Passenger Trains > The Red Arrow Lines Liberty Liner runs again!

The Rockhill Trolley Museum adjacent to the East Broad Top Railroad ran it's
annual Fall Spectacular event on October 11th and 12th, 2014. One of the
featured stars was their rarely seen Red Arrow Lines (SEPTA) Liberty Liner
4 car articulated train set. Thanks to recently donated resistors, they
were able to get the train running again.

This set, 1 of 2, was originally built in 1941 by the St. Louis Car Company
for the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad which ran between Chicago,
Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They were later sold to the Red Arrow
Lines (now SEPTA) for use on it's Norristown line. They ran there until
retired in 1976. They could be found running at 80+ mph and one car featured
a bar with tables taking up what space was left. They were said to have
reached a maximum speed of 110 mph!

Due to the amount of electricity they need to run, this articulated 4 car set
only runs on special occasions. A sister set painted in the turquoise and
orange colors of it's original owners survives at the IRM in Union, IL and is
currently undergoing restoration to operation.


/Mitch

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The set was to run once in daylight each day and twice at night
on Saturday. Saturday's daylight even was canceled due to some
undisclosed issues and the first night time run on Saturday was
delayed about 45 minutes but it was worth the wait! Caught her
coming, going and then went for a ride enjoying a bite to eat
on the ride back.

Note - Photo number two was a going away shot, but not to waste
an opportunity, lol - I relit the headlight and added the engineer.

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A few more - one inside during the ride back and another,
parked at the end of the line and the last, just before
being put back in the car barn.

/Mitch

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Wow, that is really cool!

Wonderful!
But where's the pan????


Cheers,
Jack

africansteam Wrote:
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> Wonderful!
> But where's the pan????
>
>
> Cheers,
> Jack

They never, ever had a pan. North Shore didn't use then and neither did the Red Arrow Lines.

Believe me, Red Arrow made a mean martini - or two.

Glad to see her running again. As a North Shore fan who saw and photographed the Electroliners running between Chicago and Milwaukee, I don't like the colors, but it is sure wonderful to see her run. Thanks goes to all the Rockhill volunteers for making this happen.

Marty Bernard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/14 18:54 by MartyBernard.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> africansteam Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Wonderful!
> > But where's the pan????
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Jack
>
> They never, ever had a pan. North Shore didn't
> use then and neither did the Red Arrow Lines.

Africansteam is referring to a" pan shot" I believe.
Chris

engine3420 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > africansteam Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Wonderful!
> > > But where's the pan????
> > >
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Jack
> >
> > They never, ever had a pan. North Shore didn't
> > use then and neither did the Red Arrow Lines.
>
> Africansteam is referring to a" pan shot" I
> believe.
> Chris


As close as those trees and buildings are in the other pictures I would say good luck in finding an open enough area to take a pan shot.

Thanks for the good news and images, Mitch. Gerry

I never got an opportunity to ride the Liberty Liners. But did ride a lot of the Bullets. Gee, she would sure look nice in some fresh paint. The one in the Midwest does have the historic original colors so it would be nice if someone could ante-up and get this one back into proper P&W/Red Arrow colors. After all if the Red Arrow Lines hadn't bought the Electroliners both would all be rusting razor blades today.
Fantastic that both sets run.
Go

Great photos, Mitch! Especially the last one.

I love the variety in your subject matter.

Rich

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> engine3420 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------

> > PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------

> > > africansteam Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------

> > > > But where's the pan????

> > > They never, ever had a pan. North Shore
> > > didn't use then and neither did the Red Arrow Lines.

> > Africansteam is referring to a" pan shot" I
> > believe.

> As close as those trees and buildings are in the
> other pictures I would say good luck in finding an
> open enough area to take a pan shot.


Let me answer all of those in one swell swoop, lol:

Jack - I got ya covered.

PHall - The Northshore ran the Electroliners with a
trolley pole as seen in the photos above, however,
the Red Arrow Lines /SEPTA ran with third rail. The
Rockhill, not having third rail reverted to the North
Shore's system. Neither had pantographs - amazing
when you consider the speeds at which they ran.

Chris - you are of course, correct as is PHall - just
how does one pan in the such narrow confines? A zoom
pan of course!

/Mitch

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When the North Shore was on the Chicago El it was running third rail. The change from third rail to trolley pole occurred in Evanston mostly at speed.


Marty Bernard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/14 22:45 by MartyBernard.

MartyBernard Wrote:
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> When the North Shore was on the Chicago El it was
> running third rail. The change from third rail to
> trolly pole occurred in Evanston mostly at speed.
>
>
> Marty Bernard

Thanks Marty - thought I saw pics of the Electroliner
without it's trolley pole but attributed that to blown
out skies or poor scans that I had seen.

/Mitch

What is that round thing center bottom of the center window of the end of the train?


Marty

MartyBernard Wrote:
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> What is that round thing center bottom of the
> center window of the end of the train?
>
>
> Marty


I was wondering that myself - it appears to be an
auxiliary headlamp but I can not say for sure.

/Mitch

I kind of like the patina of that well used trainset. What kind of lighting did you use? I dig the lit up cab shot with the railfan holding the camera behind.

mp51w Wrote:
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> I kind of like the patina of that well used
> trainset. What kind of lighting did you use? I
> dig the lit up cab shot with the railfan holding
> the camera behind.


It could use a serious coast of paint! I mean, it
was not a freight hauler - it should be dolled up
and purdy!

I had several speedlights and a Lumidyne which I
got lazy with and left at home. Having second
thoughts, I pulled out my Canon 580 EX speedlight
which I did bring and was surprised to see it
provided enough light to light the action scenes.
F/5.6 1/200th at ISO 1600 Canon 5D Mark III.

The others, I left the shutter open and ran around
flashing all parts of the train along with some
ambient light.

/Mitch