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Announcing Louisiana-Texas RailFest 2018


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 16 April 2018 - 10:05 PM

Announcing OTOL Louisiana-Texas RailFest (LTRF) 2018: July 11-20, 2018
 
 
Our big rail journey for 2018 will be the OTOL Louisiana-Texas RailFest (LTRF) 2018.  Our travel will start in New York and other Northeastern cities on Wednesday, July 11th, and end in Chicago on Friday, July 20th. Along the way on this huge U-shaped sweep through America on the rails, we will be making stops in New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.
 
Our Amtrak travel will include the Crescent, the Sunset Limited, and the Texas Eagle.  Along the way, we will partake of the available rail transit in each city. In New Orleans, we have some catching up to do on the streetcar system. A full day in town will allow us to ride everything available, including what we've done before.
 
Houston will be new to us.  Now that the three light rail lines are open in their entirety, it worth a visit for a day on the (light) rails.  A full day of riding on Sunday is on tap. If by chance there are any weekend service disruptions, we have most of Monday available as well. Otherwise, a day for resting or sightseeing is available until we depart the city Monday evening.
 
San Antonio is a first for us in our Fest history, in that we're spending an off day in town.  There are no rapid transit or commuter rail lines in San Antonio. However, the Amtrak schedule, if all is on time, calls for an arrival just past midnight on Monday night/Tuesday morning, and then the Texas Eagle we would be connecting to leaves at 7 AM.  It was decided among the regulars that spending two nights in hotels would resolve this issue, thus allowing us to get more sleep on the second evening in preparation for the early departure.  Tuesday therefore ends up being a sightseeing/relaxation day.
 
The last stopover location is Austin. This would be a 24-hour visit, the only of the four cities where we would be spending just one night in a hotel. The activity there is its Metrorail, which is technically commuter rail similar to the A-Train near Dallas and WES near Portland.
 
Here is everything on day-by-day basis:
 
 
Wednesday, 7/11/18

Leave Northeastern cities on Amtrak Train #19, Crescent, in afternoon & evening hours.

Thursday, 7/12/18

Travel all day, arrive on Crescent in New Orleans in the evening.

Friday, 7/13/18

Ride all available NORTA streetcar lines.

Saturday, 7/14/18

Leave New Orleans mid-morning on Amtrak Train #1, Sunset Limited.  Arrive that evening in Houston.

Sunday, 7/15/18

Ride all MTA Harris County light rail lines.
 
Monday, 7/16/18

Most of day available for sightseeing, and possible make-up day if light rail was not completed Sunday. Leave Houston in the evening on Amtrak Train #1, Sunset Limited.

Tuesday, 7/17/18

Arrive on Sunset Limited in San Antonio just after Monday midnight. Daytime available for sightseeing, relaxing.

Wednesday, 7/18/18

Leave San Antonio in the early morning on Amtrak Train #22, Texas Eagle.  Arrive mid-morning in Austin.  That afternoon, ride Metrorail round trip to Leander.
 
Thursday, 7/19/18

Leave Austin mid-morning on Amtrak Train #22, Texas Eagle.
Friday, 7/20/18

Texas Eagle arrives in Chicago mid-afternoon.
 
Hotels

⦁ New Orleans: 2 nights, arriving Thursday 7/12/18, leaving Saturday 7/14/18.
⦁ Houston: 2 nights, arriving Saturday 7/14/18, leaving Monday 7/16/18.
⦁ San Antonio: 2 nights, arriving Monday 7/16/18 (post-midnight), leaving Wednesday 7/18/18.
⦁ Austin: 1 night, arriving Wednesday, 7/18/18, leaving Thursday, 7/19/18.
⦁ Plus any other hotels needed during your trip to New York, Philadelphia, or Washington, or wherever else you join the group, and your trip home from Chicago or wherever you leave the group.
 
 
 
Amtrak Trains

⦁ Train #19, Crescent, departing Northeastern cities on Wednesday 7/11/18 and arriving New Orleans on Thursday 7/12/18.
⦁ Train #1, Sunset Limited, departing New Orleans and arriving Houston on Saturday 7/14/18.
⦁ Train #1, Sunset Limited, departing Houston on Monday 7/16/18 and arriving San Antonio after midnight, technically Tuesday 7/17/18.
⦁ Train #22, Texas Eagle, departing San Antonio and arriving Austin on Wednesday, 7/18/18. 
⦁ Train #22, Texas Eagle, departing Austin on Thursday, 7/19/18 and arriving Chicago on Friday, 7/20/18.
⦁ Plus any other trains needed to get between your home station to your Crescent boarding city before the official Fest, and home from Chicago after the Fest concludes.
 
The LTRF homepage is your starting point for all information related to this event. It will show all details and any updates related to the event as our activities are fine-tuned as the travel days draw near.  You can also get updates on the OTOL board between this announcement and the event start date as things need to be refined.  We will also discuss places to eat and sleep in separate threads. On the homepage you will also find links to tourist information and lists of what transit lines exist in the three host cities that have them. Within the next three months, information will also be provided about the costs of riding rail transit in New Orleans, Houston, and Austin, including where and how to obtain the required fare media.
 
Also important is the Fest Itinerary.  As our past participants know, it can and will change as more details come into focus closer to the event start time.
 
If you would like to attend all or part of the Fest, please e-mail me your intentions, indicating all of the Fest, or on which days you plan to join and leave us. It is understood and proven in the past that some with other commitments cannot participate for the entire length of the event.  In the future, train charts and the hotel/contact listing will be done in the weeks leading up to the Fest. That information is NOT needed at this time.
 
Updates will be found under the appropriate threads on the OTOL forums. Those receiving this one-time message via e-mail will need to visit the forums to keep up with the latest updates.
 
Our summer events are always memorable, and I hope we can once again enjoy ourselves as we ride the rails!


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#2 KevinKorell

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Posted 17 April 2018 - 02:54 AM

A few more interesting notes about the planning process:

 

  • Those who are still looking at the most recent iteration of the itinerary when things were being hashed out, the Blue Itinerary which includes the 2 nights in San Antonio was what the new LTRF itinerary was based upon.   What is different so far is that the Fest had been written with no regard to days of the week other than to mesh with Sunset Limited days, and to do Austin on a weekday since Metrorail does not run in its entirety to Leander on weekends.  Because we will be doing our Houston light rail riding on a Sunday, I had to take into account a slightly different schedule than there would have been on weekdays. I also shifted the lunch stop from downtown to the northern end of the Red Line.
  •  
  • The now-dormant Lone Star Rail project (LSTAR) would have given us more variety and also eliminated the 7 AM Texas Eagle departure from San Antonio, as it would have provided regional commuter rail between San Antonio and Austin.
  •  
  • Friday the 13th (our full day in New Orleans) already got me, as from this thread we know that part of the Riverfront Streetcar is scheduled to be out of service.   I have not yet made this change, but because of this we also have to talk about where we will have lunch since the segment between Canal & Julia won't be running, and that food court we ate at in 2011 is closest to the Julia end of the line.  Surely the itinerary can be juggled so that we're in another part of the city that might offer a better selection of places to go.
  •  
  • Finally, by no means are we limited in what we talk about.  Anyone whether considered a "regular" at our Fests or is new to them can join our conversations about what we will be accomplishing. First and foremost are Trains.  We have 2 days without trains but we will find things to do in those places.   More threads of discussion will be added from now as we go along through the planning process.  There will be ways for us to talk about hotels and restaurants in each of the 4 southern cities --- those threads will be worked on within the next week or so. We can also talk about meals on Amtrak trains based on our scheduled departure and arrival times in the thread already created for Fest Amtrak travel.


Kevin Korell


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Lakewood, NJ


#3 steve4031

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Posted 17 April 2018 - 03:53 PM

I appreciate your efforts Kevin.  I just booked hotels for this.  I sent you the email with my information.  



#4 amtrakwolverine

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Posted 18 April 2018 - 06:50 PM

I'll miss you guys by a week. I'll be in Texas the week before for a concert.



#5 KevinKorell

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Posted 22 April 2018 - 08:24 PM

With the Fest having been announced last week, no major changes should be necessary. However, within each city, what we do on mass transit (such as New Orleans streetcars or Houston MetroRail LRT could be switched up as we refine our hotel and meal plans.   

 

New Orleans is definitely going to change, as the Riverfront Streetcar segment is known to be out of service over the summer, and that loss might be offset by a segment of the Rampart/St. Claude Streetcar that I overlooked. Originally when the Fest was written I had figured on taking the segment of the Rampart/St. Claude line along Loyola from Union Passenger Terminal.  However with so many potentially opting to either walk or take taxi or hired car service, it would be best to make that segment an official part of the Fest so we do get to ride it together.   Houston might have some slight changes as well, as I am considering shifting things between 30 and 60 minutes later to bring us closer to lunchtime and dinnertime at the right points of travel.

 

Stay tuned.



Kevin Korell


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#6 KevinKorell

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Posted 04 May 2018 - 01:44 AM

Changes made to the itinerary effective 5/4/18, and what you might have noticed the last week or so:

 
A KEY was added at the top that explains what the transit agency and route color/icon logos mean.
 
The Sunday (7/15/18) of travel on the Houston MTA light rail will take place in the same exact order, however since the trains run on 12-minute headways, and I wanted to push the trips about 1/2 hour later, I had to settle for 24 minutes.  So our starting time of 10:06 AM became 10:30 AM, and our end time of 3:36 PM became 4 PM.  This brought us closer to restaurants opening for lunch around 12 Noon, and the 4 PM end brings us closer (maybe still to early but some time to refresh at hotel rooms) to dinner.
 
New Orleans changes coming next.



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#7 KevinKorell

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Posted 12 May 2018 - 06:12 PM

As promised, as of 5/12/18, I have changed the New Orleans itinerary for Friday, July 13th.   The start location was changed to Canal/Bourbon both to be closest to where most of the group appear to be staying, and also because there's a machine there which can vend our fares for the day.  I also changed the order of the lines we will ride, so that we will work our way more orderly towards the Mississippi River as the day progresses.  We'll now do the two Canal Streetcar lines first.  During this time, everyone is encouraged to watch out the windows for where you might wish to stop and eat lunch later on.  Then we will ride the Rampart-St. Claude Streetcar, to which I added the older segment that runs on Loyola to Union Passenger Terminal (Amtrak). Lunch can then be anywhere of one's choice along or near Canal Street.  Then after lunch, the iconic St. Charles Streetcar, and then down to the river to do the Riverfront Streetcar, ending the official day back at the foot of Canal Street by the river. Where we go from there depends on what is decided for dinner.  If we do in fact stay on schedule and wrap shortly after 4 PM, we likely might wish to go back to hotel rooms to refresh before dinner.

 

A nice schematic streetcar system map from Wikipedia is here.

 

Also, the schedule changed for Austin's Cap MetroRail, so the times shifted a little earlier a few minutes.



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#8 KevinKorell

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Posted 10 June 2018 - 05:48 PM

6/10/18:    I just made a minor clerical change to the itinerary as written, but nothing changes for anyone. As you know on the 5+ hour trip from Houston to San Antonio that runs Monday night, we're scheduled to arrive at 12:05 AM, technically Tuesday morning.  I had the arrival on Tuesday's section of the itinerary.  However, in making my own personal itinerary which includes hotel stays, it became too confusing since we're staying in San Antonio on Monday night and Tuesday night, although likely Monday's stay won't begin until post-midnight wee hours.  So I moved the arrival up onto Monday's chart indicating an arrival of "12:05 AM 7/17".  Tuesday, therefore, now just shows that we're in the city all day with no planned rail activities.



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Lakewood, NJ


#9 steve4031

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Posted 10 June 2018 - 10:14 PM

Kevin, 

 

That makes sense.  Those types of scenarios are always confusing.  Especially with red eye flights.  One time my sister and dad misconnected by 24 hours because she gave him the wrong flight information.  Boy was he ad.  



#10 jis

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Posted 11 June 2018 - 02:56 PM

Kevin, 

 

That makes sense.  Those types of scenarios are always confusing.  Especially with red eye flights.  One time my sister and dad misconnected by 24 hours because she gave him the wrong flight information.  Boy was he ad.  

Get even worse when traveling across 8 time zones. :)






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