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OTOL Rockies RailFest 2014 Trip Report


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#11 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:22 PM

Chapter 10: Saturday, July 19, 2014

The eighth and final day of RRF found us headed eastbound towards Chicago. Upon arrival, we would go our separate ways.

Chapter 10.0: Amtrak California Zephyr, Train #6(17), Denver, CO to Chicago, IL (continued)

When we awoke for breakfast, we were not yet quite in Iowa as expected. Overnight we had lost about another half hour. We left Omaha, NE at 6:15 AM, one hour one minute down. About half an hour later, we crossed the Missouri River, thus moving from Nebraska into Iowa. Our first stop in that state was Creston, which we left at 8:22 AM, one hour 18 minutes late. And we would progressively get worse along the way across Iowa and Illinois. Osceola would come next, at 9:03 AM, one hour 23 minutes down.

We were able to take advantage of a leg-stretching stop at Ottumwa. The California Zephyr left there at 10:45 AM, now one hour 39 minutes off the advertised. We had an early lunch call at about 11:30 AM, which most of us took advantage of. However, the dining car was out of many items by this time. As we sat down to eat, we stopped at Mt. Pleasant. Burlington, the next and last stop in the state of Iowa, presented an interesting diversion. The area around the station adjacent to the Mississippi River once again had severe flooding. So the station stop was made at an alternate location west of town. We left there at 12:19 PM.

In Illinois, our first stop was at Galesburg at 1:30 PM, just shy of two hours late. The worst timekeeping of this trip came at Princeton, IL, where we left at 2:28 PM, two hours five minutes late. Naperville was a quick discharge-only stop, and then we made the final movement through the suburbs into Chicago fairly quickly. Thanks to padding, our arrival into Chicago's Union Station at 4:33 PM was one hour 33 minutes late. Far cry from the on-time Denver departure, but nobody was in danger of missing their onward connections.

Chapter 10.1: In Chicago

Steve, Kim, and Mike went to get an early dinner. Chris, Grace, Alan, Dick, Penny, Jishnu, and I went into the Metropolitan Lounge to await our next connections. I did not stay more than an hour, as I would be catching a 5:45 PM Metra train from Ogilvie Transportation Center up to my hotel in Evanston.

Chapter 10.2: End of Saturday's activities

Our official Fest ended upon arrival in Chicago as some would be starting their various trips home while others would be remaining in the area.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#12 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:23 PM

Chapter 11: Getting home from the Fest

Jishnu, Grace, and Alan took Saturday evening's Lake Shore Limited out of Chicago, and headed back to New York. We also had a contingent on Saturday's Capitol Limited: Kim and Mike would use it to return to Cleveland, while Dick and Penny would remain onboard to Washington, DC for a further connection to the Silver Meteor. And Chris returned home to New Orleans on Saturday's City of New Orleans.

My original plan was to spend Sunday in the Chicago area, doing a round trip to Glenview on Amtrak's Hiawatha Service and then travelling down to Springfield, IL on a Lincoln Service train. I would then spend two evenings in Springfield along with a round trip further onward to St. Louis. However, the Springfield and St. Louis plans had to be cancelled when construction related to the Illinois Dept. of Transportation high speed rail project caused Amtrak to cancel some of the trains I had intended to take, replacing them with buses. Instead, I remained in the Chicago area two more nights, taking another Hiawatha round trip to Glenview and a one-way run on a Lincoln Service train to Joliet with a return on Metra. The rest of my time in Chicago I spent riding some CTA and other Metra trains. Steve joined me for most my Chicago activities on Sunday afternoon, Monday, and Tuesday morning.

Finally, I left as originally planned on Tuesday evening's Amtrak Cardinal. The trip was good until we got past Indianapolis, and then we got stuck behind a broken down freight train that caused us to sit in the same spot for seven hours. Further delays happened as the crew outlawed and had to be replaced. I called from the train in Cincinnati to cancel my Wednesday night hotel reservation in the Washington area because I knew I wasn't going to get there much before dawn on Thursday morning. Arrival into Washington was 4:43 AM, well over ten hours late.

I wanted to get home now as soon as possible. My original plan was to take Northeast Regional 174 from Alexandria to Washington, and then 84 from Washington to Philadelphia. At the nearest Quick-Trak machine, I cancelled that ticket for an e-voucher, and I just bought another ticket to head north immediately to Philly on Northeast Regional 170. Then, after a one hour wait in Philly's Club Acela, I finally returned to my car in Cherry Hill by taking the next NJ TRANSIT train. (I later found out that 174 was running more than one hour late, so it would not connect with 84, which would leave before it. So just as well I now had Amtrak e-vouchers for those trip segments.)

After the experiences on the California Zephyr where we were as much as six hours late, I didn't dream at that time that the experience would not be the worst of my problems!


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#13 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:25 PM

Chapter 12: Conclusion

After all the worry about missed connections, we made all of them. We accomplished everything when we intended to. Another long week with friends aboard trains, albeit late, went successfully.

We enjoyed our visits to our host cities of Salt Lake City and Denver. Both have relatively new and growing transit systems. We found the fare enforcement in each city to be like night and day. In Salt Lake City, not once were we met with a request to show our fares during our entire two-day stay and the many rides we took on light rail and commuter rail. However in Denver, we were challenged at least once on every light rail segment we rode to show our passes.

In a grand scheme this event will rank up there with our two Fests in California in 2007 and 2009, and our 2010 journey to the Pacific Northwest as one of our classic cross country rail trips.

We ended Rockies RailFest 2014 looking forward to our next winter meet, which ended up being in Washington, DC, and at the time our following summer destinations were still undetermined.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#14 KevinKorell

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Posted 10 April 2016 - 10:44 PM

Photos added to Chapters 5.5, 6.6, and 9.5 on Sunday 4/10/16. Thanks to Jishnu & Steve for the photos!


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ





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