Cynwyd branch during car shortage

IIRC, PA trolley gauge (tm) was set as it is specifically to prevent mixed running with standard gauge.

Standard gauge is surprisingly non standard, too - only 55% of the world uses it, and some of the exceptions are pretty big.

Nasadowsk wrote:IIRC, PA trolley gauge (tm) was set as it is specifically to prevent mixed running with standard gauge.

That's right. The difference is exactly six inches, and was chosen to be too wide to work with wide tires but too narrow to allow three rails.

Standard gauge is surprisingly non standard, too - only 55% of the world uses it, and some of the exceptions are pretty big.

It's amazing how many main-line operations around the world use other gauges. Australia, Spain, Ireland, and Russia come to mind for starters. Of course nothing's magic about "standard" gauge except for its heredity (mine carts, putatively Roman chariots).

India too. BART is Indian gauge.

IIRC, the TTC, DC metro, and a few other systems are nonstandard in the US.

Of course, Japan is a lot of narrow (Cape?) gauge.

Don't forget Switzerland!

Washington metro uses standard gauge cars, the tracks are just slightly narrower to give a smoother ride.

Too bad septa isn't open to more light rail. Cynwyd and Newtown would have been good candidates to go that route like the 100.

I don't think you can say they're not open to light rail; at one time there was a faction at SEPTA that wanted to convert at least one Chestnut Hill line to light rail, and when O'Leary was there they were pushing hard for light rail all the way to Reading. Converting Cynwyd to light rail would involve some expensive construction (relative to potential ridership) to get it into the Subway-Surface system, which is pretty much chockablock as it is in rush hours, and there are some very powerful NIMBYs between Fox Chase and Newtown.

I remember there was a plan that was in the Inquirer that would have converted the Chestnut Hill East line into a rapid transit line and connect it to the Broad Street Subway and connect the Chestnut Hill West line to the Reading main.

I think they wanted to use the Swampoodle connection to make the CHW to get on the RDG or was that from another plan they had

1. BuddCar is right--they were thinking about extending the Broad St. Line, not light rail.
2. The original intent of the Swampoodle connection was to balance the two sides better by putting both CH lines on the Reading side; a side benefit would have been to avoid sharing the costs of North Philadelphia interlocking since they would no longer have any diverging moves there, and also getting them off the bridge over the former Reading's 4 tracks, but nothing came of it. I think the R4 was going to be CHW-Bryn Mawr, and I forget what Fox Chase was going to paired with.

I believe fox chase-bryn Mawr was the R4, and CHW-Elwyn/West Chester was the R3 in the original plan. West Trenton-Airport was the R1.

As such a simple route that could get by with just 2 single cars, it's a shame not even one could have been spared to keep the line open. SEPTA could have come up with an interim schedule that rearranged the schedule so one car could have covered all trips.

During normal times, it's also a shame with all the workers who swing during the day that they couldn't keep the line staffed to keep it operating all day. It's a great way to get from City Ave to downtown instead of the 65/MFL.

Does SEPTA even have rescue engines like what MARC and Amtrak does on the NEC? I know they (MARC/Amtrak) have at least three rescue engines stationed at DC, Odenton, and Baltimore Penn Station.

If it does, want to bet SEPTA's running it occasionally on the branch?

No we don't because most of the time it's our engines that need rescuing.

Next question: Assuming there's zero traffic on the branch, will pilot trains need to be run to scrape the rust off so PTC & other signals shunt properly?

Unless it has changed, I am under the impression that the Cynwyd branch is operated under DCS rules. No PTC, no ABS.