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SoCal Fest/OTOL Fest progress


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#1 jis

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Posted 14 July 2009 - 01:03 PM

According to last reports, the Festers have departed Birmingham AL on schedule and were busy eating lunch. The Diner on 19 is using Acela napkins instead of the more mundane kind. The car attendant in the 1910 car missed wakeup call so the fearless leader of the Fest apparently woke up later than he had planned, and to make matters worse he (the attendant I presume) took 3 hours to fix up the beds. He must be a real slow dude, that. Also Bill Haithcoat traveled with the Festers aboard 19 from Atlanta to Birmingham, and a fantastic time was had by all.

#2 jis

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Posted 14 July 2009 - 03:46 PM

According to latest reports from the fearless leader the Festers on 19 had arrived Meridian MS at 3:30pm. According to Amtrak they arrived at 3:32, 37 mins late and left at 3:38pm. Before that they were stuck in a siding outside Tuscaloosa awaiting crossing with 20, and then they had to back out of the siding to get back on their way. Amtrak thinks at 4:45pm EDT that they will arrive into NOL 22 mins late at 7:38pm CDT.

#3 jis

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Posted 14 July 2009 - 06:31 PM

Latest from the Festers: Picayune MS 6:24 Had our abbreviated dinner. Slow service due to understaffing

#4 BillMagee

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Posted 14 July 2009 - 10:30 PM

And a little bird tweeted that the Fest Crescent arrived New Orleans at 7:44pm and the Festers were last seen revelling in Sin City..., on the Saint Charles Streetcar.

#5 KevinKorell

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Posted 14 July 2009 - 11:18 PM

Fest Days 1 & 2 (Monday & Tuesday)

All of the above is so true. So far we're having a great time. Our ride on the Crescent had its ups and downs. One very good attendant, and one subpar attendant whose shortfalls I don't have time to list here (but it's a good sized list). Dining car staff was very good, and happily accommodated all 10 or 11 of us on board at any one time. The only problem was the 2 dinners were a bit slow (1 hr 40 minutes Monday night, 1 hr 20 minutes Tuesday night), mainly due to having just one waitress (LSA and some guy from the kitchen did help out a little but it wasn't enough).

Bill H joined us on the Crescent from Atlanta to Birmingham as planned. Jay Hadley was going to meet us Tuscaloosa originally, but opted for Meridian because #19 was on time and he didn't want to risk our train entering that station before #20. As things ultimately turned out, #20 did stop in TSC first.

Jay graciously made several trips to get everyone to their hotels. Thanks again Jay!

Unfortunately, a few ran into hotel problems and could not do our moonlight streetcar run. Six of us rode the streetcar out to the end of the line on Carrollton and back again.

Tomorrow we take the morning off, and then assemble at New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. Nine will catch the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles, and one takes the City of New Orleans.

Next major update from California!


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#6 GG-1

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Posted 15 July 2009 - 01:34 AM

Aloha United Flight 82 touched donn early at 8:23 PST, Still did not get to gate until scheduled time not at Christine's House (daughter). See you as you arrive in LAUS Friday. Eric

Edited by GG-1, 15 July 2009 - 01:35 AM.


#7 jis

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Posted 15 July 2009 - 06:48 AM

Good thing y'all were not leaving New York one day later. Train 19(14) is service disrupted due to freight derailment between Anniston and Atlanta, the same one that caused Bill Haithcoat on 20(14) to be bussed from Anniston to Atlanta yesterday.

Here is some more info excerpted from Rafi's post in response to Bill H's post on the AU Board:

The train itself still had folks on it after your bus left and my understanding is that it actually reversed back to Birmingham and detoured into ATL via CSX's route through Talladega, although I don't know what specific route it took. It's scheduled to terminate in Atlanta shortly (about 12 hours late) and deadhead back to NOL. I'm not sure what happens to the passengers who were still on the train; I suppose they'll be put on tonight's departure. Meanwhile, the southbound arrival into ATL this morning will terminate there and short turn to tonight's 19.



#8 jis

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Posted 15 July 2009 - 02:21 PM

Here's the latest: Around 1pm EDT on Twitter: Group of 9 left N.O. on time at 11:55am CT. followed a little later by: Going over Huey Long Bridge. Then RailHaRRy wished them luck on Twitter and promised to join the group on Saturday (as will I). Meanwhile Jack Suslak posted on Facebook about half an hour back that he is about to depart NOL on CONO headed for Chicago. Presumably GG-1/Eric is recovering from his long flight in LA. He will meet up with the SSL group at LAUS when they arrive there on Friday. Jishnu (that is me) will meet up with Kevin at HGI in El Segundo Friday evening after flying down there from Newark. By then of course the rest of the group would already have done their trip to Moorpark. Finally.... just received at 15:20EDT on Twitter: Pass thru Patterson LA.

#9 KevinKorell

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Posted 17 July 2009 - 12:51 PM

Fest Days 3, 4, 5 (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)

Our trip on the Sunset Limited was wonderful! So much meat built into the schedule, so plenty of time to stand off the train at long stops. Though at time we were slightly behind schedule, we ultimately got into L.A. 8:46 AM, 54 minutes early. Since we came in so early, Eric could not meet us because there were no Metrolink trains he could have caught to get him in earlier. We'll see him this afternoon.

Group has separated for the current time, we reconvene 3 PM at LAUS for our Moorpark trip. As I type this we're at the HGI El Segundo already having dropped our large bags.

Will continue to Tweet from our travels.

Edited by KevinKorell, 20 July 2009 - 12:59 AM.


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#10 saxman

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Posted 17 July 2009 - 06:13 PM

I met group in Houston as they were coming through. Train was there before I got there at about 8:30. Alan, Kevin, and Rick were there inside the station while I picked up my tickets and checked my bags and hugged my mom goodbye. I chatted with everyone and shared a room with Steve for my quick ride to SAS. So I got a good nap in. Luckly was able to sleep until about 4 am while still in SAS. Then I caught the Eagle northbound to Fort Worth.




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