Jack May visits the Philadelphia Area

[daveklepper]

I wrote this trip report, about a trip I took to Philadelphia, sans camera, a while ago,  but decided to add some photos from previous sojourns, which illustrate some of the lines and places I visited.  It has grown like Topsy, so I've split into three parts.

Jack

A TRIP TO PHILADELPHIA – JANUARY 10, 2019

My wife has visited the Barnes Foundation on several occasions over the past decade, both at its “old” location in Merion and now at its expanded facility (since 2012) in central Philadelphia.  She wanted to see a particular show (Berthe Marisot) that was about to be dismantled, so she organized a “three generation” visit for Thursday January 10.  As it turned out our older granddaughter came down with the flu the previous day so only Clare and our daughter Sandy ended up participating.  I would drive them to the Barnes and then park the car.  While they would be viewing the Renoirs, Matisses, etc. I planned to ride parts of SEPTA’s transit system.

Sandy lives in Manhattan and would not be able to leave until after she packed our two grandsons off to school, so we decided she would take the 9:19 New Jersey Transit Northeast Corridor train to Metropark in Woodbridge, N. J., where we would pick her up.  Clare and I left home in Montclair at 9:20, which gave me time to fill the car up with gas and get to Metropark in advance of the scheduled arrival of Sandy’s train at 10:02.  The train, however, arrived late, at 10:15.  Sandy indicated that it stopped for a long time at Secaucus and then virtually crawled all the way to Rahway, before speeding up prior to braking for Metropark.  Indeed I saw it arrive (push pull with an ALP-46 at the point), right after an Amtrak Acela arrived and left on time at 10:09.  (Could it be that Amtrak dispatchers don’t want a lowly commuter train to run in front of its seminal offering?)  It’s a shame that Metropark wasn’t built with its two platforms between its four tracks instead of at the sides.  Or for that matter, with six tracks, similar to Newark Airport.

Anyway we soon were back on the road (at 10:19), and used the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike to Exit 4 (11:13), followed by routes 73/38, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and the Vine Street Expressway to the 22nd Street exit.  I dropped the museum goers at 20th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue (Callowhill Street), very close to the entrance at 11:36. 

My plan was to park the car on the street near Girard Avenue and then follow an itinerary that would allow me to ride portions of each type of rail service operated by SEPTA in the 5 or so hours before I would pick them up again at the same location at around 4:30.  As I drove northward along 18th Street and then 16th (because the street pattern near Eastern State Penitentiary does not allow 18th to run through), I noticed that all the parking spaces on both sides of the streets were solidly filled.  I was getting a little concerned as I was approaching Girard, but then saw an empty spot around a corner on Cambridge Street just one block before the arterial, and deposited my car along the curb at 11:45.  I had not brought my camera, even though the weather forecast was not bad:  clouds in the morning and clearing up during the afternoon.  It turned out to be accurate and by 2:30 there was not a cloud in the sky, but I knew the shadows would be long as late December and early January bring the shortest days of the year.

I walked the block to 16th and Girard, saw no route 15 streetcars in either direction and decided to continue for the two additional short blocks to the Broad Street Subway.  By the time I got to Broad (the equivalent of 14th Street), a westbound PCC car was approaching its stop, which was crowded with passengers.  My SEPTA Senior Keycard worked perfectly at the subway’s underground turnstiles and I was on the southbound platform by 11:55.  Two minutes later a train of Kawasaki cars (built in 1982) hurtled in on the express track.  Bound for the Walnut-Locust station, the debris-strewn car I entered was relatively empty and I had a decent choice of seats.  It was a quick ride to City Hall, only 3 stops, where most of my fellow passengers also detrained.  (There are actually 4 stations between Girard and City Hall, but Fairmount is skipped by express trains.)

 

Above and below:  Fern Rock, the location of the northernmost station of the Broad Street Subway and its yards and shops, is the only section of the line that is in the open air.  The upper view, taken from the walkway leading from the Fern Rock station of the Regional Rail lines (former Reading Company), shows a train rounding the loop heading for the station to drop passengers and then begin its run to downtown.  (Some trains do not go around the counter-clockwise loop, but head directly for the station and then reverse ends.)  The cars were built by Kawasaki in 1n 1982 and were just undergoing a mid-life overhaul when I took this photo a few years ago.  The most notable difference in the appearance of the rolling stock from before and after the work was performed is illustrated by the difference in the color schemes, as shown by the first two cars of the train.  The orange color through the windows was removed in the process and left only as a stripe below the roof line.  It should be noted that an official plan had been implemented to rename the lines with colors, with the Broad Street Subway becoming the Orange Line, but that was abandoned later;  the color still decorates all the stations and printed timetables.  The Market-Frankford Subway-Elevated was officially the Blue Line for the same period.  A portion of the yard is shown in the lower photo, taken last year on my tippy toes over a fence from North 11th Street.

Arriving at City Hall at 11:02, I decided to walk to Suburban Station, just a few blocks away, to acquire a number of sets of timetables (I brought a plastic bag to house them).  I was able to accomplish this without going to the street level, by traversing underground corridors that are being refurbished.  But accomplish may be the wrong word, as the racks did not contain schedules for most of the transit lines (nor room for them), but I was able to accumulate the ones for the railroad commuter services.  I also made a rest stop and then walked on the surface from the station’s 18th Street exit to 19th and Market, where I descended to the westbound platform of the subway-surface lines.

Interestingly, I found there is now little reference to the word(s), “subway-surface,” as most of the signs I encountered were new and referred to the routes as “trolley lines.”  I guess this is something similar to New Jersey Transit changing the name, “Newark City Subway” to “Newark Light Rail.”  I’ll miss the traditional subway-surface designation, although I did notice it still appeared at 30th Street.  There are also signs at the entrances and at platform level informing passengers that when an accompanying blue light is flashing, there is no service at the station, and they should reach their trolleys at 40th and Market Street (or elsewhere) as they would be running along the diversion route.  Such operation occurs regularly during the midnight hours one day a week, but also when there is longer-running or emergency track, overhead or signal work in the subway.

The 19th Street station has been renovated with all new furniture and tiles, and turnstiles have been added.  I tried my Keycard at each of these machines and it was rejected each time (having attempted to both tap it and swipe it).  How was I going to get in?  (In the old days, when I was thinner, I could probably squeeze by, but that was hardly possible now.)  There was a ticket vending machine, which also had provisions to add money to electronic Keycards.  [I should mention that the Senior Keycard is good for free travel on all of SEPTA’s transit lines and all of its regional rail (commuter) lines within Pennsylvania.]  Thus in theory there was no need for me to have any money stored on the card, and thus I did not have any.  When I tapped the card on the fare machine, a green light lit up, and that was encouraging.  I immediately tried the card again at one of the turnstiles and it released--I had no further trouble paying my fares (sic) for the rest of the day.

I was heading to 49th Street and Chester Avenue in West Philadelphia, where I would transfer to a SEPTA commuter train.  That intersection is regularly served by route 13-Chester Avenue trolleys and during the time I waited for one to come along (4 minutes), some 6 streetcars came by as follows:

12:20               Training Car
12:21               Route 10
12:22               Another Training Car
12:22½            Route 34
12:23               Route 36
12:24               Route 13 (my car)

And this was not even rush hour!  The frequency of streetcar service during off-peak hours on weekdays is every 10 minutes on each of the 5 lines that operate in the subway, and it is even better in rush hours—thus there’s always plenty of action in the 4-track tunnel under Market Street—and if you stop at the 30th Street station, you can additionally observe Market-Frankford subway trains coming by about every 5 minutes in each direction! 

Of course, these streetcars all were 9000-series Kawasaki units, and appeared to be clean and glistening.  The headlight at their top was so bright I could not see their electronic destination signs until they were about to come to a halt, and on top of that the route and destination display was alternating with one that read “GO EAGLES.”  That message of encouragement for Philadelphia’s champion professional football team reminded me that ever since I saw my first NFL football game in 1945, I’ve been a New York Giants fan.  Later I noticed it flashing on all buses—and even on route 15 streetcars.  But all in all, riders still had plenty of time to recognize if the upcoming car was the one they wanted. 

The Kawasaki unit I rode, No. 9070, was also sparkling clean on the inside, and had quite a few passengers aboard, so many that I could not occupy the “railfan seat” up front and look through the windshield at the right-of-way.  Fortunately that changed at 37th Street when many of the passengers got off.  Up until then it was a stop-and-go ride, no doubt due to signals reflecting our closeness to the car ahead (and its proximity to the one in front of it).  But once we reached the surface at the 40th Street portal and stopped at the station in the new landscaped “garden,” we were in the clear, and could proceed at the rate of auto traffic.  But I did miss the usual high-speed run from 22nd to 30th under the Schuylkill River.  I noticed that along Chester Avenue where there are no traffic lights, the City has installed four-way stop signs, presumably to calm traffic along the arterial.  This really doesn’t affect the streetcar line much, as cars have to stop at each corner anyway to load and discharge passengers.

In addition to 19th Street, other subway-surface stations appear to have been renovated.  For example, I’m especially impressed with 37th Street, under the University of Pennsylvania campus.  On the day of the station’s opening in 1955 it was already dark and grimy, and only got worse as time went on, with graffiti eventually covering almost everything.  But now it is bright and shiny, and beautifully tiled.  And the inbound entrance is sheltered by a shell in the shape of an old Philadelphia Peter Witt streetcar.

For the 50th anniversary of its graduation, the University of Pennsylvania Class of 1956 had Gomaco build this stylized replica of a PTC 8000-series car to serve as a shelter and waiting room, which partially covers the the entrance stairwell leading to the inbound platform of the 37th Street subway-surface station.  The interior is outfitted with benches, informational displays and even hardware that nostalgically illustrates a trolley controller, brake handle and reversing key.  During their senior year these alumni witnessed the submersion of the trolleys on PTC routes 11, 34 and 37 into today's subway.  Streetcars on three other lines continued using the surface of Spruce Street for another year until the 40 and 42 were converted to bus and the 13 moved underground in September 1956.   

 

The Kawasaki cars are showing their age very well—actually I mean that they’re hardly showing their age at all.  Built in 1981 and 1982, they are now almost 40 years old, and seem to run flawlessly—as if they’re brand new.  I guess the compliment should go to the Japanese manufacturer, plus former SEPTA personnel like Russ Jackson and Joe Boscia, who oversaw the project.  Joe chartered one of these cars in 2011 to celebrate their 30th anniversary, and invited many industry people and traction enthusiasts aboard the trip.

A large SEPTA “Dude it’s Rude” poster was displayed in my car, stating that “Trolleys aren’t Diners.”  Of course the message refers to eating meals aboard the rail vehicles and leaving a smelly and sticky mess, but in truth, many trolleys were converted into diners after their retirement.  In fact there’s a PCC up along Germantown Avenue in northwest Philadelphia (Mt. Airy) that serves in that capacity.  And I do approve the sentiment of the message. 

Ex-PTC/SEPTA PCC 2164 is an adjunct to the Trolley Car Diner at 7619 Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy along the "temporarily discontinued" 23 trolley line.  http://trolleycardiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/MainMenu_TakeOut_v17.pdf

We paused at the portal station for a change of operators, and then continued on via Woodland and Chester Avenue to 49th Street, where I alighted.  In retrospect, I could have ridden the previous route 36 car (or route 11 had one come by) to that point, as those lines are being detoured via Chester Avenue and 49th Street because of the reconstruction of a bridge over SEPTA’s Media-Elwyn line on Woodland Avenue between 47th and 48th.  

 

 

Above and below:  Two views of Kawasaki-built streetcars on route 13.  Just after leaving to subway portal No. 9095 in the upper photo is shown about to pause at the 40th Street outbound platform the line shares with cars on routes 11 and 36.  The re-landscaping of the area from solid concrete into the green fields of "Trolley Portal Gardens" has just gotten underway with the placement of a tree in a planter.  SEPTA does not only encourage the city's football teams, but also those vying for titles in other sports, as can be seen in the electronic destination sign shown the lower photo.  Car 9034 has just crossed Cobbs Creek and entered the sylvan borough of Yeadon, where it will soon turn back.  The car is shown on Chester Avenue approaching Church Lane.

My plan was to ride a Media-Elwyn (formerly Media-West Chester) line MU from 49th Street to Clifton-Aldan and I reached the station at 12:41, in plenty of time for its expected arrival at 12:49.  The station, which is in a cut so the line may easily pass under city streets, has been beautifully renovated and provides a wide open, airy feeling.  It is now handicapped accessible, and the platforms can be reached by ramps as well as stairs.  The facility is equipped with at least one ticket machine, and timetables are posted to aid passengers.  During the next seven or eight minutes while I was waiting, quite a few more streetcars passed through the clearly visible intersection.

A two-car train of Silverliner Vs duly arrived at 12:49 and another passenger and I boarded Hyundai Rotem-built car 714.  The car was about one third full; I didn’t think to ascertain whether the rear unit was open.  The ticket collector inspected my Keycard.  Of great interest to me was the fact that the true railfan seat in the relatively new car (2010) was not cordoned off.  On all my previous rides aboard these vehicle a plastic rope had been placed between the cab and the seat back preventing passengers to access the first seat and the front windows.  I’m very pleased about that change, although in this case the seat (and the one behind it) were already occupied.  Before boarding I noticed that signs on the inbound platform were indicating that midday trains to Philadelphia (and beyond) would be using the outbound tracks because of work on the overhead catenary.  That was verified when we passed a work train on the inbound track.  Its equipment was sandwiched by a Silverliner IV and a diesel locomotive. 

My ride aboard the MU train was a little like being on a high-speed trolley.  We stopped at Angora, Fernwood-Yeadon, Lansdowne and Gladstone before reaching Clifton-Aldan, and the dwell time at each was extremely brief, just enough for passengers to get on and off at the low-level platforms.  [I mention this because when I ride New Jersey Transit’s Montclair-Boonton line, the wait at each station seems endless, especially in the late evening coming home from New York.  But I guess this is because the institutional philosophies of the two agencies are different.  If my Penn Station-Watchung Avenue push-pull trains were replaced by MU cars, and high-level platforms were installed, I am convinced that some 10 to 15 minutes could be cut from these Midtown Direct locals to Montclair State University.]  As we paused at the various intermediate stations I couldn’t help thinking about having visited some of them in the past, when I was actively photographing the line:  Angora (could have ridden the 34-Baltimore Avenue Subway-Surface car to its end, and connected to the train there), Lansdowne (Tuscan Red Keystone-style Pennsylvania Railroad signs still decorate the attractive station building) and Gladstone (the trestle beyond the station is a great photo location, although when you look up or down Darby Creek you can’t see Peapack in the distance).

Above and below:  Some 120 Silverliner V electric MU cars were built by Hyundai-Rotem for SEPTA's Regional Rail lines, entering service in 2010.  The upper view shows a train of these cars exiting the portal leading from Suburban Station in Philadelphia's Center City and heading for the upper level of 30th Street Station.  The lower photo shows a train approaching the main Norristown station from the single-track Elm Street end of the ex-Reading Company commuter route.  It is crossing under the elevated terminal of SEPTA's Norristown High-Speed line and joining tracks leading from today's Norfolk Southern Railway's Schuylkill Valley route to Reading and beyond.

The MU train started up as soon as I and one other passenger detrained, and I noticed it was now 12:58—and I remembered the timetable I acquired at Suburban Station indicated that the departure time should be 1:00.  But when I looked at it later I noticed that the time was preceded by a reference to footnote “D”—“Stops to discharge or pick up passengers but may depart ahead of schedule.”  It certainly did today, by two minutes.  

I descended the stairway to Springfield Road and made my way through its complex intersection with Pennsylvania, Maryland and Woodlawn Avenues to reach the inbound kiosk-style carstop shelter of what used to be Red Arrow Lines.  The tracks of the Sharon Hill trolley, now identified as route 102, are in Woodlawn Avenue and the stop is located on the “near side” of the intersection and the overhead structure of the railroad.

Here are some posed views showing the Sharon Hill line crossing under the former Pennsylvania Railroad in Aldan.

Above and below:  Two similar views at the Clifton-Aldan station from SEPTA fantrips I attended.  The upper photo shows a regularly scheduled Philadelphia-bound Silverliner V crossing over suburban streetcar 101, which was wrapped in Red Arrow red to commemorate the 100th year of the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Co.'s Media line in 2013 (now route 101).  The lower photo presents a similar scene, from a 2010 excursion prior to the retirement of the last 1963-built Silverliner II cars that were replaced by the Silverliner Vs.  In this view the route 102 streetcar is on a scheduled run from Sharon Hill to 69th Street while No. 269, the last of the 38 Silverliner IIs built for the Pennsylvania Railroad (the only one that still retained its original letterboard), is posed above.  The other 17 of these cars built by Budd for the Passenger Service Improvement Corporation were assigned to the Reading Company's suburban commuter service.  Note that in the three years between the two photos, SEPTA replaced canvas roll signs with electronic destination displays.

Continued in Part 2

 

 

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[daveklepper]

Part 1 or my Philadelphia trip report concluded with me descending the stairway at the Clifton-Aldan station to Springfield Road and reaching the inbound kiosk-style carstop shelter of the former Red Arrow Lines Sharon Hill trolley.  Now identified as route 102, the tracks are embedded in Woodlawn Avenue and the stop is located on the “near side” of the intersection.  One other passenger joined me and waited for what turned out to be car 118, operating on time at 1:07.  As it came into view I noticed that its electronic destination sign was alternating between “102 69th Street Transportation Center” and the “GO EAGLES” I had seen on the subway-surface trolleys.  I boarded and tapped my Keycard, which was accepted.  The car was relatively empty, and I immediately occupied the railfan seat at the front.

Like the previous route 13 trolley I rode, No. 118 was clean inside and out, and we soon left the street and entered cross-country private right-of-way.  As you also probably know, Kawasaki delivered the 29 cars (100-128) for the former Red Arrow lines right after the 112 units (9000-9111) for the City Division, in starting 1981.  Thus they have many similar characteristics, but at the same time have enough differences that make me prefer the city units.  Specifically I find those cars’ trolley poles more aesthetically pleasing than the suburban units’ pantographs (not that my taste is of any importance to the agency and its passengers).  And I have always preferred single-sided single-ended cars, with most seats facing forward, to double-ended ones (at least this has the advantage of more seating).  Of course it is also easy to argue that the Media and Sharon Hill lines have lost some of their charm over my lifetime, with the retirement of the wide variety of classic (and modern for their time) Brill- and St. Louis-built rolling stock, and the installation of metal catenary poles with half crossbars between the remaining wooden ones.  Another, more recent (as far as I've noticed), change has been the replacement of color light wayside and grade crossing signals with electric railway type indicators, which display horizontal and vertical bars for stop and go.  The signals for motor traffic at the crossings still show red and green.  [Gratuitous comment:  I don’t know why the TTC in Toronto doesn’t do the same, as the large number of red, yellow and green lights, specifically at intersections along the Spadina and Harbourfront lines, must be confusing for some motorists, which probably leads to delays and possibly to an occasional accident.]

At each stop we picked up more passengers, and by Lansdowne Avenue just about every pair of seats had at least one occupant.  By the time we reached 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby at 1:25 (on time) the car had become crowded, even though quite a few passengers alighted at stops along Garrett Road.  It made me think that perhaps midday frequencies on the two suburban trolley lines should be increased from every 20 minutes to a 15-minute headway. 

A two-car train of Kawasaki cars is shown on an outbound run to Sharon Hill just beyond the Clifton-Aldan station of the former Pennsylvania Railroad Media-West Chester commuter line (now SEPTA Media-Elwyn line).  Red Arrow did a thriving business at the start and end of school days before the proliferation of school buses.  However there is still enough business for SEPTA to operate two trips with two-car trains, leaving 69th Street at 2:10 and 2:35 p.m., to serve the needs of students and other riders.  Aldan Elementary School's sports field is across the street from the photographer.

Darby Creek separates the Delaware County communities of Drexel Hill and Clifton Heights.  Wild birds and fishing lines can often be seen below the double-track trestle that carries SEPTA's 102-Sharon Hill line. 

One of my favorite locations on SEPTA's suburban trolley lines is the Woodland Avenue station in Springfield.  It is often possible to photograph two 101-Media cars passing at that point, as on occasion the outbound unit has to wait for an inbound coming off the single track that continues southwestward through the woods.  Go Sixers instead of Go Eagles or Go Flyers.

The Norristown High-Speed line (formerly SEPTA’s route 100 and originally the Philadelphia & Western Railroad) also runs every 20 minutes during this part of the day, with departures at 05, 25 and 45 after the hour.  Thus I realized I would have to wait almost a full headway to continue the next portion of my excursion, and therefore leisurely headed for the timetable rack at SEPTA’s sales office to acquire the schedules I hadn’t obtained earlier at Suburban Station.  I wouldn’t say the rack was empty, but there were gaps in the cubbyholes that held timetables for the 10, 11, Market Street Subway and Norristown line.  I picked up the ones for the other rail transit lines and decided that I might have to change my itinerary to try to end up with a complete set.

By the time I wandered over to the section of the terminal that serves the Norristown line, the 1:45 outbound was loading.  Turnstiles had also been installed here and I had to tap my Senior Keycard to enter.  I boarded car 136, the front unit of the two-car consist (No. 133 was trailing behind) and found a seat where I could look out the front (the best ones were already taken—who says people are just as happy riding backward as forward).  We crawled through the ladder starting at 1:46 and soon sped up, passing over the loop of the Market-Frankford Subway Elevated and then zipping by the Norristown line’s carhouse and shop.  Known as the N5 cars, the 26 ABB-built units were delivered in 1993, replacing an assortment of equipment, including some former Market-Frankford “Almond Joy” cars and ex-Chicago Transit Authority “spam cans,” which were employed as emergency replacements for the failing former P&W Brill-built “Bullet” (1931) and “Strafford” (1924-29) units.

Many of my friends have derided the aesthetics of the ABB cars, but I’ve gotten used to what I would now characterize as their handsome streamlined appearance (I hardly think it would have been realistic to have replica Bullet cars built for this third-rail powered transit line).  Sadly, they are no longer allowed to reach their top service speed of 70 mph, as they are now limited to 55 because of a collision in 2017.  

Almost a decade ago the use of the line’s former SEPTA route number, 100, was discontinued, and as we stopped or passed intermediate points, all the station signs I saw looked relatively new, and stated “Norristown High-Speed Line,” with nary a reference to the number 100 (I wonder when 101 for Media and 102 for Sharon Hill will be eliminated, although I haven’t heard that something like this is in the cards).  I mention this because SEPTA also discontinued route numbers for their regional rail lines—the one I rode to Clifton-Aldan earlier in the day had been previously numbered R3). 

Obviously Pennfield station with no indication that this was once Route 100 or the Philadelphia & Western Railroad.

Although the Norristown line is not everything it used to be, some important aspects remain, which include the short dwell time at the high-level platforms, and the “call lights” that indicate to operators that passengers are waiting to board; The N5s will bypass “flagstop” stations when a passenger has not pressed a button to set a stop signal.  We skipped Roberts Road (formerly Rosemont) and Villanova Stadium.  It seemed more passengers boarded at way stations than left, and I wondered how much of a change in ridership patterns has occurred from the days of the Bullets and Liberty Liners (less emphasis on commuting to Upper Darby and Philadelphia in the morning and back at night).

It was a quick ride to Radnor (I moved up to a front row seat when its occupant left at Beechwood-Brookline) and another passenger and I alighted at 2:06, two minutes late.  SEPTA schedules Philadelphia-bound trains on its Paoli-Thorndale line (formerly the R5) for 2:12 and 2:31.  With a 2-minute handicap because of my railcar’s lateness, I thought I had little hope of making the walk (9 minutes for the half-mile according to Google) to the “Main Line” station in time for the 2:12. 

A view from the pedestrian bridge that connects the inbound and outbound platforms at Radnor, where I also disembarked on last year at a time when I was not in a rush.  An inbound car has just crossed under the four-track Amtrak Philadelphia-Harrisburg mainline, which is shown in the background.  These tracks also carry the famous "Paoli Locals," SEPTA's Regional Rail trains between Thorndale and Philadelphia serving the exclusive "Main Line."  

Above and below:  Two of my favorite spots on the Norristown High Speed line for photographs.  The upper view is just beyond the County Line platforms.  The tracks parallel I-476 for a short distance here as well as high-tension electric wires.  County Line Road separates Montgomery and Delaware Counties.  The

lower photo shows a two-car train crossing the Schuylkill River between Bridgeport and the Norristown terminal.

I walked as quickly as I could up the hill, and as I neared my destination saw the inbound platform of the Radnor Regional Rail line was crowded.  I arrived at 2:13 and a train of Silverliner IVs rolled to a stop at 2:15, three minutes late.  I boarded the second car and soon enough my Keycard was scanned by an attendant (I used to say/write conductor or trainman, but I don’t know if there is a single word or phrase to describe the personnel who now take tickets, sell them and examine them to enforce revenue collection.)  This was different than my experience on the Media-Elwyn train, where the attendant just looked at my card.  The car was not crowded, but by the time we had stopped at subsequent stations, like Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Ardmore, the train had gained many more passengers, and it looked like there were at least 3 people in every 3-and-2 row of seats.  My plan had originally been to ride to Jefferson station (formerly Market East) and then take a Market-Frankford line train to Girard Avenue, where I would board a route 15 trolley to return to my car, but now with an extra 20 or so minutes available, I contemplated getting off at Overbrook, where I could walk down the hill to a route 10 subway-surface car at its 63rd and Malvern loop, and then transfer to an eastbound route 15 PCC to get to where my car was parked.  This would take longer, but would allow me to ride streetcars for a greater distance.

I finally decided to stay with my original plan, and remained on board when we stopped at Overbrook at 2:35 (2:30), as I didn’t want to miss my goal of riding as many different kinds of SEPTA rail service, and that included the Market-Frankford line, plus I needed to stop at Jefferson to see if I could get the missing timetables.  En route to Center City I had noticed that in addition to Bryn Mawr and Overbrook, the Narberth station does not have a fence to prevent passengers from crossing the tracks (and prevent railfan photographers from getting unobstructed pictures).  In addition I got a good look at SEPTA’s Overbrook Maintenance Facility (to the north of the mainline—easily photographable from moving trains for next time) and the new connection with the Cynwyd line near the Pennsy’s former 52nd Street station.  The huge overpass previously used appeared to be still intact and I noticed the catenary remains, but the track is rusty.  [The PRR’s Schuylkill Valley line operated MP-54s to a high-platform station in Norristown (and slightly beyond) when I rode it for the first time;  later the lightly-used line was cut back to Manayunk (with a new station at Ivy Ridge) and then to its current Cynwyd terminal.]

After negotiating the intricate trackage through Zoo Junction, we arrived at the upper level of 30th Street Station five minutes late;  we pulled into Suburban Station four minutes off the advertised, but we were late at Jefferson by only one minute, arriving at 2:53.  Clearly there is an opportunity to make up time in Center City as the schedule allows 10 minutes for through trains between the ex-Pennsy and Reading sides of the network—which probably also provides for the long dwell times necessary at these busy stops even with high-level platforms (on Saturdays alternate Main Line trains terminate at Jefferson, and only a 7-minute running time is carded). 

Above and below:  Two views of SEPTA Silverliner IV MU cars.  Some 232 of these were built by General Electric from 1973 to 1976 and paved the way for the replacement of all of the legacy pre-war equipment inherited from the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company.  In the upper photo, a train of these units, operating to Philadelphia on former Reading trackage from its Elm Street terminal, crosses under the Norristown High-Speed Line's elevated terminal that hosts N5 cars laying over between runs from and to 69th Street in Upper Darby.  The lower photo shows a rush-hour outbound express of Silverliner IVs about to hurtle through the Overbrook station en route to Paoli.  It will skip six "Main Line" stations until it reaches Bryn Mawr, and then make all further local stops.  The center track is awaiting SEPTA's locomotive-hauled "Great Valley Flyer" en route to Thorndale, whose first stop will be Paoli.  With Amtrak Keystone Service also using the four-track right-of-way, plenty of action along the mainline in rush hours can be observed and photographed.

 

Continued in part 3.

 

 

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[daveklepper]

     Continued from Part 2.

After my train, which was continuing on to Link Belt on the Doylestown line, dropped me at Jefferson, my first task was to find the timetables I hadn't yet harvested, which I easily accomplished.  It turns out, had I started at Jefferson, I would have gotten all the schedules I wanted in one fell swoop, as its racks were fully stocked.  By the time I got to the 11th Street stop of the Market-Frankford line it was 3:06 and a couple of minutes later a Bridge Street-bound train whisked in.  I rode in the railfan seat in the first car for the 7 minutes it took to reach Girard Avenue.  As you all probably know, that after leaving 2nd Street, the line turns sharply from east to north and then emerges from the subway tunnel.  The tracks continue under the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (and PATCO) and then rise into the median of the Delaware Expressway (I-95).  I saw what I suspect is a gap train on the third (center) track just short of the island platform of the Spring Garden station.  From there the line ducks under the expressway onto the old elevated alignment above Front Street before entering the Girard Avenue station. 

A southbound train of Adtranz-built M-4 cars approaches the Spring Garden station in the median of the Delaware Expressway (I-95).

I probably rode the el for the first time around 1954, when I began attending the University of Pennsylvania, and thus never saw the 180-degree turn the line originally made from the portal to Delaware Avenue.  [When the Market Street Subway Elevated was extended to Frankford in 1922, the line to the Pennsylvania and Reading railroad ferries along the Delaware River quickly became a spur, and it was abandoned in 1939.]  I did, however, ride the original “Market” cars (Pressed Steel 1906) and the old “Frankford” cars (Brill 1921).  I remember the signage aboard the older cars that read “E-Z Access” and often wondered what that meant in the days before accessibility laws for the disabled were promulgated.  Apparently the doors of these cars were very wide, and it is possible that the term referred to that feature.  It is a real shame that none of these cars were saved.  The current rolling stock was built by Adtranz starting in 1997, and in the period between the two eras service was provided by Budd-built “Almond Joy” (because of the lumps on their roofs for air circulation) units, which entered service in 1960.  At least two of those were not destroyed, and one is at PTM in Arden and the other at Seashore in Kennebunkport.  Interestingly these cars cost under $100,000 each (while the new R179 subway cars in New York priced out at about $2 million each). 

The rear of a Frankford-bound train as it pulls away from the Girard Avenue elevated station.

Philadelphia's skyline has changed dramatically from a half-century ago, when City Hall, crowned by a statue of William Penn, dominated the city (until 1908 it was the world's tallest building at 548 feet).  It can be seen straight down Market Street, and is clearly now dwarfed by the likes of two Comcast buildings, two Liberty Place structures and several other skyscrapers.  The domed structure at the far left of the 69th Street-bound train is the 90-year old Provident Life Insurance building, vacated by the company in 1983.  It is located at 46th and Market Street, adjacent to the last station before the line enters the subway.  This photo was taken from the eastbound platform at the 52nd Street stop.

The ride to Girard was uneventful and I descended the stairway to the surface at about 3:15.  I was running about a half-hour early and decided that if an eastbound route 15 car came in before a westbound I would ride it to the line’s current terminal at Frankford and Delaware Avenues.  (The line is supposed to be routed back to its old Richmond and Westmoreland terminal after the completion of the rebuilding of Interstate 95 in that area—I hope.)  Despite the westbound platform being seriously overcrowded an eastbound streetcar did come in first, and I rode the PCC to its terminal opposite the Sugar House Casino.  We passed two westbounds on the short 5-minute trip, and entered the Northern Liberties* loop around 3:20.  We were approaching the evening rush hour, which meant the route 15-Girard Avenue line’s frequency was switching from a 15-minute headway to every 11 minutes.  And the next westbound departure was due out at 3:27.  I asked the operator if I could stay in the streamliner during his layover and he first thought I was lost, probably not being able to understand why I rode with him to the terminal in the first place.  But I told him I was a trolley enthusiast and he shrugged his shoulders, probably deciding I was just another of the weirdos he encounters every day.

* the name Northern Liberties dates back to the creation of a township in the 18th century that eventually was consolidated into the City of Philadelphia (mid-19th century).  Roughly its occupied the area between the Delaware River and North 6th Street from Callowhill Street to Girard Avenue.  It is bounded by the Old City on the south and Fishtown on the north.

Looking west from the southbound side of the Frankford el at the Girard Avenue station.  A route 15 PCC slows to a stop at the island platform.

The off-street terminal at the current eastern end of route 15.  There is no way cars can lay over within the facility, but a passing track exists on Frankford Avenue just prior to the cars turning onto Delaware Avenue and entering the loop.  The rerouting of the cars resulting in the opening of the new loop occurred in 2011, when reconstruction of a portion of the I-95 began. 

 

 

Route 15 is served by a fleet of PCC cars that comes from the last group of virtually identical streamliners ordered new by the Philadelphia Transportation Company over 70 years ago.  Delivered in 1947 and 1948, the cars were numbered in the 2100 and 2700 series.  The all-electric units have been overhauled on several occasions, once having been a part of 118 such PCCs in the "GOH" program that started in 1979.  Many of them are now operating on Market Street and the Embarcadero in San Francisco.  The 18 chosen for the reinstatement of rail operations on route 15 were sent to Brookville in 2002 for major rebuilding, including the installation of new motors and brakes, as well as air-conditioning and wheelchair lifts to make them ADA-accessible.  Renumbered 2320-2337, they began serving the line in September 2005.

There were few passengers aboard when we left the terminal (on time), but the car quickly filled up at our first few stops.  It performed very well, considering it was built some 71 years ago, but also keeping in mind it was totally reconstructed, from the ground up, in 2003-4.  Like the cars on Boston’s Mattapan-Ashmont line and on Market Street in San Francisco (and now also in El Paso), the 18 units on SEPTA’s roster must (and do) reliably transport large numbers of passengers every day.  The car looked immaculate both inside and out, which was quite a contrast to the bad old days on the property.  Almost all of the passengers got off at Broad Street, and were replaced by a new load.  It was now 3:45 (3:42) and I continued aboard to 16th, where I headed back to my automobile, which was undisturbed.

Here are some additional photos of route 15:

Richmond Street at Indiana Avenue on the upper end of route 15 leading to its former eastern terminal at Richmond and Westmoreland.  Service is supposed to be restored when the work on I-95 ends, but a current Google view shows the street repaved without trolley tracks.  Will the PCCs return?

Looking northward on Corinthian Street toward Girard Avenue and Girard College's most iconic building.  Although this car is in regular service, the location is very popular as a fantrip photo stop.

 

SEPTA PCC 2321 is shown operating eastward along Girard Avenue at 57th Street in West Philadelphia.  With the low temperatures of February it is hard to believe that the next opportunity for viewing cherry blossoms and PCCs together is only weeks away.

 

A quick cell phone call to Sandy at the Barnes allowed us to settle on a 4:15 pickup time at the spot I dropped her and Clare less than 5 hours ago, and we all arrived there about two minutes early.  They had a good day, just as I did.  I certainly enjoyed riding on two different rapid transit lines, three types of streetcars, a suburban railcar and two types of regional rail electric MUs over several track gauges--the Regional Rail lines, Broad Street Subway and Norristown line are standard gauge, with the others wider at 5’ 2 ¼” (although it has been said that the gauge of the former Red Arrow trolley lines is 5’ 2 ½“).  I couldn’t help thinking that if I had additional time, I could have ridden the Media-Elwyn line out to Media and have gotten to 69th Street on a 101 car, and/or rode the Norristown railcars from there all the way to the end of the line, and returned to the city on a Norristown Regional Rail train, but I was satisfied, as everything worked out very well, exceeding my expectations.

Rush hour traffic at 4:15 was not bad, and I was able to drive via Race Street to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge quite quickly.  We decided to grab an early dinner at the Pub in Pennsauken.  By the time we finished and brought the doggy bags to the car we had missed the heaviest part of the peak, and thus arrived at Metropark (via routes 38, 73, the Turnpike and the Parkway) at 7:45, giving Sandy sufficient time to board the 7.51 NJ Transit train back to Penn Station.  We got home at about 8:15 p.m., having encountered none of the congestion I used to contend with on my previous daily commutes (for 28 years until retirement in 2005) north of the Parkway’s Union toll plaza.

 

To conclude this report, I've added a fantrip photo at the 80th Street/Island Road loop at the end of SEPTA's route 36.

 

Jack May

The two types of streetcars that serve the residents of the City of Brotherly Love pose together at the 80th Street/Island Road loop of subway-surface route 36.  The PCC displays the bygone sign of "37 Westinghouse," the destination in Lester where Philadelphia's longest subway-surface line terminated between 1946 and 1956.  To reach that location the line traversed swamp land in the lower reaches of the city, which was occasionally subject to flooding.  Prior to its cutback to Westinghouse loop the route was known as the Chester Short Line, and was technically an interurban that connected Philadelphia with its namesake city along the lower Delaware River, which had once been a major center for shipbuilding.  After several cutbacks within the neighborhood of Eastwick, and when plans to extend the line to the nearby international airport did not bear fruition, a permanent loop was constructed at this location.  The Kawasaki car at right is a regular route 36* car that had completed a Sunday afternoon outbound run, but was now about to head back to Elmwood Carhouse to complete its day on the road.

*the 36, which had operated on the surface of Market Street, was combined with the 37 in November, 1955.  Its PCCs served Westinghouse for about one year.

 

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[Electroliner 1935]

You could have added another equipment if you had included the PATCO line to Lindenwald and had the time but that is for another day. 

[daveklepper]

Jack May's trip and report.  I was doing my usual stuff in Jerusalem at the time.

But you are correct about the 8th type of equipment.

PCC

Kawaski double-end

Kawaski single-end

Norristown

Market-Frankfort

Suburban MU

Suburban Push-Pull

Lindeowld

Then there are Amtrak's Acela, Amfleet1, Amflet 2, Horizon.   And NJT atlantic City temporarily out of service.  And NJT Camden - Trenton, not Philly but close enough.

Javk May's report and trip, not mine!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jsanchez]

I thought you might find this update interesting on the I 95 , Route 15, Trolley, Richmond Avenue project. http://www.95revive.com/i95/news/construction-update-story/afc-richmond-street-construction-update-winter-2018-19 It was mentioned the tracks were paved over they actually were rebuilt with a new connection between Girard Ave To Richmond Ave. The Westmoreland Loop is being rebuilt. I travel through here every once in a while. The project is taking ridiculously long.