The announcement is being made now as the Long Island RR has made their November 8th timetable changes public. However, these timetables are valid only until December 13, 2009. Rather than waiting any longer, let's provide access to what I've had online for a while now, so people can make plans to be there. As always our itinerary is subject to change; hopefully the next schedule that takes effect on December 14th and runs through our Fest weekend won't contain any drastic changes.
It may seem quite spartan a schedule, but I think given last year's abnormally cold temperartures, coupled with the bad economy, it was best to scale back the hours. There will be no Friday activity this year. Anyone who is in town is more than welcome to get together on their own and ride the rails, perhaps something we've covered before but you missed.
Saturday we will ride the Long Island Railroad, visiting the Port Jefferson and Hempstead branches. The Port Jefferson round trip consists of four different trains, including transfers between electric and diesel trains in both directions at Huntington (7 or 8 minutes). There is also substantial dwell time at the endpoints (51 minutes at Port Jefferson, and 44 minutes at Hempstead), so be warned you may be outdoors in the elements. The lunch break between trains will take place at Jamaica Station. Past experience has shown us that there is not a huge selection of places to eat in this area. However we can also take the E or J subway one stop to Jamaica Center where there are more selections.
I looked at other branches, such as West Hempstead, Oyster Bay, and Long Beach, and the layovers at the endpoints were comparable. However what sealed the deal against this module of the Fest was the rescheduling of trains on the Long Beach branch, which in turn broke connections with the West Hempstead branch. In fact, the new schedule utilizes Far Rockaway trains to connect with the West Hempstead branch in Valley Stream, whereas the previous one used Long Beach trains. Besides these three branches, what also remains on the LIRR for us to do are the Central Branch and the segment in Queens between Long Island City and the mainline via Hunterspoint Avenue (both of which can be done on a single Montauk Branch train to Babylon). The whole package would work best on a Friday night and Saturday in the summer when there is more daylight.
Coming back towards the city, we will remain on the train from Hempstead, which goes into Brooklyn's Flatbush Avenue terminal. From there we will take the subway, stopping off to tour the new South Ferry station. Originally I had us taking the 2 3 from Atlantic Avenue to Chambers Street, and then the 1 down to South Ferry. Instead, it may be better to ride the R from Pacific Street to Whitehall Street in Manhattan, which forces us to exploit the new transfer with the 1, and walk through the new South Ferry station. The 1 will take us hopefully to wherever we decide to have dinner near Penn Station.
Sunday will be a round trip to Connecticut to ride the Metro North Waterbury Branch, the only remaining segment of MNRR we have not yet ridden as a group. We almost did the Bridgeport-Waterbury segment in 2003 (when we rode the New Canaan and Danbury branches), but Metro North had other plans and decided to do trackwork resulting in bustitution. Just like our Port Jefferson trip, a ride to Waterbury involves changing trains en route, this time at Bridgeport. The connections there should be about 5 minutes each way. We have 41 minutes in Waterbury, during which time we can grab a quick lunch. You also have the option of taking an Amtrak train from Bridgeport to your final destination if you don't wish to return to New York through Grand Central Terminal.
Here is a quick link to the itinerary. See you on January 16th & 17th !!
Edited by KevinKorell, 31 March 2011 - 08:46 PM.
