Passenger Trains > PRR Suburban Street Station facade

This is in Philadelphia.  Last week, the weather was decent, so I chose to walk from 30th Street Station to the 8th & Market Patco station.  Along the way, I passed the former PRR Suburban Street station, so I stopped for a moment to photo the exterior facade.  Still looks real good!  

It also got me thinking.  Being that was the PRR terminus east of 30th Street, when was the connection made to the Reading Terminal station?  

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OCtrainguy Wrote:
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>
> It also got me thinking.  Being that was the PRR
> terminus east of 30th Street, when was the
> connection made to the Reading Terminal
> station?  

The last train departed from Reading Terminel in November 1984.  Presumably this is when revenue through train service through the Center City Tunnel began.  Don't know when the physical connection was built.

The Market East underground station was opened as part of the connection and replacement of Reading Terminal in November of 1984.  Septa later changed the station name to Jefferson, for the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital naming rights.

It's neat to still see some of the old "Reading Railroad approaches" to the Philadelphia Reading Terminal. Not sure of current status, but my friend's engineering company was engaged to come up with, and design, a "Park" of sorts. It's not a LOT of space, but it would create an interesting "open area" for the public to enjoy. They were trying to use the NYC Hi-Line as a basis or to get ideas.        

However, the Center City Tunnel connection was a HUGE step forward of efficiency and cost savings for SEPTA and the city of Philadelphia. It also solidified SEPTA'S future of "all electric" commuter service. Gone was also diesel and RDC's after this connection was made. SEPTA now concentrated on the lines with catenary only!

There was a member here on Trainorders that was integrally involved in, followed closely, and helped plan the the tunnel connection between the two "main lines" - PRR and Reading. I believe he is still a member, but forget who in the shadows it is. Hopefully he will see this post and respond. Very knowledgeable on topic and quite interesting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/19 19:53 by jp1822.

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's neat to still see some of the old "Reading
> Railroad approaches" to the Philadelphia Reading
> Terminal. Not sure of current status, but my
> friend's engineering company was engaged to come
> up with, and design, a "Park" of sorts. It's not a
> LOT of space, but it would create an interesting
> "open area" for the public to enjoy. They were
> trying to use the NYC Hi-Line as a basis or to get
> ideas.                             
>                                  
A short section opened last year.  I walked it last summer.  It's very nice.  For more information, go to:
https://www.therailpark.org/



 

Love art deco.

One of the biggest advantages to SEPTA's consolidation of the Pennsy and Reading was they no longer needed a place to park all those rush hour trains in downtown Philly. Today it's fun to see how many lines you can cover in one day using their rail pass. Unfortunately you can't use it to cross into NJ (West Trenton and Trenton).

The internals of Reading Terminal were never anything particularly spectacular but it's missed.as well as those trains that ran beyond catenary like the Bethlehem and Pottsville trains as well as the "Wall Street" and "Crusader". I remember the days of first looking at what a train's consist was before boarding. If Silverliner, NO, if a Blueliner NO, but if conventional open-window non-AC coaches, YES! Towards the end it was only possible on rush hour trains.

I used that station a lot in the 60's. Rode from Paoli or West Chester to Suburban Station and the subway to Temple University. 
But I don't think I saw the outside of the  station in all that time!

Sadly, the photos don't do the colors justice.  For those who haven't seen it, the "pink" is actually beautifully preserved and polished classic Pennsy Tuscan Red, contrasting perfectly with the elegant black marble.  Thank you Septa!