part of a Friday evening run.

For 2008, our rotation between the three New York City-area commuter rail agencies comes to NJ TRANSIT. All of the following cannot be done in one Fest, but here is the list of activities from which to choose from:
  • Gladstone Branch to Gladstone
  • Morris & Essex Lines to Hackettstown *
  • Montclair-Boonton Line to Hackettstown *
  • Raritan Valley Line to High Bridge *
  • Pascack Valley Line to Spring Valley **
  • Atlantic City Line to Atlantic City
  • Newark Light Rail between Newark Penn Station and Broad Street Station
* Only possible on a weekday, would have to be done on a Friday.
** Weekend round trips should soon be possible.

It's still early, so there is plenty of time to agree on what our next major event will include.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#2 KevinKorell

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Posted 05 September 2007 - 10:40 PM

In thinking about activities for the eventual fest in January, I have come to a few conclusions.
  • We will need a Friday run once more to get subway lines in that are not available on weekends, or that stand the chance of being out due to weekend construction.
  • It would be best consolidate the remaining subway trips to take place all day Saturday, leaving Sunday for commuter rail activities. (In an original draft for BARF 2008 that some saw last year at BARF 2007, I had a subway trip on Sunday and a Metro North Hudson Line trip on Saturday (with a return from POU on Amtrak).
  • I've also had on my website a proposed Metro New York Railfest 200X and a proposed Garden State Railfest 200X. Those can take place anytime. The activities on those fests can be mixed and matched along with BARF 2008 to put together the best programs of activities possible for each event.
  • I think that since our Sunday activity should involve NJ TRANSIT, we will remain in North Jersey and eliminate from contention (for now) the Atlantic City Line. This ensures that the event will, as expected, be known as the Big Apple RailFest (BARF) 2008. With that said, what lines would be the most popular? Why, it's two lines that you currently cannot ride on weekends, thus there are no available timetables. The Gladstone Branch is a 7-day service, but it continues to be bustituted until the end of September for trackwork. And I think that most railfans if there is a hole in their North Jersey activities, it includes the Pascack Valley Line. We could also ride the Newark LRT to connect to or from the Gladstone Branch trip in one direction.
So with that in mind, I am fine tuning the BARF 2008 itinerary as well as the future MNYF and GSRF and I'll release all three in a few days, albeit with BARF 2008's Sunday events pending the availability of timetables.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 07 September 2007 - 12:25 AM

  • I've also had on my website a proposed Metro New York Railfest 200X and a proposed Garden State Railfest 200X. Those can take place anytime. The activities on those fests can be mixed and matched along with BARF 2008 to put together the best programs of activities possible for each event.

So now, after an all nighter during which I worked this out, I have created:

FOUR FESTS

I have taken everything that our group has not yet ridden, in the locations of New York City, suburban New York, North Jersey, South Jersey, and Philadelphia, and worked them into what can be 4 different rail fests. Here are the details of each:

1. Big Apple Railfest 2008: This fest will take place as mentioned over the weekend of January 18-20, 2008. There will be an all-subway run on Friday evening, taking in parts of the G, V, F, and M. Saturday will be more subway riding, including the A out to Howard Beach, and the E between Manhattan and Queens Plaza, the 2 to Flatbush Avenue and the southern portion of the Lexington Avenue line (4) between Bowling Green and Grand Central. Sunday's activity as mentioned before will be 2 NJ TRANSIT lines, the new weekend service on the Pascack Valley Line and the Gladstone Branch. Actual calling times will be posted by late October when timetables are available.

The other 3 fests will be held when possible and in no particular order:

2. Garden State RailFest: Like some previous fests, this one will concentrate on New Jersey but there will be minimal riding in New York City and Philadelphia as well. The Friday run will be a trip out to Hackettstown, utilizing the Montclair-Boonton Line outbound and Morristown Line inbound. Saturday will start out with some unfinished business from October 2002, namely AirTrain Newark. From there we ride an Amtrak Regional to Philadelphia, and then take a round trip on NJ TRANSIT's Atlantic City Line. On the way back we stop off in Lindenwold, where we can have dinner either near the station or at a steakhouse a short drive away. Sunday's only activity, for now, will be riding the only SEPTA line we haven't ridden in its entirety on a full official fest, the R3 to Elwyn.

I have split and renamed Metro New York RailFest 200X. We had our first Metro New York RailFest in October of 2003, so these two for now will be Metro New York Railfest 2 and 3.

3. Metro New York Railfest #2: This one should almost complete our coverage of the Long Island Railroad and Metro North Railroad. On Friday, we start out just like we did for BARF 2007 by riding the 7 train to Vernon-Jackson and then originating from Long Island City. Only this time, we will get the trackage via Hunterspoint Avenue and access Jamaica via the main line. The train chosen just happens to be a Montauk Branch diesel train to Patchogue that runs via the Central Branch. We detrain in Babylon and return to Manhattan on the Babylon Branch. On Saturday we go LIRR crazy, as we ride first on the Hempstead Branch to Hempstead, take a healthy walk about a mile to West Hempstead, take the West Hempstead Branch to Valley Stream, take a round trip on the Long Beach Branch, return to Jamaica, and finally a round trip on the Port Jefferson Branch ending up back in Manhattan. Sunday we do Metro North, first going out on the New Haven Line to New Haven, then returning to Bridgeport to do the Waterbury Branch before returning to Manhattan once more. Waterbury was one original plan back in 2003 that we were unable to do because of construction and resulting bustitution.

4. Metro New York Railfest #3: The Friday trip will be a round trip out to High Bridge on NJ TRANSIT's Raritan Valley Line. Then on Saturday, the day starts with a round trip on the LIRR Oyster Bay Branch, and then Amtrak up to Poughkeepsie followed by riding the entire MNRR Hudson Line back to Manhattan. Sunday's activity has not yet been determined ... or this could be just a two-day event.

Now the biggest problem is where to find the available weekend days to do all of these fests. Hopefully with a relatively shorter summer trip in 2008 to Florida, we will have the time and resources to do something in March, August, or both.

Edited by KevinKorell, 21 September 2007 - 11:17 PM.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ





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