Passenger Trains > .

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/21 23:50 by F40PHR231.

Thanks, Chris! I always enjoy your travelogues.

steeplecab

Thanks for the great pictorial tour of the city and transportation system.
John

Man - you covered a lot of ground! I would have suggested riding the "Railfan seat" on a PATCO ride across the B Franklin bridge, and maybe a ride out to Bryn Mawr on the Main Line. Cool stuff....

As a Philadelphia resident who used to live along the #15 line, I enjoyed your photos and narrative. Just a few points:

1) The photo of "somewhere between Baltimore and Wilmington" is in fact a shot of the Susquehanna River, which the line crosses between Havre de Grace and Perryville, MD. That big bridge is probably the scenic highlight of the south end of the NEC.

2) You seem to have missed the War Memorial statue at 30th Street (the bronze statue of an angel holding the body of a fallen soldier) on the 29th Street side

3) Too bad you missed the Brill Bullets on the Norristown Line. If you do the trip again, you can take a SEPTA train out the former Reading to Norristown, take the High Speed Line to 69th Street, take a Red Arrow trolley to Media, walk down the hill and take SEPTA back to 30th Street. That avoids a round trip on the Market Street el (which I haven't been on since they finished replacing the structure).

4) Both the Frankford and the Market Street ends of the el have been replaced in the last 15 years, and the cars are new as well (about 10 years old now).

Thanks for the great travelogue. I'll add a few comments.

The Philly transit system moves an enormous number of people, and is well laid out for what it does. The lines to the stadium district, for example, move an incredible number of people after ball games. The "cheesesteak corner" of 8th and Passyunk, for example, is just a few blocks from the south Broad line.

The 30th street station has evolved over the last 20 years or so, but retains some basic elements. Downstairs is the NEC and NJ Transit to Atlantic City, upstairs are the trains to Center City, and to most suburban points. The connection of the Pennsylvania Railroad suburban lines and Reading Company suburban lines made "upstairs" a very busy place.

Atlantic City is a real mess, and has been for years. Other than the Borgata and Caesar's, the casinos I've seen are badly maintained dumps run by bankrupt firms. Tropicana had most floors closed off even in the busy season last year, for example. Way too many casinos chasing too little business.

Thanks for the great shots.... Two great structures, Washington Union and 30th St... What treasures....

Does anyone remember at Washington Union Station back around 1963 - 1964 time frame the fireworks store at the end of the waiting room?

Steve

F40PHR231 Wrote:
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> 46) At Atlantic City station. The ride over was
> okay, but it certainly could use some higher
> speeds.
>

I've never ridden a local train on the AC line, but I have taken the ACES train. We got up to 88 mph on the AC line on my trip according to me GPS receiver. (Speed limit is 80, but there are some decent stretches where they can push it a bit.)

Also, just to clarify, where is that photo with the trolley line adjacent to the Frankford line? That's not 30th St, is it?

Great photos, thanks for sharing!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/11 13:40 by hsr_fan.

hsr_fan Wrote:
> ..
> Also, just to clarify, where is that photo with
> the trolley line adjacent to the Frankford line?
> That's not 30th St, is it?
>
> Great photos, thanks for sharing!

If you mean #23, it's looking east on Girard Ave at Front Street.

Also, not a nitpick, just a FYI: The Route 15 cars are PCC II's, new LRV's in PCC shells.

Bob Vogel
South Jersey

chuchubob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> If you mean #23, it's looking east on Girard Ave
> at Front Street.
>

#13 was the one I was wondering about actually...

hsr_fan Wrote:
> Also, just to clarify, where is that photo with
> the trolley line adjacent to the Frankford line?
> That's not 30th St, is it?

If I remember correctly, photo #13 is the station that was across the street from 30th St Station.

That scary, lonely, underground corridor to the subway is a perfect location for an emergency phone, whether it works or not. Good thinking on the agency's part.

"Train,s" maga zine had a recent issue in the past year or so that named the Philadelphia 30th st station the best in the USA.
The issue also had a very good map of the station in relation to traffic flows and geographic location as part of the city

Great pictures of a busy visit.

Picture #13 is at the 30th Street stop on the Market Frankford Line. From City Hall to 30th Street, the trolley tracks flank the subway. After 30th Street the westbound tracks, except for one line iirc, duck under the subway and continue their routes through West Philadelphia.

The Norristown Line to 69th Street has been called a trolley and a high speed line even though it is completely third rail powered. Currently it is called the Norristown High Speed Line on SEPTA's website.

Very confusing narrative and photos. I am a resident of the Philadelphia area and I still do not recognize some of the locations you took photos of. Other than your picture of someone getting their shoes shined, I can not relate to any other pictures of 30th St. Station. Some of the locations you took pictures of mix surface trolley lines, Subway lines, Elevated train lines, Regional rail lines and inter- city rail lines and being a native Philadelphian I was confused with the grouping of the photographs.

Jim

Chooch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very confusing narrative and photos. I am a
> resident of the Philadelphia area and I still do
> not recognize some of the locations you took
> photos of. Other than your picture of someone
> getting their shoes shined, I can not relate to
> any other pictures of 30th St. Station. Some of
> the locations you took pictures of mix surface
> trolley lines, Subway lines, Elevated train lines,
> Regional rail lines and inter- city rail lines and
> being a native Philadelphian I was confused with
> the grouping of the photographs.


Well, one thing that they all have in common is that they were taken in the Philadelphia area, and the primary purpose of my visit was to check out the SEPTA transit system. I felt that most of the photos were descriptive enough, such as riding the Frankford Line, or the Norristown Line, etc. Even I don't quite understand how the SEPTA regional system works, so instead of trying to pretend like I know everything, I am just keeping it simple and based on what I DO know. ;)

Trainorders only allows three photos per post, and since I don't necessarily divide them into groups of three, I can understand why you might be confused about the thread's structure. I just posted a grab-bag of photos from a whirlwind of a trip through that area.

Five separate "subway-surface" lines use the trolley subway between City Hall and 30th Street. There is a loop at City Hall, with separate inbound and outbound boarding areas (you're not supposed to stay on the car around the loop). The trolley tracks are outboard of the Market-Frankford tracks, but they're the same gauge (PA trolley gauge) and there were once crossovers -- since removed -- so work trains could move from one set of tracks to the other. The Market-Frankford line, BTW, is under-running third rail.

The trolley subway has an underground flying junction west of 30th Street. Four of the five lines use a subway under the Penn Campus, coming up at a portal southwest of the university. The other (the #10 line) uses a portal on 38th Street, and goes up 38th Street to Lancaster Avenue, where it heads west to a terminal at 63rd and Callowhill.

There is surface trackage through West Philadelphia connecting the #10 to the other lines, and it sees fairly frequent use during detours for maintenance. The track runs on 38th and 40th streets, and connects with the 10 right at the Parkside Avenue loop, west of the Philadelphia zoo.

There used to be no connection between the West Philadelphia subway-surface lines and the North Philadelphia surface lines, but about a decade ago SEPTA built track connections between the #15 Girard and #23 lines where they cross in North Philadelphia. For a while, Kawasaki LRVs ran between Center City and the zoo, using the new connection. That was fun. The track and wire are all still intact, but the 23 is now served by buses.