OTOL Big Apple RailFest 2006 Homepage

OTOL Big Apple RailFest 2006 is in the books. A very successful and exciting weekend was had by all. We had a multitude of different types of weather, from rain to snow to warm to cold to windy. Everything we set out to do on the final itinerary was accomplished.We ended up 40 minutes early on Saturday, and a few minutes late on Sunday.

On Saturday, we first first went up the N line to Astoria, Queens. Then we rode the entire N line end to end, until we came to Coney Island. This celebrated the Sea Beach Line's return to Coney Island after a two-year hiatus for station work. We then walked through the newly renovated station on the way to our lunch break at the original Nathan's Famous.

After lunch we took the Q train on the Brighton Line to Prospect Park, and then the S Franklin Avenue Shuttle to Fulton Street. Then we took a brief trip on the C train to Utica Avenue, where we switched to an A express. We went east to the Lefferts Blvd. terminus in Ozone Park, Queens.

From there, we returned back inbound on the A to Broadway Junction, where we switched to the J train. We took that to Myrtle Avenue, in order to catch an M train. We missed this line last year due to an announced service disruption that in reality never took place.

After riding the M to its terminus at Metropolitan Avenue, we then retraced our steps back to Broadway Junction on the M and J trains. This was a late change; originally we were going to take the L train from Myrtle/Wyckoff but this section was out of service on the weekend of our fest. At Broadway Junction we caught a shuttle version of the L (using the J station) to Livonia Avenue.

We got off there and left the system, walking one block to Junius Street station on the 3 line. Here we had our second late change. The 3 line was not running in Brooklyn, but the 4 was running in its place out to New Lots Avenue. After going outbound to New Lots Avenue, we returned west on the 4 to Bowling Green station in Lower Manhattan. We had to transfer there to a rerouted 5 train running on parts of the 1 and 2 lines to get back to Penn Station, where we concluded our day's activities. About half of the group got together for dinner at Sbarro's across the street from Penn Station.

Sunday's commuter rail excursion was the Long Island Railroad's Ronkonkoma Branch, all the way out to Greenport and return. This used most of our day, so it was the only activity scheduled.

A total of 21 people were involved throughout the weekend, with 20 of them participating at least part of the day on Saturday's subway excursion. On Sunday we had a total of 15 people, although we never had more than 14 together at once.

All in all our winter event was another smashing success. Our participants represented the states of Massachusetts, Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. It was wonderful to see everyone again!