# No NJ Transit Try Transit Festival this year



## Viewliner (Apr 7, 2003)

I asked NJ Transit about when the Try Transit Festival in Hoboken would be and I got this response:



> Hello Mr. Reich;
> NJ TRANSIT thanks you for your interest.  We will not host a festival at
> 
> Hoboken Terminal this year.
> ...


Its unfortunate, I hope It will be back on next year if that is the case. Please let me know if there are any other festivals in/around the Northeast.


----------



## battalion51 (Apr 7, 2003)

Well I can think of one, the NRHS/R&LHS Convention in Baltimore. Many fine railfan trips are planned for this event, among them a trip to Amtrak's Bear Shops in Wilmington. Check them out here.


----------



## Viewliner (Apr 7, 2003)

battalion51 said:


> Well I can think of one, the NRHS/R&LHS Convention in Baltimore. Many fine railfan trips are planned for this event, among them a trip to Amtrak's Bear Shops in Wilmington. Check them out here.


What day is the visit to the shops? It says a visit to the Wilmington shops, which if I'm mistaken is not the same as Bear, unless you're visiting both. The only way I could go is on a weekend, otherwise I have to work.

Thanks, any others?


----------



## Amfleet (Apr 7, 2003)

Viewliner a great day trip would be to visit the Strasburg Railroad and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Both are directly across the street from each other and I've been to both attractions numerous times. It's fun for the whole family and there is even a model railroad shop right down the road and I remember it having a variety of Amtrak models. Now, I'm not sure where Livingston, NJ is, but Strausburg is about 60-80 minutes east of Philadelphia. Just a suggestion.


----------



## AlanB (Apr 7, 2003)

Well first off, I think that it's rather early for NJT to decide one way or the other about the fest. Yes, I agree that security is high right now. But who can predict that the war in Iraq won't be over before then. If it is, then security levels might well drop back down by then.

Secondly, I just find NJT's whole response rather ridiculous. If you can't secure the train station for a few hundred railfans, then how can you possibly secure the station for the thousands of daily commuters? Frankly I think that it would actually be easier to get railfans to walk through a metal detector, than it would be to get a commuter to do it.

Now as far another possible try transit fest, Delaware usually does one the weekend right after NJT's fest. I've been to the last two that they held there. It takes place right in Wilmington Station. They don't have as much equipment on display as NJT does. However, they usually bring a working Steam Engine (sorry no rides), a P42, a few old rail cars, plus displays including a HO layout.

Plus of course you've still got regular Amtrak trains running through the station, including Acela Express trains. In fact, that gives you a good excuse to ride one, as you need to get to Delaware in the first place.


----------



## Viewliner (Apr 7, 2003)

Amfleet said:


> Viewliner a great day trip would be to visit the Strasburg Railroad and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Both are directly across the street from each other and I've been to both attractions numerous times. It's fun for the whole family and there is even a model railroad shop right down the road and I remember it having a variety of Amtrak models. Now, I'm not sure where Livingston, NJ is, but Strausburg is about 60-80 minutes east of Philadelphia. Just a suggestion.


Yes, we were planning that at some point, it does sound like a good place to go.


----------



## AlanB (Apr 7, 2003)

While they haven't posted anything yet for this years fest that I find, here's a link to last years page.


----------



## Superliner Diner (Apr 7, 2003)

First of all, I think it is highly premature to be thinking about the Try Transit Festival, which now usually takes place in the Fall (for a while they had it in May but it's been back to Fall for several years). This date in the Fall can fluctuate anywhere between mid-September and mid-October, depending on other scheduled events in the area, the Jewish holidays, etc. So we are still 5 or 6 months away, and a little over 6 months since the last one.

Was it really all that great? I think many railfans agree that each year that festival has diminished somewhat, as there is less and less to see. Although I can claim I have not missed a Hoboken Festival (as they used to be called) since 1984, I don't think I will feel cheated if they choose not to hold one this year. The 2002 event had something missing, mainly because they decided to hold it in conjunction with a street fair going on several blocks away. Thus many of the usual vendors were out at the other part of the festival that had nothing to do with trains. They have missed holding the festival on two previous occasions, both due to station renovations.

The excuse in your response about our nation's security, while a serious issue, is a cop-out. As Alan said, so many commuters funnel through that station on a regular weekday, so is the terminal unsafe for them too? I bet if you made their response public, sending it on to the Newark _Star-Ledger_, it would result in a lot of angry letters from commuters who wonder why their safety is being compromised if NJ TRANSIT does not want to hold a single event one weekend day in the same terminal for fears of it being a security risk.

We've all been well aware of the possibilities of terrorism since September 11, 2001. It was just three days before that when many of us stood at the Try Transit Festival in 2001, looking across the river at the World Trade Center, never expecting that it would not be there by the middle of that week. But in 2002, about 57 weeks after the 2001 event and the tragedy of 9/11/01, they held another Try Transit Festival, and even expanded it throughout Hoboken up Washington Street. True at this time we are at war, but everyone knows we are continuing to live our lives and enjoy our freedoms as we were before it started. We're just watching out for unusual things a little more now.

I think the reason for the response you got is two-fold. It is too early to commit to having a festival in Hoboken. I think that saying our nation's security is being threatened, while remotely true, is not the reason they would come to such a decision. It may have more to do with money. Holding these festivals costs the agency money. It's hard to justify putting on such a show every year, when they have to deal with overcrowded trains, timekeeping problems, getting new rail lines and stations opened on time, and other headaches. It's hard to tell people to "Try Transit" when you are having trouble meeting opening dates and keeping the escalators running in a brand new Penn Station concourse.


----------

