2 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

Some changes have been made to our itinerary for the OTOL Northern California RailFest 2007 event. They are minor, so no need to worry.

First off, as we have discussed in Chat and was posted in our Amtrak forum, Amtrak has instituted a schedule change for the California Zephyr that better reflects reality and takes into consideration the delays experienced due to trackwork west of Salt Lake City. This change goes into effect as of the May 7th departures, so it will affect us in July. Our Chicago departure on Train 5 will be 10 minutes later, and our Emeryville arrival is now set to be 3 hours later. In the eastbound direction, 6 will depart from Sacramento about 2 hours earlier and get into Chicago one hour later. If UP allows Amtrak to adhere to this lengthened schedule, it should preserve our connections in Chicago in both directions. Of course we still have to deal with the Norfolk Southern obstacle course in Indiana going west on the Capitol or Lake Shore Limiteds.

Secondly, the times I had originally shown for the T-Third LRT line in San Francisco were admittedly guesses based on the weekend-only introductory service that existed from January through earlier this month. Now that a daily schedule is in effect, I have changed the times for our rides on this line based on the new weekday schedule. However no change is more than 5 minutes from where it had been.

We are still considering options for Thursday, July 19th as to how to get our luggage from the Bay Area to Sacramento without dragging it around on Muni, CalTrain, VTA, ACE, and the San Joaquin all day. One possible solution may involve us convening at some point in the East Bay before we start our official train riding. Should that happen, it may set us behind the current schedule a bit. One way we may resolve this would be to take an ACE train one hour later than currently planned: Train 08 runs exactly an hour after Train 06. Since we had well over three hours layover in Stockton before Amtrak 703, this would not cause a problem and it would in fact cut our long dwell time by an hour.

Edited by KevinKorell, 18 April 2007 - 03:38 PM.

[GG-1]

We are still considering options for Thursday, July 19th as to how to get our luggage from the Bay Area to Sacramento without dragging it around on Muni, CalTrain, VTA, ACE, and the San Joaquin all day. One possible solution may involve us convening at some point in the East Bay before we start our official train riding. Should that happen, it may set us behind the current schedule a bit. One way we may resolve this would be to take an ACE train one hour later than currently planned: Train 08 runs exactly an hour after Train 06. Since we had well over three hours layover in Stockton before Amtrak 703, this would not cause a problem and it would in fact cut our long dwell time by an hour.

Aloha

After the Chat I called the SAC Traveloge near the station. They have no problem with bags being delivered before our arrival. The person I spoke to did recommend we reconfirm our late arrival either by phone or the delivery of our bags. There was a note already on my reservation by my travel agent, guaranteeing my late arrival unless canceled 48 hour earlier.

Counting the days.
Eric GG-1

[KevinKorell]

If you are guaranteed by credit card, you should not be required to call and re-confirm. They are supposed to hold the room for you, even if you inevitably don't get there. With that said, I still do usually re-confirm as a courtesy, often as I am arriving in town or sometime that day if still aboard the train. In our case you surely will have time to make your call from Stockton as we have plenty of "down time" off the rails when you're not moving in and out of range of cell phone towers. One call could probably be made to certify that you, John, and Skip will be arriving together. Thanks, Eric for making the call.

Edited by KevinKorell, 19 June 2007 - 01:48 AM.