59 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

It's about that time where we start settling in on a venue and plans for our winter meet.  I expect once again to do this over the long MLK holiday weekend, which has worked out well in the past. As for the location, here are the issues.

 

I've long said that I would like to return to Boston, for several reasons:

 

• Boston would be logically next if we keep to the practice of visiting East Coast cities. Since we were there last for NERF 2013, we went to Philadelphia/New Jersey/New York in 2014, Washington in 2015, New York in 2016, Washington & Virginia in 2017, and New York again in 2018.
• Track and station improvements have taken place along the Fairmount Line, necessitating our first re-visit since 2002.
• In the Fall of 2016, the Fitchburg Line was extended to Wachusett, so we need to take a spin to the new end of that line.
• Following work to build a new siding at Royal Junction, all 5 daily Downeaster round trips to run as far as Brunswick. Group has previously only been as far as Portland.  Not possible to have reasonable layover with the existing 3 trips that now run as far as Brunswick.

 

Here is the latest news I received from the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) regarding that last bullet.  So I was hoping that the promise for the siding work and institution of 5 round trips to Brunswick would take place by the end of 2018, so that we would be able to ride this in January.  I was told that this will happen on weekdays only starting next month (November 2018), but for weekends, it will not happen until the spring or summer of 2019.  That makes doing this on a weekend Fest in the winter of 2019 impossible.

 

This leaves us with a few options, open for discussion here.

 

• Go to Boston anyhow, doing the other above activities, and add more in Boston to fill out the second day.
• Go to Boston anyhow, but cut back to one day of activities in Boston area. Fill out second day by traveling by Amtrak, perhaps via New Haven to ride Hartford Line.  Very difficult to do Hartford Line on commuter equipment on a weekend, especially over the whole route to Springfield, but could possibly just go to Hartford & back.
• Go to Boston anyhow, but cut back to Saturday only in Boston area. Fill Sunday by riding Amtrak #449 Lake Shore Limited to Springfield, see new Springfield station, and then Shuttle #465 and Regional #165 back to New York or other points south.
• Meet in another city (although there really isn't much new elsewhere along the east coast)…. keeping in mind too that the days are shorter and colder so outdoor activities would be kept to a minimum.

 

Please discuss away, and remember that "doing whatever the group decides" will not help us to reach a decision.  When I have more time I can work out some itineraries for what these might look like.

[pennyk]

I would like to meet in another city, other than Boston, since it looks like Boston will be a good choice for January 2020. 

 

Is it too soon to go back to Washington and Virginia (maybe including Roanoke)? 

 

 Are Raleigh and Charlotte NC too far south to be considered in the "east coast requirement?"

[KevinKorell]

Roanoke could work... of course keeping mindful that it's an overnight trip, and that travel there and back would be the ONLY activity -- assuming we stick to convention and do trains only on Saturday and Sunday.  We'd need most of the balance of those days to travel to & from.

 

Regarding North Carolina....  I suppose it could be done but it might require more than a couple of days in order to have time in each place. Charlotte has light rail and streetcar lines we haven't yet ridden, so we'd need time for those.  But remember that the Carolinian gets in late in the evening to CLT and departs very early from CLT the next morning, and that the Crescent is overnight (like 2 AM hour).  So it would be a combination of trains - either the Carolinian or Silver Star to/from Raleigh, and then the Piedmont the rest of the way. In RGH I would love to see that new station but haven't yet had the time to travel there.

 

Assuming that those of us who work could take more time off than the three-day weekend, I could try to work out some scenarios to incorporate Roanoke and/or travel to those points in North Carolina.

 

Washington, DC: The only thing cooking right now is the Metro Silver Line extension to Dulles Airport and Ashburn but that is a few years off.  In general, we've had some poor experiences riding the Metro on a weekend, even armed with the list of expected weekend delays and diversions. Going out of our way to ride Metro because it's there can still lead to long waits and the inevitable being "dumped" at stations short of our destination, as happened in 2015.

[steve4031]

I like Roanoke. Charlotte is intriguing too. Iirc there has been significant growth in Charlotte.

[steve4031]

I also like riding 449 to Springfield and the shuttle south.

[KevinKorell]

So, so far the score is:

 

Penny -- Green itinerary, which means anything but Boston.

Steve -- Split between Green (anything else) and Brown (1 day Boston plus Lake Shore, SPG, Shuttle, NHV, Regional)

 

What would I want the most, aside from what I desired to happen that still won't have happened?

 

Doing something else forces me to think outside the box, to allow for both a longer period of time than just the standard 3-day weekend which would allow visits to multiple cities and travel between them... pending those with employment allowing them to take days of other than the holiday weekend they are entitled to.  Steve has suggested as his "anything else" possibly going down to Charlotte.... which would be an all day trip over most of the Carolinian route, time to ride the new Gold Line streetcar and the newer segment of the Blue Line LRT. Then Piedmont up to Raleigh to see the new station there and finally returning out of Raleigh northward on either the Carolinian or Silver Star.  Those latter third trips would be on a third day of travel so potentially we would end up staying one night in Charlotte and one night in Raleigh.

 

Steve also brought up Roanoke, which obviously would require a single overnight stay in that city.  Not much time to explore there.  I did this trip last November 2017 only 12 days into its existence and 1 week after the end of Daylight Savings, and I can tell you that the entire trip beyond Charlottesville is pitch black with no possible appreciation of the mountain scenery. You get it the next morning on the way back.  Roanoke probably would not pair well with many other ideas for Virginia or North Carolina, but perhaps a trip back to Tidewater (Norfolk) could be added in with a layover in Richmond.

 

So if we get more votes towards the Green idea, then we know Boston becomes a virtual certainty for January 2020.

 

Again I can work out itineraries for all these potential options as time allows, maybe next weekend.   Please keep on sending your suggestions!

[BillMagee]

Outside the typical January box:

• Friday: Silver Meteor from NE cities to Miami, arriving early evening Saturday
• Sunday in Miami: Ride south Florida trains including Brightline (it's often warm in south Florida in the winter)
• Monday: Silver Meteor leaving Miami in the morning arriving NE Tuesday morning

Just a thought.

[steve4031]

If one only wanted to focus on the bright line it would be feasible to depart nyc Friday evening and arrive west palm beach on Saturday. Do a round trip on bright line, and the ride the meteor back on Sunday afternoon from west palm beach. The Amtrak station and bright line stations are a15 minute walk apart.

[KevinKorell]

I think it's much easier to start & end a Brightline trip at the Miami end, given the station's proximity to MetroRail and MetroMover.   The 15-minute walk for some in West Palm Beach might take longer than 15 minutes.  If we did a Fest in the area, we also would need to ride MiamiMover  (the people mover between the airport rail station and the airport proper and not to be confused with MetroMover) and the Orange Line segment of MetroRail, the part that serves the airport rail station.  So one would need a full day in Miami.

 

if one wanted to base in West Palm Beach, it could be possible to ride Brightline to Miami, MetroRail to the airport rail station, MiamiMover to the airport, and then reverse the order back.   Or base in Miami and do Brightline early in the day to West Palm Beach and back, and then the transit stuff in the afternoon.

[pennyk]

I am in Miami right now and I will attest to the fact that it is incredibly easy to take the Metro Mover to the Brightline Station.  I did it yesterday and today and will do it again tomorrow.  A group of us will be riding from Miami to West Palm Beach and back tomorrow.

Edited by pennyk, 20 October 2018 - 09:03 PM.