Nostalgia & History > SEPTA Crusader & Wall Street Trains in NJ

Back in the late 1970s' and early 1980s' some of my favorite trains to watch and photograph were the SEPTA trains CRUSADER and WALL STREET.
These trains operated from Reading Terminal in Philadelphia to Newark NJ Penn Station where connections could be made to New York by NJDOT or PATH trains.
The RDC equipment used on these runs honored past glory by having READING COMPANY spelled out proudly in the letterboards. Just a small SEPTA decal was visible  to indicate  it's current operator.
 They were something different from the NJDOT/ConRail commuter trains I usually saw here. I watched these trains on the ex-Jersey Central Raritan Valley Line in central New Jersey and I often saw them at full speed flying between Bound Brook and Dunellen. With their stainless steel car bodies glistening in the sun, revolving lights mounted on the roof, and orange stripes on the Budd car front, they made for a very interesting sight to a teenage railfan.     
SEPTA would soon discontinue these trains along with all diesel trains outside the Philadelphia area electrified zone.  
 
Photo 1. On August 19, 1979 I took a train from Dunellen to Bound Brook to photograph the evening rush hour passenger trains.  SEPTA train # 5619 the CRUSADER makes it's 5:28 arrival in Bound Brook.
 
Photos 2 & 3.  SEPTA train # 5621 the WALL STREET makes it's station stop at Bound Brook.
 

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Photo 4. Train # 5600 the WALL STREET at speed. SEPTA RDCs fly through Middlesex NJ on the morning run to Newark. August 21, 1979.

 Photo 5. The SEPTA RDC trains spent the mid-day hours between runs in the small yard at Harrison NJ on the Amtrak North East Corridor. The trains, in former years, ran to the CNJ Jersey City Terminal. In 1967 with implementation of the Aldene plan to re-route CNJ trains to Penn Station Newark, this yard was built to store RVL trains. This rather poor photo was taken from inside a PATH train. I made a clumsy attempt to photo shop out some distracting reflections in the train windows. March 25, 1980

. Photo 6. Another shot of the RDCs at speed. This time I did a pan shot of the WALL STREET as it sped through Middlesex NJ on the evening of May 14, 1980.

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Photo 7. This is what replaced the fast and shiny Budd cars when SEPTA discontinued the CRUSADER & WALL STREET trains. .NJ Transit provided "service" with this Newark to West Trenton train. Comet coaches were on the property but NJT used the oldest, most decrepit cars they could muster. That, combined with adding another change of trains to get to Philly, hastened the demise of passenger service on the ex-Reading New York Short Line. December 1, 1982

Enjoy!
Ken Gear

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Your photos are most interesting. Also, I really appreciate your detailed narratives.
Would have really like to have ridden and photographed these trains.
Thanks for posting.
ALLEN

I was a high school student in suburban Philadelphia from 1959 through 1961.  After sports practice, the school bus that took us home would utilize Valley Rd. in Abington Township which paralleled the West Trenton Line. I would often see either the Wall Street or Crusader (not sure which)  pulled by an F unit going toward Jenkintown and Philadelphia at a very high rate of speed.  I often wondered where the engineer started to brake in order to slow for the curve into Jenkintown Wyncote station. The train had to be doing 60 mph or more as it passed through Rydal. 

Interesting image and the landscape has definitely around the Belle Mead station has changed since you took that photo. Here is one that I took on September 15, 2013. The areas where commuters would park is now overgrown. That black bridge has been replaced by a newer one to accommodate the increasing congestion on Route 206. The small building on the right has been vandalized beyond repair and the station has also seen extensive vandalism.

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My friends and I would ride the Wall Street from Philly to North Jersey on several of our fan excursions. The snack car was a modest touch of class, and made it a fun alternative to the Amtrak clockers that were the competition (of course, Amtrak had GG1s.) Riding a RDC at reasonably high speeds was always fun, and the Reading had several routes to take advantage of this. Some crews would allow you in the "cab", but generally this was not allowed on the Newark trains.

I did not know that NJ offered a post-Septa alternative.

Thanks for posting these.

King_Coal Wrote:

> I did not know that NJ offered a post-Septa
> alternative.
>.

​I rode the post Septa alternative pictured above once. It was very slow along the NY Short Line. Decrepit and hot equipment. Stretch braking into the stations stops with the smell of brake shoes. Not many passengers. Connection from CNJ mainline to NY Shortline had been singled tracked recently and I believe single tracking of the Short Line had started. I remember people waiting at the stations on the NY Short Line for arriving passengers looking aghast at the train. They were accustomed to seeing the nice looking RDC's.

I made two round trips from Jenkintown to Newark in the late '70s.  Gerry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/17 10:44 by GPutz.

It was a slow ride by the mid 1970s. Lots of slow orders.

Many passengers drove up to Somerville or Bound Brook to get a faster train. Text book example of driving off passengers.

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one day i had an early quit i went down to Reading Terminal and tried to ride this train ... cndr was a real asshole ... i was using my father's CR pass ... i had Amtrak credentials but before i could show him anything he took my pop's pass hopped on the train closed the door and took off ... a week later my pop asks me if i still had his pass and for good reason ... the jerk off cndr turned his pass in as a stolen pass and my pop got called into the office for an explanation ...

Just a slight correction: the New York Branch (or LINE) is the route used by the Crusader and Wall Street Services, which is the line to West Trenton from the then Reading Terminal...This line today operates as SEPTA's West Trenton Line. This is NOT the "Shortline"

The New York SHORT LINE is the Reading route that the B&O Royal Blue used, which runs from Newtown Junction, through Cheltenham Junction and up to Neshaminy Falls, where it connects into the New York/West Trenton Branch. The basis of the "short line" follows the original route of the Philadelphia & Montgomery County Railroad later reorganized as the Philadelphia Newtown and New York Railroad route (opened in 1873) which runs up to Cheltenham JCT where it then splits, one section going to Newtown (Now only to Fox Chase) and the other to Neshaminy. The Cheltenham to Neshaminy Falls section was opened in 1906.This is the "SHORT LINE", which wasn't used by either the Crusader or Wall Street on any regular basis.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/17 07:29 by nhiwwrr.

Thanks for the correction and additional information.

That  "Short Line" must be what the creator of the Monopoly board game was referring to.  The only "Short Line" I knew of when I started playing the game was the Pasadena Short Line of the Pacific Electric.  I had read about the B&O, the Pennsylvania and the Reading (our dad had to tell us it was "Redding" not "Reeding").  I finally got to ride all three in Sept. 1971 when visited Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, mostly in search of streetcars, which had vanished from the Los Angeles area in 1963.  I took a ride on the Reading, but did not pass GO, and did not collect $200, so I had to head back to California before my money ran out.

Here are some photos of the Reading Terminal before all the suburban service went underground, and a B&O RDC on the local service out of Pittsburgh.
 

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