The GeoTrain III Event will take place from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM on Saturday August 16th at Perry Street Station in Titusville, PA and is open to the public free of charge. The event will consist of a meet and greet social event for geocachers, geo-games with temporary caches, a travel bug exchange, and plenty of time to do some new permanent caches which will help you explore the City of Titusville, the Queen City Trail, and portions of Oil Creek State Park including the grounds of the Drake Well Museum. There are several options that you have to choose from to participate in this event that can keep you as busy as you would like to be on International Geocaching Day.
The 2014 GeoTrain event is a much improved and modified version of the GeoWoodstock Express, a world class event held for the first time on July 1, 2011 as a companion event to GeoWoodstock IX, the world’s largest gathering of geocachers which drew over five thousand people to the Warren County Fairgrounds. The GeoWoodstock Express was a complete sell out to the train capacity of 600 passengers in 2011. Combining a meet and greet opportunity for players from around the world with a fun and entertaining ride on the Oil Creek and Titusville (OC &T) Railroad through the valley that changed the world with the discovery of oil, the GeoTrain event has something for everyone. Those that were fortunate enough to have purchased a ticket for the original event raved about the great time they had, while those that were unable to secure a ticket asked if the event could be repeated. With a partnership of four organizations and the cooperation of Oil Creek State Park and Drake Well Museum, the original event concept has been expanded and improved to become an annual event known as the GeoTrain. In 2012, the inaugural GeoTrain event drew 210 participants from four states. With your help, the GeoTrain Committee hopes to make this into a Mega event, celebrated annually in conjunction with international geocaching day.
The GeoTrain Event is an all-day adventure in and around Titusville, PA including options for exploring Oil Creek State Park and the Drake Well Museum either on foot, by bicycle, car, or train where geocachers of all ages and skill levels will be able to enjoy their favorite outdoor adventure game searching for both regular and temporary geocaches for fun and prizes. While at the event, those in attendance will have plenty of time and options to explore the beautiful Oil Creek State Park, learn of the history of the area, enjoy a catered lunch, tour the Drake Well Museum, spend time renewing friendship with fellow geocachers, and of course-find plenty of geocaches.
The OC&T GeoTrain departs Perry Street Station in Titusville at 1:00 pm. Geocachers purchasing tickets to ride the train will have a number of options to pick from at no additional cost. Fifteen minutes after the train leaves Perry Street Station, it arrives for a brief stop at Drake Well Museum. Here you have the option of disembarking the train, finding some new caches, enjoying the museum grounds, and enjoying the catered lunch; or continuing on with the train to Petroleum Centre or Rynd Farm at Oil Creek State Park. You can also disembark at Petroleum Centre in OCSP to learn more history about the valley that changed the world while the train continues on to Rynd Farm and turns the locomotive around to prepare for the return trip to Perry Street Station. After the train is turned around, the train will again stop at Petroleum Centre at 2:45 PM and Drake Well Museum at about 3:15 PM to pick up any passengers wanting to ride the train back to Perry Street Station.
This flexibility will give you plenty of time to participate in the geomeet at the train station and offers a variety of options to choose between riding the rails and biking or hiking the trails to help you find some caches from one end of the route to the other. The GeoTrain Event will include a meet and greet, travel bug exchange, commercial and non-profit displays, geo-games with prizes, temporary event caches, as well as the opportunity to search for new and existing caches already in the area to help you explore and learn some history of this beautiful state park in the valley that changed the world. GeoDogs are welcome but must be on a leash at all times! There is even an option for you to take your bicycle on the train with you, so that you can access the caches along the bike trail during the event. Take a round trip on the OC&T RR or take it one way to Drake Well or Petroleum Centre and bike or hike back to Perry Street Station finding caches along the way. It is all up to you how to spend your day celebrating International Geocaching Day.
Please note: A round trip ticket package must be purchased to ride the train from Perry Street Station to Oil Creek State Park and receive the catered lunch and event swag, however, you can still participate in the geomeet event and game at Perry Street Station without purchasing a train ticket or event package. See related website for more information or to register for the train ride.
TENTATIVE EVENT SCHEDULE
9:30 AM Registration opens & Sign in at the event log, if you want to be a part of the event history. Pickup Train Tickets at Perry Street Station any time between 9:30 AM and Noon if you are riding the Train
12:00 PM Geocachers receive priority boarding of the train if you have purchased a ticket
1:00 PM Depart Perry Street Station on the OC&T RR
1:15 PM Arrive at Drake Well Museum for catered lunch & exploration of Drake Well Museum Petroleum Centre, Oil Creek State Park. Enjoy caching in the vicinity of the Museum Grounds or tour the museum while waiting to board the return trip to Perry Street Station at 3:15 PM or grab your bicycle off the train or hike the Queen City paved trail back to Perry Street Station finding new caches along the way.
4:00 PM Geomeet officially wraps up back at Perry Street Station with raffles & prize awards. It is your option to sign the event log if you want to, trade Trackables, and make plans for dinner or more local caching with your favorite geocachers.
Register for the train ride or drive in lunch only event package by calling 814-676-1733.
This event cache is placed with permission of DCNR- Oil Creek State Park. Please thank the Park staff for allowing us to enjoy Geocaching in Oil Creek State Park.
Clarification of meal arrangements: Several questions have been posted regarding the meal arrangements, so I thought I would clarify the situation to help those planning on attending make an informed choice of whether you want to take the shorter train ride to Drake Well Museum and get off or ride it to the end of the line.
Due to the train schedule, the hot pulled pork barbeque sandwich lunch which also includes baked beans, cole slaw, pasta salad, and a cookie & drink, is only available if you get off the train during a brief stop at Drake Well Museum. There is not enough time for you to get off the train, go to the pavilion for lunch and then get back on the train to continue the longer ride to Petroleum Centre or Rynd Farm. If you opt to take the full train ride to Petroleum Centre or the end of the line, we have made arrangements to get you the normal train lunch which consists of a ham or turkey sandwich, a bag of chips, a piece of fruit, cookies, and a drink.
The choice is yours to make! You can either get a longer train ride with a bag lunch, or you can get more time on the ground to cache or tour the museum with a hot lunch. If you get off the train at Drake Well Museum, you can find both temporary and permanent caches in the vicinity of the museum and along the trail back to Perry Street Station that you can either hike or bike back to the station finding caches along the way, or you can spend your free time touring the museum and grounds at Drake Well and then catch the return trip to Perry Street Station on the train when it comes back through Drake Well in mid to late afternoon.
If you have opted for the longer train ride then you have a choice of getting off the train at Petroleum Centre in Oil Creek State Park or continuing to the end of the line at Rynd Farm, where they turn the locomotive around for the return trip. If you get off at Petroleum Centre, you would have time enough to do maybe 3-4 caches in Oil Creek State Park that are within walking distance of the train station and then reboard the train for the return trip to Perry Street Station. If you go all the way to Rynd Farm, you probably don't have time to do any additional caching. If you opt for the longer train ride, you enjoy a beautiful train ride on the OC&T RR along scenic Oil Creek where you may spot bald eagles or maybe a bear or deer. You can also have more time to search for a couple of temporary event caches on the train.
The GeoTrain event committee wishes we could meet everyone's expectations, but with the limitations we have, it just isn't economically feasible. We have attempted to make as many options for activities available as possible, so that everyone who attends the event can select the best choice for you personally, whether you are first time train riders as well as those who have attended the event in prior years. We think we have allowed ample time for caching in and around Titusville during the series of weekend events, and added activities, and train options that have not been available in the past to keep this event fresh for repeat participants. We hope to see you at one or all of the coming events, but why not make a weekend of it and bring a friend whether they geocache or not. We think there is something good in it for everyone.
