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Announcing Washington Area RailFest 2015


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#21 KevinKorell

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Posted 03 January 2015 - 08:02 PM

Itinerary Change

 

Due to the strong likelihood that the DC Streetcar will not be open by the originally intended January 18th run, I have changed the itinerary to omit the streetcar from our plans.  Thanks to absolutely no suggestions as to an alternative, the task then fell to me to come up with a suitable alternative. Your interest in having a say in these events is overwhelming!  :rolleyes:

 

Because it is not certain how long one can stay in the Metrorail system without exiting, and assuming the limit is two hours, I knew that any other Metro activity needed to stay close.  So I chose the Orange Line to Vienna/Fairfax-GMU, which is the closest line to the new Silver Line.  We can do the Orange Line first, then come back to East Falls Church, and then catch the same Silver Line run as originally intended.

 

Also added for Saturday is the Metro rides that will be needed to get to dinner and back.  The location is described in the appropriate thread.



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#22 KevinKorell

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Posted 04 January 2015 - 12:09 AM

Another thought is that assuming we stick to that 9:50 AM start on Metro on Sunday, we could meet before 9 AM and take a walk over to the H Street (Hopscotch) Bridge so we can see the streetcar station even though we can't ride.



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#23 jis

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Posted 04 January 2015 - 10:28 AM

Orange to Vienna is OK except that all that you get to see mostly is a highway.

 

My favorite is the Blue line to Franconia because you get to essentially follow the RF&P (CSX) all the way from a little past Reagan National Airport to Franconia. You can clearly see the famous AF interlocking where NS splits off from CSX. You can see the CSX flyover across the NS line and Camerons Run, and then pass by Van Dorn interlocking (near Van Dorn station), onto Franconia, which is also a VRE stop, and Franconia interlocking on CSX. And incidentally if you take the Yellow from Gallery Place to King St. you cross the river next to the Long Bridge used by CSX and Amtrak, instead of in a dark tunnel under Foggy Bottom too :)

 

I don't know if there is enough time to do this, but a possiblity is Union Station - (Red Line) - Gallery Place - (Yellow Line) - King St - (Blue Line) Franconia - (Blue Line) - Rosslyn - (Silver Line) - Weile Reston

 

Something to think about from a railroad/Amtrak angle. But of course anything else is fine too.


Edited by jis, 04 January 2015 - 10:31 AM.


#24 steve4031

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Posted 04 January 2015 - 11:49 AM

I like the orange line idea because I haven't ridden it in awhile and would like to see it again.

#25 KevinKorell

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Posted 04 January 2015 - 12:32 PM

Orange to Vienna is OK except that all that you get to see mostly is a highway.


Exactly what one sees too from the Silver Line, which runs interlined with the Orange Line, and then in the median of the Dulles Airport Access Road from East Falls Church onward.
 

My favorite is the Blue line to Franconia because you get to essentially follow the RF&P (CSX) all the way from a little past Reagan National Airport to Franconia. You can clearly see the famous AF interlocking where NS splits off from CSX. You can see the CSX flyover across the NS line and Camerons Run, and then pass by Van Dorn interlocking (near Van Dorn station), onto Franconia, which is also a VRE stop, and Franconia interlocking on CSX. And incidentally if you take the Yellow from Gallery Place to King St. you cross the river next to the Long Bridge used by CSX and Amtrak, instead of in a dark tunnel under Foggy Bottom too :)
 
I don't know if there is enough time to do this, but a possiblity is Union Station - (Red Line) - Gallery Place - (Yellow Line) - King St - (Blue Line) Franconia - (Blue Line) - Rosslyn - (Silver Line) - Weile Reston


There isn't enough time. The intentions are to get to Tysons Corner around lunchtime, and to do so with such a circuitous route would mean a much earlier morning start. In addition, as I said there may be time limit to how long one can remain within the paid area of the system, and to do all that would also require us physically exiting and re-entering the faregates at some point.  I'd like to avoid the possibility of a station agent having to manually release potentially 17 of us from the system if our cards don't work.
 

Something to think about from a railroad/Amtrak angle. But of course anything else is fine too.

I was shooting for something a little different (hence the Southeastern Green Line), avoiding the Amtrak angle only because it's something most of us are already familiar with. Remember many of us have already aced the Metro system together, and I know some haven't. In this case being Winter and with short daylight the possibilities are limited. With that said, many will be in town parts of Friday and Monday, so I am sure the opportunity can arise to do one or more of those lines suggested.


Edited by KevinKorell, 06 January 2015 - 01:30 AM.
corrected grammar


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#26 KevinKorell

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Posted 06 January 2015 - 01:28 AM

As of wee hours of Tuesday, 1/6/15, I have added 3 more names to the participant list, bringing the total to 18.  Still all indicate participation both Saturday and Sunday.

 

In addition, I have also updated the homepage to remove references to the DC Streetcar, other than mention that it won't be ready to ride upon our visit.

 

Furthermore, late Saturday Metro rides to & from Largo removed from the itinerary since dinner location was changed to Union Station.



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#27 jis

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Posted 06 January 2015 - 10:15 AM

Orange to Vienna is OK except that all that you get to see mostly is a highway.


Exactly what one sees too from the Silver Line, which runs interlined with the Orange Line, and then in the median of the Dulles Airport Access Road from East Falls Church onward.

Yup. The Silver Line portion through Tysons, where it is not in a highway median, specially the elevated part is quite interesting because of the views that you get from it. In terms of scenery otherwise both Orange and Silver are pretty pedestrian. But that is OK.

From a railroading perspective, the flying junction just short of West Falls Church between the Orange and Silver lines is interesting. The other one at Rosslyn between Orange/Silver and Blue is all underground and can't really be appreciated except in recognizing the interesting layout of Rosslyn station.

I am one of the few out of towners who actually uses the Silver Line for business travel to and from Weile-Reston to get to from standards meetings in Reston Center hotels. I will also be using it together with the Washinton Flyer bus transfer at Weile-Reston to get to my hotel at Noma.

Edited by jis, 06 January 2015 - 10:17 AM.


#28 jis

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Posted 06 January 2015 - 10:18 AM

Another thought is that assuming we stick to that 9:50 AM start on Metro on Sunday, we could meet before 9 AM and take a walk over to the H Street (Hopscotch) Bridge so we can see the streetcar station even though we can't ride.


That is a good idea, even though there really is very little to see there. You can at least get some great pictures of the NEC lead into Washington Union Station. Maybe there will be a stray LRT hanging out there like there was one when I walked over there the last time.

#29 pennyk

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Posted 09 January 2015 - 04:43 PM

Ross posted an "alert" for the Penn Line stating that because of track work starting on 1/16, there may be delays.

Will that affect our MARC train on Saturday?

 

http://www.on-track-...138#entry110914



#30 BillMagee

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Posted 09 January 2015 - 09:09 PM

We probably will not know how this will impact the Saturday Penn Line trip until the after the train ride is over.  The train might roll through the single-tracking unscathed, or not.  The good news is that there is some fluff in the itinerary, so even if the Baltimore trips start late, either lunch could be shortened or some some of the dwell at Baltimore Penn Station prior to the return Amtrak trip to WAS could be used.

 

A similar issue exists with the Washington Metro rides on Sunday (and might affect rides to and from the Fest on Saturday).  WMATA has resumed weekend track work on the Metro. They are not working all lines, but the lines being worked have train lead timed lengthened by x2 over the weekend (example: 12 minute headways moved out to 24 minutes).  Once again, we might now know until shortly before the weekend which (if any) lines are being worked, and how it might affect the plans. It's all part of the fun of a Fest.  Being nimble and flexible is essential.






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