Jump to content


Photo

OTOL Long Island RailFest 2010


  • Please log in to reply
3 replies to this topic

#1 KevinKorell

KevinKorell

    Board Leader

  • Sr. Admin
  • PipPip
  • 82315 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Lakewood, NJ
  • Interests:Making America TRAIN again!

Posted 04 August 2010 - 06:09 PM

OTOL Long Island RailFest 2010 will be held on August 20 and 21, a Friday and Saturday. The reason for the Friday is to get lines that are not possible during regular weekend schedules.

We're also doing the Fest at this time of year in order to partake of longer daylight, and also it's our last chance to ride the West Hempstead Branch before weekend service is eliminated in September.

We discussed this during the PNW fest and travels, and we do have enough interested parties to make such an event worthwhile. Some others who we didn't see in July have indicated interest to me via e-mail.

Added to the Friday activities, along with a slightly earlier start, is a trip on the M subway line through a connection not recently in revenue service that connects the Sixth Avenue subway to the line over the Williamsburg Bridge. Where we will turn around is not 100% decided, but it is being evaluated now. I believe a round trip over the bridge might be nicer than just turning in lower Manhattan. So the previously proposed Times Square start point on Friday has been changed to Herald Square, namely where we've met before underground by the north end of the 33rd Street PATH station. This location is more convenient to many than Times Square, as it can be approached via Penn Station (a block away) or directly by PATH. We will still ride the 7 train a short distance from 5th Avenue in Manhattan to Vernon-Jackson in Queens, and then walk to the Long Island City LIRR station as we did a few years ago.

Friday we will ride one train from LIC all the way to Babylon, taking in the branch through Hunterspoint Avenue that we have not yet ridden as a group, and also the Central Branch between Bethpage and Babylon. We then will return on an electric train on the Babylon Branch back to Penn Station. Saturday we will do the Oyster Bay Branch, the West Hempstead Branch, and the Long Beach Branch. We will ride small portions of other branch lines to access these lines, with changes at Jamaica and Valley Stream.

Only 19 minutes for the first scheduled Jamaica layover, not much time to go off and do anything. In West Hempstead, we have 45 minutes, during which time one might be able to get lunch. I recall there is a White Castle in the area. In Long Beach, this could be a secondary place to have a late lunch if you choose not to do so around 12 when we're in West Hempstead. We arrive Long Beach 1:42 PM. The scheduled layover there is 44 minutes. However, we have the option to stretch this to one hour 44 minutes and take a later train. This would give people time to walk around, perhaps visit the beach and boardwalk. If enough folks want the longer dwell, I can easily make that official change. We would finish up our day at 4:21 PM, vs 3:21 the other way.

Sorry for the short notice, but with the PNW Fest and getting back to business afterwards, things were a bit busy.

Homepage is here: http://kevinkorell.c...rf2010/home.htm

Please e-mail me and let me know if you can make it, and which (or both) of the days.

Edited by KevinKorell, 31 March 2011 - 09:42 PM.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#2 KevinKorell

KevinKorell

    Board Leader

  • Sr. Admin
  • PipPip
  • 82315 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Lakewood, NJ
  • Interests:Making America TRAIN again!

Posted 06 August 2010 - 03:25 PM

Folks,

I've heard from a few of you that the lunch options are much better in Long Beach than they are in West Hempstead. While the itinerary allows some time for lunch at either location, with Long Beach being late (after 1:46 PM), I decided to try and work out an alternative that would flip flop the West Hempstead and Long Beach trips so that we're in Long Beach at an earlier time for lunch and we'd do West Hempstead later in the afternoon.

These are the constraints I was up against:
  • West Hempstead Branch, only served by a Valley Stream-West Hempstead shuttle train on weekends, runs every 2 hours.
  • There is not a good connection coming from Long Beach and going to West Hempstead via Valley Stream. It's just 4 minutes, too tight in my book. This necessitates a dogleg into Jamaica and back, or else an hour plus wait in Valley Stream. In the WH-LB direction, the transfer works as it's 17 minutes. So it will cost a little more to go via Jamaica.
  • With West Hempstead being the last of the 3 branches, getting from there to NY Penn Station requires TWO transfers, one at Valley Stream and another at Jamaica.
  • The wait in Jamaica to get from Oyster Bay to Long Beach is 54 minutes, vs 21 when going on the Far Rockaway train to Valley Stream to connect with the WH branch.


Comments?


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#3 KevinKorell

KevinKorell

    Board Leader

  • Sr. Admin
  • PipPip
  • 82315 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Lakewood, NJ
  • Interests:Making America TRAIN again!

Posted 13 August 2010 - 10:46 PM

Of the few people who responded to this via e-mail, all favored the alternative itinerary, and it does work better for lunch, so we'll go with it.

I edited out the link to the alternative itinerary above, and it becomes the main one here.

I still intend to do a costs page, but there has been a minor snag with the new itinerary. Hopefully I can post something about this by early next week. My apologies that it will be too late to partake of the discounted Web Ticket, but then we're not talking a lot of money here anyhow.

No plans have been made for any type of sitdown meals either of the evenings following the rail activities. Given the 2 disasters in January on the MNY rail fest, I am hesitant to plan anything. Perhaps in the interest of doing this on the cheap after the big west coast trip last month that we're now getting the bills for, we should just dine on our own.

Edited by KevinKorell, 31 March 2011 - 09:44 PM.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#4 KevinKorell

KevinKorell

    Board Leader

  • Sr. Admin
  • PipPip
  • 82315 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Lakewood, NJ
  • Interests:Making America TRAIN again!

Posted 18 August 2010 - 01:21 AM

For Friday, the schedule has been slightly modified. Since one cannot transfer between the directions at the first station in Brooklyn (Marcy Ave.), we will remain on the M to Myrtle Avenue, several stops further east. Because of this, the start time was moved a little earlier to 2:35 PM.

Start to meet around 2:15 or so near the PATH 33rd Street faregates, and then we will start walking down to the M at about 2:30.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ





1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users