This excursion was our comeback event after COVID-19 sidelined us for a while. It was tough to first get into the habit and spirit of planning, but the plans were always there just waiting to be put into motion.
The last time we had a Fest in July was 2 years ago when we went to Toronto and also stopped off in places across New York State. It was assumed then that July had become an unpopular time due to the weather for some of our Fests ending up being super hot, north of 100 degrees in a few cases. On that Toronto RailFest we only had a total of 7 people, but never more than 4 at one time. 3 actually completed the Fest wire to wire.
So I was happy with the response to this 2021 event, with 11 people involved in a watered down excursion that involved a round trip on Amtrak only (plus various means of getting to and from). As long as the world continues to be a confusing place (with people riding masked and restaurants not able to open full hours), this type of weekend excursion event might be the way to go next time as well. There is interest in taking a trip to & from Vermont, which lends itself to the same 2-day Amtrak-only event. Mid to late September might also bring the beginning of fall foliage in northern New England.
Thanks to everyone who attended this weekend's Roanoke trip. It was great to see everyone again, despite the crowded trains which prevented us from hanging out a little more. It's always appreciated that despite the event being in the mid-Atlantic, people flew from Midwestern states or took other Amtrak trains from Florida.
The homepage has now been updated in past tense. The final itinerary shows the actual times our trains departed or arrived at each station our participants used. My personal itinerary shows my travels for the weekend. Fest Status By City did not need to be updated since this trip did not include any rail transit or commuter rail.
