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[KevinKorell]

Announcing OTOL Blue Ridge Roanoke Excursion (BRRE) 2021

 

Saturday & Sunday, July 10-11, 2021

 
OTOL Blue Ridge Roanoke Excursion 2021 (BRRE) will be a 2-day round trip between Northeastern cities and Roanoke, VA on Amtrak's Northeast Regional service. The goal is to visit Roanoke and view the Blue Ridge Mountains. For many, the segment between Lynchburg and Roanoke will be new trackage for them.
 
This trip will be our group's first travel together since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. As such, this trip will start out small and simple for us, and also take into consideration that some may not yet be comfortable in restaurants together. Furthermore, much rail transit and commuter rail may not yet be back to full frequency, so we will save those longer trips to places that have transit and commuter for a later time. Many have not yet travelled on this particular Amtrak route since its start in November of 2017.
 
The federal mandate for masking on public transportation due to the pandemic will still be in effect, so you can plan these trips for what is most comfortable for you. Assuming our Northeast Regional trains remain on time, travel between Washington, DC and Roanoke in either direction should be about 5 hours. Travel to or from points north of there will mean a longer time you are required to wear a mask.
 
This trip will require one night stay at a hotel.  Downtown Roanoke within walking distance of the train station only has two hotels. One is a Hampton Inn by Hilton at 27 Church Avenue SE, about 4 blocks to the south on the same side of the tracks as the station platform. The Hotel Roanoke, which is a Curio by Hilton property, requires walking over the nearby Market Street pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks, which brings one to the hotel grounds north of the tracks at 110 Shenandoah Avenue NE. There are many other hotels located a few miles out of town, mostly near the city's airport. The availability of hotel shuttles may be limited by the pandemic, so you would need to rely on a taxi or hired car service.  Keep in mind that we're only going to be in town for 11+ hours (arrival after 9:30 PM, departure 8:55 AM) so there would be less worry (and more sleep) being closer to the station.  For a list of hotels in the area, see my Roanoke Rails To Rooms page here.
 
Our itinerary for this journey will include only two trip segments on Amtrak trains.  We'll officially all be together for the two 5-hour trips between Washington and Roanoke in either direction as some may be making connections in Washington to #147 or from #156.  Others will travel to or from points north of Washington.  The itinerary can be adjusted once everyone's origin and destination points are known.
 
A participant list has also been created, and hopefully your name can be added soon. Simply let me know by e-mail that you will be coming. By nature of this 2-day trip, it's unlikely anyone will participate in only one of the two days of travel.
 
For those who have not travelled in a while on Amtrak Northeast Regional trains, Business Class is the last car of the train.  Seats are now assigned when booking online or via the Amtrak app.  From past Fests it is known that most of us prefer Business Class and window seating.  We could therefore choose seats in a certain range of rows in order to sit closer together.  Since May 23, 2021, Amtrak has resumed selling 100% capacity, so we could get seatmates not part of our group sitting in the aisle seats.  When reserving online or by app, the system will arbitrarily assign you a seat, usually working from the front of the train to the back.  You can then change your reservation to a chosen seat.  Coach Class is still open seating, and it is available throughout the rest of the train, with the Quiet Car being the one just in front of Business.  We will discuss the details of our two Amtrak trips here.

 

As for seeing the mountain range that is the namesake of this journey, you will not see them at all on the Saturday trip, due to the late evening travel. While these are among the longest daylight days of the year, on the Saturday #147 trip it will get dark beyond Lynchburg for the segment of travel new to many of us. However on Sunday morning our travel on #156 will be totally in daylight so you can enjoy the mountain scenery then.
 
A homepage is also being developed to bring all these links together. However, please keep watching this board and related threads as we get closer to the event to get any updates.  Hope to see you aboard the Northeast Regional trains in July!

[KevinKorell]

I called this an "excursion", not a "fest" because Amtrak is the only train related activity we are doing.   When it in fact takes place (unlike the weather postponed 2019 winter NYMA also omitting an "F" in its title, and the pandemic postponed March 2020 Boston RailFest) it will be the 51st  such event carried out in our 21 year history.   Fifteen years ago in 2006 we did a Keystone Excursion which was just that, a simple out and back day trip to Harrisburg.

[KevinKorell]

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This photo, taken back in November 2017 shortly after service began, should give you good bearings on Roanoke.   This is looking west along the NS Mainline.   You can see the Amtrak platform on the left side of the tracks.   147 in revenue service will arrive westbound on the 2nd track from the fence, and switch to the track closest to it to serve the station platform.   It will then back out and run on the the track closest to the fence.   Behind me there is a huge junction.  That track curves to the south, and trains continue that way about a mile from the station, wye someplace, and then are stored overnight in a secure place underneath a freeway (I-581) overpass.  In the morning, the train will back out northbound from the storage area, continue around the curve west along the fence to the platform, and then in revenue as 156 will leave the station and switch to the second track to proceed east towards Lynchburg.

 

The bridge over my head is the Market Street pedestrian bridge which takes people over the wide NS mainline to the O Winston Link museum and the Curio Hotel Roanoke.    Those staying at the Hampton Inn would remain on the south side of the tracks and walk about 4 blocks south on Market Street.  The Virginia Transportation Museum is on the station side of the tracks, beyond the platform.

[KevinKorell]

One note of warning .....  For those not staying downtown, my hotel listing shows many hotels that presumably have complimentary hotel shuttles.  It is up to you to call that hotel and make sure those shuttles are in fact running.   During much of this pandemic, most hotel chains cancelled their shuttle van service to keep strangers distanced apart from each other and the drivers.  They may or may not have returned by now, but it is contingent upon each person to call the hotel and check for themselves. If you miss our Sunday morning departure from Roanoke, the next train is 21-1/2 hours later at 6:20 AM Monday morning.  Short of hotel owned shuttles, you do also have the option of taxi, Uber, or Lyft -- all of which you of course have to pay for.

 

As for local transit, the good news is that the city bus system Valley Metro has its downtown terminal right across the parking lot from the Amtrak station. The bad news is that the buses do not run as late as our Saturday arrival, or at all on Sundays, so that option is out.

[BillMagee]

Hotel Roanoke rates have come down a little bit. I was able to knock off about $30 with a new reservation, but still north of $200 ($229, $259 with taxes - AARP).

[KevinKorell]

Thanks, Bill.  This year I've been in the habit of taking the 2X points rate, in order to compensate myself for the lack of hotel stays in 2020, but re-booking still saved me about $16.

[BillMagee]

And, the Hotel Roanoke rates dropped again - another $30 including tax. 

 

Queen Room - AARP rate

• Booked May 26 - $290.05
• Re-booked June 17 - $274.30
• Re-booked June 20 - $259.00
• Re-booked June 26 - $228.41

 

Let's make a deal!

[KevinKorell]

If anyone is planning to print out or upload the itinerary to their phone, for now please hold off.  Over this weekend I plan to change it to reflect more reality now that origins and destinations are known for each of the participants. For example, while my rough itinerary contains New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Roanoke,  nobody is boarding 147 at the beautiful 6-month-old Moynihan Hall of New York Penn Station, nor is anyone boarding 147 at Gray 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.  So those calling times are useless.  It will include only where people are in fact boarding 147 + detraining in Roanoke, plus 156 the next day boarding in Roanoke and wherever people will be detraining.   Nothing different for your particular departure and arrival times shown on your ticket.

 

I'll post in this thread when it's ready.

[KevinKorell]

Itinerary has now been updated to reflect everyone's planned boarding locations for Train 147, and detraining locations for Train 156.

[steve4031]

Appreciate the extra efforts. As always you do a fine job.