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OTOL Toronto RailFest 2004: After-Fest thoughts


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 21 July 2004 - 11:05 PM

Well by now most of you have arrived home from the Toronto Fest (except for the two people who remained in Canada to ride yet more trains!).

Just a few thoughts as we enter post-Fest mode:
  • Don't expect much of a report until September at the earliest. I have another trip report to write first before I get to the Toronto Fest.
  • Your help can make the report come sooner. If any of you would like to volunteer to write about portions of our Fest (such as a particular trip like the various Amtrak trips together on 281, 63, & 64, the three GO TRANSIT runs, or the streetcars), it would make life easier for me. Or if you want to write about unique portions of your time in Toronto (like those after-dinner runs we took each day....I know some of you continued to ride after dark, even as Michael and I had retired in our hotel room for the night!), your mini-reports can be incorporated into the text of the trip report, much as was done with Jack Suslak's interpretation of the portions of last November's Boston Mini-Fest in which he was involved. Please let me know which part of the Fest you will be writing about so it is not duplicated.
  • I did bug the guys on the train all the way from Toronto to Albany for information about who was where and when, so hopefully I can piece things together without bothering you much more.
  • Furthermore, those who traveled alone or in smaller groups of which I was not a part can write about those trips as well. Steve will do a report on his long-distance trips on the THREE RIVERS, CANADIAN, and EMPIRE BUILDER. John can write about his trip on the Empire Corridor up to Albany ahead of the Fest group as well as his ride on VIA's Corridor service, and the group of four that remained aboard the MAPLE LEAF when Michael and I got off in Albany can fill in the gaps for me there.
  • By this weekend I will have changed the website's homepage to past tense.
  • I know I thanked you all for coming, and I meant that --- it's the willingness of each and every one of you to take time away from your families and summer activities to go ride trains to, through, and from a new place that made this Fest yet another success!!
A memory for all of you !! :D :D


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#2 RailHaRRy

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Posted 22 July 2004 - 05:02 PM

Thanks Kevin, for planning and supervising another truly great railfan get-together. I had a great time, and I know we all did. :)
Regards, HaRRy, San Diego
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#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 26 July 2004 - 10:16 PM

For those who stayed in the Doubletree Hotel in Buffalo, I've received both my Hilton Honors points for the stay, as well as the 500 Amtrak Guest Rewards points for that stay as well. As for Amtrak Guest Rewards points earned for rail travel, so far I have received credit to my account for the following: NYP-SYR (Train 281) SYR-BFX (Train 281, we stayed on rather than taking Train 283 as on our tickets) I also got credit for my own ALB-NYP segment on #250 on the way back. Still pending are: BFX-CBN (Buffalo to Canadian Border at Niagara Falls on Train 63) CBN-TWO (VIA portion of Maple Leaf #63) TWO-CBN (VIA portion of Maple Leaf #64) CBN-ALB (for me -- for you guys who went all the way to NYP you probably did not get that either) Since Amtrak treats the VIA Rail Canada portion of the Maple Leaf like a 4-digit Thruway bus run, my experience with this is that we will eventually have to call Amtrak Guest Rewards and tell them that these portions of our trip were overlooked. Somehow when a third party (usually the bus operator but in this case VIA) is involved, the tickets don't make their way back to Amtrak to be processed in order for Guest Rewards members to get the credit due their accounts. At any rate, I'll give them 3 weeks from the time of the last trip (which would be August 9th) before I call them. Also I wonder if the guys who started out in New York City on Thursday and rode the Maple Leaf end-to-end received their credit yet for the US portion of the trip.


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#4 jis

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Posted 27 July 2004 - 01:35 PM

I have the following already recorded in my Guest Rewards account: Toronto - Canadian Border Canadian Border - NYP Oddly enough, nothing from the outbound journey has found its way into my account yet! Jishnu.

#5 KevinKorell

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Posted 27 July 2004 - 02:37 PM

I have the following already recorded in my Guest Rewards account:

Toronto - Canadian Border
Canadian Border - NYP

Oddly enough, nothing from the outbound journey has found its way into my account yet!

Jishnu.

Good, so there is an example of one of the Canadian segments being posted. I'll be patient. But it goes to show us that they are highly inconsistent in how they do things. We were, after all, all traveling together for most of the journeys.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ





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