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[KevinKorell]

Here is an update regarding our discussions about future rail fests.

I told most members of the group that as far as New York's subways are concerned, we've basically ridden everything. That doesn't necessarily mean we won't have any more Big Apple RailFest events, but it may have to be something upon request so that we can fill in gaps for those who might have missed one or more of our winter fests over the past 8 years.

As you may recall, there is still plenty to ride in the New York area as we continue to do segments of Metro North, Long Island Railroad, and NJ TRANSIT. However to finish up a lot of the lines our group has not yet ridden together means riding on weekdays, and staying within an area all day, say doing 3 or 4 LIRR routes in a single day. That would lend itself towards holding the event in the summer when the days are longer and it is more comfortable to walk around. One suggestion may be to do these in August, with enough time passed from our July trip so that we can recharge our funds. Besides the OTOL Big Apple RailFest that we just completed, the other three fests that would involve the New York/New Jersey area are listed in this thread.

We continue to look at Florida as the venue for our July outing this year. Jacksonville is proving to be problematic with the shortage of available and affordable hotel rooms. We are also restricted in that the People Mover starts running late in the morning on Saturday and does not run at all on Sunday. Of the options we have that include skipping Jacksonville entirely, finding other hotel locations in the area (such as near the Jacksonville airport), or changing the dates or the order in which we do the planned fest, the general feeling I got from most of the likely participants is that with the People Mover the only rail activity for us to do within a one-day period in town, we could do without a stop in JAX and just remain on the train headed for the Northeast. Tampa also appears to have expensive hotel rooms, at least in the downtown area. So funds saved on not staying in Jacksonville could be put towards a hotel room in Tampa earlier in the trip.

Our dates are still tentative for July, so please do not book anything you cannot get totally refunded.

The only other destination that is definite will be Southern California in 2009, although again no dates have been set. I had scheduled as part of this trip a stopover in Albuquerque, to ride the RailRunner. But like Jacksonville, with it being the only thing we have to do in town for a 24-hour period (and in truth the existing section runs on the same tracks as the Southwest Chief we would be riding anyhow), we have to consider whether we should stop in Albuquerque for 24 hours or just wave as we go by. The other element of that trip not etched in stone is riding the Red Car trolley in San Pedro. This line runs on Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday only, so we are bound to that restriction. In addition, one has to ride a bus from the end of the Metro Blue Line in Long Beach to get to and from it. It is scheduled for the day we arrive in the area on Amtrak, so should we be late and have to scrap any activities, that would be the first to go anyhow. But we have 18 months to decide how important this activity is to our regular participants.