- I've also had on my website a proposed Metro New York Railfest 200X and a proposed Garden State Railfest 200X. Those can take place anytime. The activities on those fests can be mixed and matched along with BARF 2008 to put together the best programs of activities possible for each event.
So now, after an all nighter during which I worked this out, I have created:
FOUR FESTS
I have taken everything that our group has not yet ridden, in the locations of New York City, suburban New York, North Jersey, South Jersey, and Philadelphia, and worked them into what can be 4 different rail fests. Here are the details of each:
1.
Big Apple Railfest 2008: This fest will take place as mentioned over the weekend of January 18-20, 2008. There will be an all-subway run on Friday evening, taking in parts of the
G,
V,
F, and
M. Saturday will be more subway riding, including the
A out to Howard Beach, and the
E between Manhattan and Queens Plaza, the
2 to Flatbush Avenue and the southern portion of the Lexington Avenue line (
4) between Bowling Green and Grand Central. Sunday's activity as mentioned before will be 2 NJ TRANSIT lines, the new weekend service on the
Pascack Valley Line and the
Gladstone Branch. Actual calling times will be posted by late October when timetables are available.
The other 3 fests will be held when possible and in no particular order:
2.
Garden State RailFest: Like some previous fests, this one will concentrate on New Jersey but there will be minimal riding in New York City and Philadelphia as well. The Friday run will be a trip out to Hackettstown, utilizing the
Montclair-Boonton Line outbound and
Morristown Line inbound. Saturday will start out with some unfinished business from October 2002, namely
AirTrain Newark. From there we ride an Amtrak Regional to Philadelphia, and then take a round trip on NJ TRANSIT's
Atlantic City Line. On the way back we stop off in Lindenwold, where we can have dinner either near the station or at a steakhouse a short drive away. Sunday's only activity, for now, will be riding the only SEPTA line we haven't ridden in its entirety on a full official fest, the
R3 to Elwyn.
I have split and renamed Metro New York RailFest 200X. We had our first Metro New York RailFest in October of 2003, so these two for now will be Metro New York Railfest 2 and 3.
3.
Metro New York Railfest #2: This one should almost complete our coverage of the Long Island Railroad and Metro North Railroad. On Friday, we start out just like we did for BARF 2007 by riding the
7 train to Vernon-Jackson and then originating from Long Island City. Only this time, we will get the trackage via Hunterspoint Avenue and access Jamaica via the main line. The train chosen just happens to be a
Montauk Branch diesel train to Patchogue that runs via the Central Branch. We detrain in Babylon and return to Manhattan on the
Babylon Branch. On Saturday we go LIRR crazy, as we ride first on the
Hempstead Branch to Hempstead, take a healthy walk about a mile to West Hempstead, take the
West Hempstead Branch to Valley Stream, take a round trip on the
Long Beach Branch, return to Jamaica, and finally a round trip on the
Port Jefferson Branch ending up back in Manhattan. Sunday we do Metro North, first going out on the
New Haven Line to New Haven, then returning to Bridgeport to do the
Waterbury Branch before returning to Manhattan once more. Waterbury was one original plan back in 2003 that we were unable to do because of construction and resulting bustitution.
4.
Metro New York Railfest #3: The Friday trip will be a round trip out to High Bridge on NJ TRANSIT's
Raritan Valley Line. Then on Saturday, the day starts with a round trip on the LIRR
Oyster Bay Branch, and then Amtrak up to Poughkeepsie followed by riding the entire MNRR
Hudson Line back to Manhattan. Sunday's activity has not yet been determined ... or this could be just a two-day event.
Now the biggest problem is where to find the available weekend days to do all of these fests. Hopefully with a relatively shorter summer trip in 2008 to Florida, we will have the time and resources to do something in March, August, or both.
Edited by KevinKorell, 21 September 2007 - 11:17 PM.