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Announcing Midwest RailFest 2015 (MWRF)


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 22 February 2015 - 12:57 AM

On Track OnLine (OTOL) Midwest RailFest 2015: Pittsburgh, Minneapolis/St. Paul, & Chicago, July 15-21, 2015

 

 

 

Our Summer event for this year is ready to be announced. The OTOL Midwest RailFest 2015 (MWRF) will feature trips on Amtrak's Pennsylvanian, Capitol Limited, and Empire Builder, and visits to Pittsburgh and the Twin Cities in Minnesota.

 

 

This 7-day journey will start on the East Coast as we board the Pennsylvanian in either New York or Philadelphia (or anywhere else you may feel convenient). The day-long journey ends that same evening in Pittsburgh.

 

 

We have wanted for years to visit Pittsburgh. They have a light rail system operated by Port Authority of Allegheny County that runs primarily within and well south of the city's downtown core, but was also recently extended under the Allegheny River to serve the North Side district by the sports stadiums. Unfortunately, former lines to Drake and "over the hill" via Allentown no longer operate.

 

The city also has two operating funiculars (Inclines) which will provide us with both fun and scenic views. Pittsburgh has been avoided until now both because it lacked a Day Pass fare instrument and because the resulting cash fare payments with zone and light rail surcharges would have meant carrying around a lot of exact change. While there is still no Day Pass, they now have a smart card we can just load it up for our needs as we recently did in Washington, DC.

 

 

Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Twin Cities, are now tied together with the second of two light rail lines operated by Metro Transit. The older line runs between downtown Minneapolis and Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport as well as the nation's largest shopping mall, the Mall of America. Metro Transit also runs a commuter rail line known as Northstar, which travels between Target Field Station and the town of Big Lake.

 

 

The Twin Cities will of course be accessed by a round trip between Chicago and St. Paul on the Empire Builder. Given the train's recent issues with severe delays, this will be an underlying concern during our trip. A westbound late evening arrival time into St. Paul should work, but we only have one full day the next day to accomplish all of our planned activities. The eastbound train supposedly leaves around 8 AM, and should get into Chicago in the afternoon. No activities are planned for Chicago other than getting to our hotels due to the possibility of a late arrival.

 

 

Once we come back from that phase of the Fest, we enter its third phase, which will cover a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago that we have not yet ridden as a group since our first visit in 2003, and we will also do a Metra run to Blue Island that will feature outbound and inbound trips over different routes. We also will ride the people mover at O'Hare Airport, and take a "points run" journey up to Glenview and back on Amtrak.

 

 

Again, this event will span a total of 7 days, Wednesday through Tuesday. You will need to allot more time to get to Philadelphia or New York by the respective departure time of Train #43, the Pennsylvanian, on Wednesday, July 15th. Those coming from other locations not wishing to do the Pittsburgh phase can meet us in Chicago in time for the Friday, July 17th westbound departure of Train #7/27, the Empire Builder.

 

 

The last activity in Chicago on Tuesday morning, July 21st, is the only planned activity of the day. Those needing to travel east who wish to do the Chicago activities with the group can plan on taking eastbound Amtrak trains on Tuesday evening, including the Lake Shore Limited, Capitol Limited, and the Cardinal, which operates that day.

 

 

This event has three segments, through which participants can elect to attend all activities. Your finances and time constraints may only allow you to participate fewer days. This is permissible if you wish to join us later or leave us sooner. I believe this event is well structured so that one can do only the Pennsylvanian trip and Pittsburgh, only the Twin Cities round trip, or just spend the couple of days in Chicago.
 

The travel details you need to know for this trip:

 

 

Hotels

 

 

  • Pittsburgh: Arriving Tuesday, July 15th evening, departing Wednesday, July 16th (1 night). Note that we don't leave Pittsburgh until late Wednesday night, so you may wish to make arrangements at check-out to have your luggage held until that evening.
  • Twin Cities: Because of the scheduled Empire Builder late night arrival and early morning departure, it is strongly suggested that you choose hotels in downtown St. Paul. There are many hotels throughout the metropolitan area in Minneapolis and Bloomington, but they will require long travels at unpleasant hours, possibly by taxi or car service if the light rail is not running. Arriving Friday evening, July 17th, and departing Sunday morning, July 19th (2 nights).
  • Chicago: Arriving Sunday evening, July 19th, and departing Tuesday morning, July 21st.
  • Plus any others as you travel on your own to the start of the Fest in New York or Philadelphia, and home from the end of the Fest in Chicago a week later.

 

 

Amtrak

 

 

  • Leave New York mid-morning or Philadelphia early afternoon of Wednesday, July 15th, arriving in Pittsburgh the same night on westbound Train #43, Pennsylvanian.
  • Leave Pittsburgh late night of Thursday, July 16th, arriving in Chicago morning of Friday, July 17th on westbound Train #29, Capitol Limited.
  • Leave Chicago afternoon of Friday, July 17th, arriving St. Paul the same evening on westbound Train #7/27, Empire Builder.
  • Leave St. Paul morning of Sunday, July 19th, arriving Chicago same day on eastbound Train #8/28, Empire Builder.
  • Plus any other trips you need to take to get to New York or Philadelphia before the departure of Train #43 on July 15th, and after last Chicago activity on July 21st.

The homepage with further description of each day's activities can be found here.  On it you will find links to our itinerary, lists of rail transit and commuter rail lines in our host cities, scanner frequencies, lists of restaurants and hotels near transit stations, and other helpful links for visitors to each city.

 

The tentative itinerary, which as always remains tentative until such time as we execute the plan, is here.  As we found out in Salt Lake City last year, plans can change due to circumstances beyond our control, so things may require some last minute tweaking. Where we ultimately decide to have lunch and dinner in the cities we visit may also determine what lines we ride and where we board and detrain.

 

 

As always, the event will have both a basic Participant List and closer to the time a confidential contact list that has everyone's hotel plans. I am asking for your help in making this Fest as much of a success as the previous ones have been. Thus I ask you to please follow these directions to make things easier for me to keep track of everyone's plans.

 

At this time please send me ONLY your intentions to participate, your hometown (if not already known), and which days you will attend -- either all or the specific days. Please do NOT at this time send your hotel choices or Amtrak room assignments if already have them. Please put MWRF Attendance in the subject line.

 

At a LATER TIME we can discuss the contact listing as well as your hotel choices and Amtrak reservations. I will ask at that time that you label your e-mail subject line appropriately with Amtrak or contact information for our sleeper room chart and the confidential contact list.

 

I have posted this announcement on the OTOL board as well as a one-time e-mail to those who have participated before or expressed interest. Because it is impossible to play to the two different audiences, all further updates (with the exception of e-mailing the contact list) will be made on the OTOL board in this forum. It is imperative for you to keep up with possible itinerary changes and any updates that might be pertinent to everyone.

 

 

If you have any questions about our plans please e-mail me instead of other participants. I can answer your question quicker than if it is relayed through another person. If you wish to help out in the planning, such as finding appropriate restaurants for decent sit-down meals in the three cities, please contact me. There are no committees and no registrations required to attend -- all I ask is that you let me know your intentions and not leave all of the advance planning to me. Anyone who wishes to help out is welcome to do so!

 

 

Finally, I know that all of us are getting older, and that mobility is not as easy for many of us as it once was. I try to plan these trips to give us a reasonable dwell at the transfer points so that we are sure to make the next train. However sometimes the transit schedules don't allow for this. For example if there is a choice between waiting 10 minutes and waiting 40 minutes, I will choose the 10 minute wait because the idea is to keep moving to insure our total coverage of the rail lines we came to see. As we found out in Baltimore this past January, some made it and some didn't. There also may be long walks that I don't know about having not been much to Pittsburgh and never having been to Minneapolis or St. Paul. I have no idea whether the blocks are long or short, nor what the terrain might be. If you feel that you are unable to walk uphill or a few long blocks in temperatures that may be above 90 degrees, then you may want to consider alternate plans. While best efforts are made to accommodate everyone in the group, due to what may turn out to be somewhat tight schedules, an itinerary change may not be possible at the last minute.

 

 

Looking forward to another successful summer event!



Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#2 KevinKorell

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Posted 22 February 2015 - 01:11 AM

Let me add here that the chosen dates may seem strange to some, and may even be inconvenient to others. Why is this fest running from Wednesday through Tuesday?   My initial itinerary had basically the same plan only leaving the East Coast on Sunday and finishing up in Chicago on Saturday morning. However when looking at hotel availability in the Twin Cities and sleeper availability on the Empire Builder, the days had to be shifted because some might have been left out or put into higher sleeper buckets.  

 

The original itinerary also had us riding Metro UP-NW service to Harvard, which has a convenient round trip on a Saturday morning and also takes advantage of the weekend Metra pass. Shifting this to a weekday made that trip impossible, especially on a day that the Fest ends where some need to catch their trains back home.  A late morning Amtrak run to Glenview was the best alternative.

 

There is no doubt that this will be an expensive trip nevertheless for some. With a personal interest towards keeping costs down, while still visiting the rail properties on appropriate days of the week, what has resulted is what I believe to be the best alternative.  Again if your off time from your employment must be a calendar week, perhaps you can still join us for one or two of the three cities visited. In the meantime, keep earning those hotel loyalty points and Amtrak Guest Rewards points so that perhaps you can defray some of the costs you will incur on this trip.



Kevin Korell


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#3 pennyk

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Posted 22 February 2015 - 08:33 AM

Thanks Kevin.   Apparently a lot of work went into the planning, un-planning and re-planning of this fest.

 

In your announcement, you mention:

 

 

 

There also may be long walks that I don't know about having not been much to Pittsburgh and never having been to Minneapolis or St. Paul. I have no idea whether the blocks are long or short, nor what the terrain might be.

 

Because not everyone can walk as fast as you can, and at this time we are not aware of how far our "treks" will be between connections, I request that any locals or members familiar with the area chime in asap.  If it is obvious that a connection cannot be made by walking at a moderate pace, please mention it so that something may be done well in advance of the fest. (Although I am a pretty fast walker, I am aware that not everyone is able to "run" to catch a train.)



#4 saxman

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Posted 22 February 2015 - 06:46 PM

Thanks, Kevin.

 

I booked 43 for myself already. Looks like roomettes on the EB are pretty steep right now though.



#5 KevinKorell

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Posted 22 February 2015 - 07:54 PM

What about the westbound?



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#6 AlanB

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Posted 22 February 2015 - 09:11 PM

Well I used points going west, but it would have been almost $700 for my mom & I on the Cap/EB between PGH and MSP. We'll go coach coming back to Chicago.

And I don't know about others, but I had cheaper hotels with the old dates than what I just got with the new dates. With the old schedule I was only using points for MSP, as that was the most expensive place to stay. I had decent rates for PGH & CHI.

Now I'm using points for both CHI & MSP, and spending more than $250 for the one night in PGH. I'm hoping that I will earn enough points in time to convert the PGH hotel over to points. I didn't have enough HH points for all.
Alan,

Take care and take trains!

#7 KevinKorell

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Posted 23 February 2015 - 03:29 AM

I was looking at Hilton family properties in St. Paul, since all TWO of them are walking distance from Union Depot. There is the alternative is anyone is so inclined (after riding the Pittsburgh inclines) to stay within or closer to Minneapolis. That will mean catching the Green Line from Union Depot in St. Paul and riding it west to Minneapolis at whatever late hour the Empire Builder shows up. True the Green Line does run 24 hours, but overnight headways if it's the wee hours are about 45 minutes to an hour.

 

So downtown St. Paul has an Embassy Suites and a Doubletree.  The Doubletree was going for $152 Friday and $107 Saturday, but when one tries to book both nights they get a rate of $143 or so per night. It may be better if you plan to stay at the same hotel both nights to book them separately.  The Embassy Suites had either no or very little availability, and they were not allowing use of anything (no AAA, AARP, etc) but their rack rate of $259 most nights.  I did an HH points redemption there for the first night, and the $107 at Doubletree for Saturday.

 

Looking at the previous days, the Doubletree has NO vacancies Tuesday nor Wednesday at any rate.  The Embassy Suites is persistent in offering those $259 rack rates those days too.  My guess was that something is going on in town midweek.

 

Now with all that, I admit I did not price other properties in St. Paul. I noticed no Marriott family properties within downtown St. Paul -- closest one is Mendota Heights which is closer to Minneapolis.  In downtown St. Paul, besides the two I mentioned above, all that remains are a Holiday Inn, a Crowne Plaza, a Best Western Plus, and two non-chain privately named hotels, Hotel 340 and St. Paul Hotel.   The only Starwood property in the St. Paul area is a Sheraton in Woodbury, which is out east of town along the city's Beltway.

 

In Pittsburgh, looking at Hilton properties, there is a Doubletree several blocks south of Amtrak, whose AAA rate was $222, and a Hampton Inn also walkable from Amtrak but in the north and east direction; that was $224. Both require the same number of redemption points,  but since one of them gives me a warm cookie upon check-in, the choice was a no brainer.

 

In Chicago there is more to choose from. Downtown is expensive, cheaper places are by the 2 airports.  I expect to spend points to treat myself to the Palmer House once more, as last year was really an experience I wanted to duplicate.

 

 

I want to warn people too about the Empire Builder (which I have always called and will always call, well, the Empire Builder, not by its initials. Remember EB can stand for Eastbound too!) Since the train runs with a Seattle section and a Portland section, depending on available buckets you may find a lower price on say, the Train 28 portion as opposed to the Train 8 portion, or vice versa.  Check both for the cheaper roomette rates.  I was happy with the paid rate I got for the MSP-CHI segment.  I'd figure on a late breakfast and definitely lunch being served to sleeper passengers, and perhaps dinner if we are very late.



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#8 Long Train Runnin'

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Posted 26 February 2015 - 07:12 AM

I am going to try and make it for the day in the Twin Cities have been wanting to ride NorthStar for awhile.

 

EDIT: I will send my intentions in an email once I get some details sorted.  


Edited by Long Train Runnin', 26 February 2015 - 07:15 AM.


#9 KevinKorell

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Posted 10 April 2015 - 11:35 PM

We still have just 9 people on the Participant List, despite my yielding to pressure and getting the announcement out in January because I knew people wanted to begin making their hotel and travel plans.

 

We also have people who we assume plan to go by their recent actions, but they have not yet taken the steps to get their names on the list.  Having planned these events for a decade and a half by now, our regulars should know the methods to my madness in putting out there to you the best product I can in keeping you busy riding all forms of trains in the cities we visit as well as getting between them on Amtrak trains. Please let's stop dancing this annual dance and realize that I don't find the joke funny, and never did.  To tell others that you are planning to attend, but not going through with what you know will be the inevitable process is not fair to me, and it's not fair to the others who are coming to the Fest cities to enjoy themselves. You know what it is you need to do -- so why wait until the last minute?

 

 

While I will be old enough to live in a retirement community in a week and a half from now, that doesn't mean I won't remain gainfully employed for another 7 to 10 years. So time available to spend on this stuff is not as plentiful as it once was.  When I do get that opportunity to work on various things, it would be nice to be able to see them through and complete them with all your help.

 

 But I always do, and always will continue to find the time to do so.  All I ask is for your help when we put together these Fests.  We're going to basically be living close to one another for a week or  so, and in a family everyone has their roles to play. Don't expect that I must be the one to fulfill all those roles.  Now I know that Steve always helps me with planning where we might eat in the host cities (and that is surely open to anyone who wishes to help out with more suggestions).  Bill has done tracking of Amtrak trains we will be riding.  Penny has made calls to transit authorities to clarify the meaning of some of their rules, so that we can purchase the correct and most cost effective fare instruments for the day of our group travel.  Others who plan to attend should ask themselves, "How Can I Help Out?"  What can you do to make things easier for those who are already active at planning an event that you also will be attending?

 

I know many of you are capable of following instructions because you have done so before.  While surely people can decide to join us at seemingly the last minute, it is helpful in the process to know how many of us will  be involved.  If you know that you plan to be there, what would possibly keep you from sending a simple e-mail as a courtesy to those who are working tirelessly to bring this event about for you at least twice a year?



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#10 amtrakwolverine

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Posted 11 April 2015 - 01:15 AM

One issue might be we can no longer email you from the board only send PM so those who do not have your email cannot email you.





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