All of our previous discussion regarding what to do in January 2011 has now been moved to this thread in the new fest forum for that event now that it's decided.

Looking ahead, we're almost definite on a Southeast RailFest (SERF) 2011 in mid-July. Tentative dates for the entire 8 days including travel to and from Northeast points are Sunday 7/17 through Sunday 7/24. For those who wish to attend for the individual cities, Atlanta would be between Monday morning 7/18 through Tuesday morning 7/19. New Orleans we would arrive Tuesday evening 7/19, be there all day Wednesday 7/20, and depart in the mid-afternoon of Thursday 7/21. And Memphis would be a late night arrival on Thursday 7/21 through late night Friday 7/22 when we depart. Obviously travel to, between, and from these cities will involve the Crescent and City of New Orleans, trains #19 and #58 respectively. As for the last leg from Chicago to East Coast cities, if the Cardinal is still on a 3-day schedule, Saturday evening is one of those days that it departs east from Chicago. It's made possible by the almost certain morning arrival of #58. We may however also have people who wish to take the Capitol Limited or Lake Shore Limited (or possibly a new through-routed Pennsylvanian running with the Capitol Limited). We can declare the Fest over at Memphis or upon arrival in Chicago, and you're on your own to get back home any way you see fit.

No announcement makes this official as of yet, but you at least have the dates to begin making parts of your travel and hotel plans.

For later in 2011, we'll see if the NY Request Fest is successful, or if anyone wishes to do something in August or later in the year.

I've updated the Fest Calendar, eliminating 2010 since I don't plan to hold any more Fests before the end of 2010.

Looking into the future, there are a few concerns as to what's next after 2011.

Originally, a Rockies RailFest was penciled in for summer 2011. I decided to push it back and go with Southeast RailFest instead because there are many new lines being built in both Denver and Salt Lake City. So by waiting a few years our trips to those cities would be more worthwhile. However in Atlanta/New Orleans/Memphis there's really nothing new coming within the near future (modern streetcars in Atlanta notwithstanding).

But here's the problem with Rockies RailFest. On the latest Amtrak timetable that went into effect last month, the schedule of the eastbound California Zephyr #6 went from horrible to even worse when considering its calling time in SLC. It's now a full hour earlier than it was before, which means it leaves at 3:30 AM (4:30 AM was bad enough). To board this train eastbound, or even arrive on #6 from the west would mean a very unfriendly time to be up and about, one where there is no rail transit to and from the station. The westbound CZ, #5, is a little better arriving and departing in the 11 PM hour, but if it arrives late one runs into the same lack of transit options. So despite a growing transit system that invites us to explore and enjoy it, a visit to SLC needs to be re-evaluated. Obviously there are air and bus options, but not everyone will be open to those.

At least Denver has comfortable station times in both directions.

The proposed Texas RailFest I originally figured on the summer of 2013. There have unfortunately been some delays in two cities, so that may get pushed back later as well. Houston may still not have anything to offer by then other than its existing starter Metro Red Line. And in Dallas, while things continue to open in piecemeal fashion, the DART Orange Line to DFW Airport is now projected to open 2014. So this needs to be worked on as well, perhaps splitting what is now the Texas RailFest into two shorter events -- one for within the next couple of years, and the other when more lines are completed in Dallas and Houston.

I've taken a page from this past year's PNW RailFest LITE and the planned SERF this coming July, and I eliminated the East Coast-Chicago or Chicago-East Coast segments for the future Rockies RailFest, Texas RailFest, and Midwest RailFest. I made Chicago the start/end point for each. That is not to say that we can't ride the Capitol Limited, Cardinal, or Lake Shore Limited together, but since we have our favorites and have different needs to where we have to travel to or from on the East Coast, it won't be an "official" part of those Fests. Also, some people do fly, take trains on different days, or take other means to get to the Fest cities. This action makes each itinerary a little more compact but still allows us to explore plenty of new places together.

As I threatened to do in Post #2 above, I have split up the Texas RailFest 201X into two separate events. The remaining new Texas RailFest 201X would include just Dallas and Houston (and the Thruway bus ride to get from the Texas Eagle in Longview, TX to Houston). The other stops on the former Texas RailFest were moved to a new Eagle RailFest 201X. This one would take in Austin, the Heartland Flyer to & from Oklahoma City, Little Rock, and St. Louis.

I also added the future L-Star regional commuter rail line between Austin & San Antonio to the above Eagle Rail Fest, however if it won't be ready in the short term, it could be moved to the later Texas RalFest since we have to pass through San Antonio anyhow.

This change would make it possible to do another Eagle RailFest as soon as summer 2012, since no other new rail lines are expected to come online within the next few years in those cities. The Texas RailFest might not be until 2014 or 2015, depending on when the DART Orange Line in Dallas and any extensions in Houston come online.

The upside, or downside, as it may be, is that you have to ride two round trips on the Texas Eagle over the course of those upcoming years to cover everything we would have done in one round trip (albeit with many stopovers en route).

In other news, I am going to withdraw two Fests from the future list to save space and reflect reality. The Pittsburgh RailFest has been a staple of this list going back many years. However with the cons far outweighing the pros as to whether such a Fest is feasible, and with potential route cuts coming and fare inreases this week, the thought of going there is a big downer. While the announcement about what exactly will be cut (now that things have been scaled down) will come sometime in January, the fare increases and lack of a Day Pass make this trip prohibitive. I figured out the transit costs for the Pittsburgh travel alone, and with all the boardings and necessary transfer purchases, I get a total of $22.50 over the course of two days. The cheapest weekly pass is $32.50 with this weekend's increase, so we would have to overpay 10 bucks just to have an unlimited fare instrument. Just by comparison, you can make a one-day Amtrak round trip on the Sunday of the Fest all the way to Johnstown and back for as little as $25.20 (AAA rate).

Furthermore, both the bus I had chosen to take us between Pittsburgh Penn Station and the Duquesne Incline, and the Brown Line LRT are in danger of being eliminated. We'll know for sure by the end of January when they announce what will still be cut and what will be saved. Losing our ride to one of the Inclines as well as one of our light rail lines is bittersweet. The trip becomes less worthwhile, but we do get to save some of those fares!

The other Fest idea I put out there earlier this year is the Southwest RailFest. This was to have included Albuquerque and Phoenix. As we know, Phoenix is easier accessed by the Southwest Chief and Thruway buses between Flagstaff and Phoenix than it is by the Sunset Limited. But those buses still run at unfriendly hours. It may also require an overnight stay in Flagstaff at a poor choice of non-chain motels near the station. I really want to get to Albuquerque to ride RailRunner, having cut it out of the SoCalFest 2009 due to costs. I'll try to re-work it into something else. Perhaps it could be combined with St. Louis (via SW Chief & Missouri River Runner), and the latter then removed from the aforementioned Eagle RailFest to streamline that one. As for Phoenix, my hopes are that a revamped Sunset Limited, or whatever name it eventually takes, will again serve Phoenix like it's supposed to do.

As mentioned in the last paragraph above, I moved the St. Louis revisit to a newly created "Chief RailFest" (named just as the Eagle RailFest was named), which gets us a ride on the Missouri River Runner as well. St. Louis was removed from the second Eagle RailFest, thus removing one stop from a Fest with too many stopovers.

At the just completed event in NewYork and Connecticut, we discussed what we might do in the future. The longer summer trips are in a class by themselves, but what should we do for future winters?

It appears that a change of scenery is in the best interest, so as it stands now, we will probably not have our meet centered on New York City, but rather another east coast city. We surely can have another "Request Fest", perhaps in the Philadelphia, Boston, or Washington/Baltimore areas. Again it's mostly for the benefit of those who didn't do it the first time around.

Say what you want about SEPTA, but they do have a diverse transit & commuter rail system. And it's well interconnected, even at the outer ends or midway. Times have changed now that the "R" designations for the regional rail lines are gone, as is the "100" for what is now the Norristown high speed line. But it's still fun to go outbound on one line and come back in on another. So we can still exploit the many connections, such as at Norristown Transportation Center, Fern Rock Transportation Center, Chestnut Hill, Media, Clifton-Aldan, Angora, Darby Transportation Center, and others. Those $11 day passes are as good as gold as long as you don't venture into New Jersey!

If we did Boston, I'd make one "request" myself -- the Lowell commuter line, since we didn't yet do that one officially as a group. The other activities would be up to your votes.

Baltimore and/or Washington have possibilities too, but they are limited by the weekday-only nature of MARC and VRE. That leaves each city's Metro lines and the light rail system in Baltimore. If anyone really wishes to ride commuter rail, I suppose we could do a Fest Friday and Saturday rather than Saturday and Sunday, so that such trips are possible. But again things are limited by the lack of return trips on the MARC Brunswick and Frederick Lines and VRE Fredericksburg Line (the latter can be done by returning on Amtrak however).

My first choice is Philly.

Unable to leave things well enough alone, I've been toying with the future Fests again. A potential Virginia RailFest would have included VRE to Fredericksburg, then Amtrak to the Tidewater area and riding the new HRT TIDE light rail in Norfolk. And a potential North Carolina RailFest featured CATS LYNX light ral in Charlotte, and the Piedmont within the state.

So with my steel wheels turning, I thought, why not combine them? First, I had lengthened an NC Fest from 3 days to 4 in order to possibly do it in the winter. Since that option was not chosen for this month's Fest that eventually ended up back in New York & Connecticut, it can move to days where the weather is warmer and the daylight longer. So it was condensed back to 3 days with some activities scheduled for the evening. I found that a transfer at Richmond, VA works out pretty well with one of the Newport News trains.

Hence we now have a North Carolina/Virginia RailFest. The Fredericksburg VRE run was dropped, but we cover the same trackage anyhow on the Amtrak trains. The end of the Fest would be aboard Amtrak Regional #66, which does get to where many of us live at unfriendly times. But one also has the option of bailing in the Washington, DC area and then taking another train the following day.

It's a 4-day event, which is a bit longer than our January fests but shorter than our July fests, so it falls in the middle. Perhaps August (if the delayed TIDE light rail is online by then)?

Also I've extended the future Fest Calendar out to 2017, although nothing is in it beyond this year. I also added the above combined event. What we do from 2012 onward depends on how potential host cities do in getting new rail lines up and running.

The reason I am the Ryan Seacrest of online railfans (albeit 2 feet taller) is because I continiously look for newer, better, and economical ways of getting places by various train in potential new or old cities. That's all while finding train news and keeping track of past and future RailFests. My work is never done!

Today I'm looking at some makeup fests, places we could return to in say, California, Oregon, and Washington once some new rail lines come online.

In 2010 we rode a lot of Sound Transit, and also the Seattle Streetcar's South Lake Union line trolley. They are building First Hill, another Seattle Streetcar type of line that will serve another neighborhood, and are working on an extension of the Central Link to the University area and eventually the Northgate Mall.

Portland will have more to do in a couple of years as they are turning Portland Streetcar into a full loop that will swing through the Lloyd District on the east side of the river, and then merge back in on the southern end of the downtown area by RiverPlace.

We were in SoCal in 2009, and we did justice to the vast transportation systems in Los Angeles, San Diego, and in between. Since we were there, the Eastside Gold Line opened, work has begun to extend the Gold Line on the other end (Foothills Extension), and the first segment of Expo Line should be open later this year, with the second segment soon going to construction all the way to its end at Santa Monica Pier. There is hope that a segment of the Purple Line will extend it further west, through Beverly Hills and as far as I-405. And the Downtown Connector will finallly unify the light rail system, removing the need for so many color designations. The Expo Line will run through downtown LA and become the East L.A. segment of the Gold Line. The Blue Line after the connector will assume the Pasadena Gold Line and its abuilding extensions to the east. Wait several years and all of this will be taking shape.

Then in NoCal, where we visited in 2007, we rode everything we could, as far as Muni streetcars, trolleys, and cable cars are concerned. BART had a slight reconfiguration since we were there, whereby different lines run to the airport at different times, and another serves Millbrae. But we "aced" all that, and we did ace ACE commuter rail as well. The one thing we didn't do was to ride CalTrain beyind Diridon Station in San Jose, to its endpoint at Tamien, or the extended rush hour service to Gilroy. It is possible to ride CalTrain to Gilroy, then take a #68 bus back from there to Santa Teresa, where one can connect to VTA light rail. Then one could switch between light rail and CalTrain once more, this time in Tamien rather than funnelling through Diridon Station.

If we went to NoCal again after 2014, we would have the SMART trains to ride as well... but it would require a short ferry ride between the pier in San Francisco and Larkspur to get to the trains.

So much to consider out there, and a jumble of possible opening dates, makes planing such an event an ordeal.

Most likely a trip to NoCal will include a 24 hour stopover in Salt Lake City on the westbound trip. It has to be done that way, so we don't need to worry about a 3:30 AM arrival or departure on #6. Denver I'd either make a 24 hour stopover on an eastbound trip, or just an out and back overnight side trip from Chicago.