Announcing Toronto RailFest 2019: Monday 7/15/19 through Saturday 7/20/19
Toronto RailFest 2019 will take place during our traditional summer meet time in mid-July. It will take place over a 6-day period from Monday, July 15th until Saturday, July 20th. This will be a return to Toronto to ride commuter rail, heavy rail, and streetcar lines that have been added to the transit map since we were last in Toronto in 2004 and 2006.
It has a long history, having originally been conceived as a much longer journey in Canada that would have also included a side trip to the Waterloo Region, some time in Montreal, and a stop on the way in Ottawa as well. Because the light rail lines in Kitchener/Waterloo and Ottawa have not yet gone into service with presently no definite start date, those were eliminated in favor or an event just featuring Toronto and Montreal. Then later, it was decided to add another Fest in the Fall to revisit Denver. Research on hotel rates in Canada during the summer months yielded some very high rates, even with the favorable exchange rate figured in. For those reasons, this trip was then shortened to just Toronto, and we will stay in hotels out by the Toronto's airport where rates are more competitive. Naturally, anyone can stay wherever they wish, including downtown.
During the two full days in the Toronto area (Wednesday & Thursday), TRF 2019 will take in the two short branches of the 504 King Streetcar to Dufferin Gate and Distillery Loop, the newly extended 1 subway (Yonge-University) Line to Vaughan, and several GO TRANSIT commuter lines that have midday weekday round trips possible. The UP Express that runs between Union Station and Pearson Airport will be used to get us between our hotels near the airport and downtown.
We will also cross the international border aboard Amtrak's Maple Leaf through Niagara Falls. To avoid from having two 12+ hour trips on the Maple Leaf, as well as its early New York City departure and late evening New York City arrival, the trip was broken up to make overnight stops in upstate New York. Utica, with its classic ex-New York Central rail station will be the stopover on the way west, and going eastbound we will make our stopover in Schenectady, which recently rebuilt its station.
The homepage for this event can be found here. Our tentative itinerary is here. As we all know, things can and do change as plans can go awry up until the time the trip segment was planned to take place.
What hotels do you need to reserve if you are participating?
- Monday 7/15: Utica, NY (leaving Tuesday 7/16)
- Tuesday 7/16: Wednesday 7/17, and Thursday 7/18: Toronto, ON (leaving next morning)
- Friday 7/19: Schenectady, NY (leaving Saturday 7/20)
Amtrak trains the group will be using (participants can take other trains if they wish to do so)
- Monday 7/15 Train #283 Empire Service, New York City to Utica, NY
- Tuesday 7/16 Train #63 Maple Leaf, Utica, NY to Toronto, ON
- Friday 7/19 Train #64 Maple Leaf, Toronto, ON to Schenectady, NY
- Saturday 7/20 Train #280 Empire Service, Schenectady, NY to New York City
- Plus any other Amtrak trains that may be needed to get to or from New York City
As usual, our participants do not necessarily remain with the group from start to finish. Folks might leave us early or join us in progress. For example if you don't wish to enter Canada you could still ride with us within New York State on the Maple Leaf or Empire Service trains.
As we get closer to the event, other helpful documents will become available, such as our participant list, and information on border crossings, cell phone use in Canada, and currency exchange rates between the US and Canada. If you plan to attend, please e-mail me with your planned dates of participation.
Join us as we ride the rails both south and north of the US/Canada border!