Which abandoned Septa line would you want back?

Roadgeek Adam wrote:

Patrick Boylan wrote:

Launcher wrote: 2- Something for West Chester, be it the R3 extension or the main trolley. The bus is no way to travel down route 3. However, it is a very crowded bus.

I had ridden the 104 bus about 8 times in weekday rush hours the last 2 years and never noticed anyone standing, which in my opinion means that the trips were not crowded. When have you observed that the West Chester bus is very crowded?

BuddCar711 wrote:Wouldn't that make things confusing having 2 stations named "Newark"

Do you mean Newark De and Newark NJ? I don't think that's any more confusing than having 2 stations named Highland Ave and Highland, or 2 stations named West Trenton and Trenton

Mountain Station, Mountain Lakes, Mountain View, Mountain Avenue on NJ Transit....need I say more? I hate to imagine if Mountainside ever had some kind of NJ Transit station.

Well actually Highland is on Highland ave and so is Highland ave so that gets confusing.

Do all you foamers realize that none of the abondoned Red Arrow routes are ever coming back? The West Chester route is not nearly busy enough, and the 103 was rerouted so that except on West Chester Pike and on the Hathaway Lane Busway in Havertown it doesn't follow anything close to its original route. As for Stafford...that's so long-gone I doubt the ROW even exists still, plus it would parallel service out to Paoli, not exactly an underserved transit market. Extension of the Cynwyd Line is not happening either, as that is another already-served transit market. It's a miracle the Cynwyd stations that do exist still do. Extensions of the W. Trenton Line into NJ are not happening either. Connecting service by NJT is much more likely and even that isn't happening anytime soon. The only projects either likely to be restored, worthy to be restored, or both are the Newtown Line, Elwyn-Wawa (not West Chester), Thorndale-Atglen, Lansdale-Quakertown, Warminster-Ivyland (not New Hope), Norristown-Phoenixville. Nothing else makes sense from a planning point of view.

jfrey40535 wrote:The bar is so low at this point that the 300 foot restoration of track north of Fox Chase is reason enough to break out the champagne.

Huh? When did that happen?

Did they run catenary for those 300 feet as well?

Is 300 feet far enough away from Fox Chase to put a station?

Bob, we'll call it "Fox Chase North". No catenary, just cold steel rail.

Clearfield wrote:Did they run catenary for those 300 feet as well?

Is 300 feet far enough away from Fox Chase to put a station?

Let's run a single RDC from Fox Chase to the newly constructed Pine Road OHB station. We can charge $1 per one-way ticket. At that rate, we can raise enough money for all of our expansion project in no-time!

Does anyone know the purpose for this? Additional car storage?

Limejuice?? ExBuddman ??

glennk419 wrote:Does anyone know the purpose for this? Additional car storage?

Limejuice?? ExBuddman ??

This site was occupied by the project offices for the Fox Chase station project. I can only assume they're replacing what they took out.

BuddCar711 wrote:

Do you mean Newark De and Newark NJ? I don't think that's any more confusing than having 2 stations named Highland Ave and Highland, or 2 stations named West Trenton and Trenton

But Highland Avenue (R-2 Wilmington/Newark) and Highland (R-8 Chestnut Hill West) are not terminuses (termini?) and West Trenton differentiates it from plain Trenton. Newark (De) is a terminus and extending the R-3 to Newark (NJ) would make that a terminus as well. Now imagine if someon wanted to go to Crum Lynne. The R-3 now has been extended to Newark, and in the post R-route Regional rail era, someone either at the ticket booth or information told them to take the Newark, train, and inadvertantly gets on the R-3 Newark instead of the R-2 Newark (which is the train that will take you to Crum Lynne). Now that would be confusing.

Newark DE is pronounced differently than Newark, NJ. Newark, DE is pronounced New-ARK. Newark, NJ is pronounced NEW-wirk. Also an easy remedy to having them have the same name is just add the state to the name and that would end the confusion. You'll have the Newark, DE Line and the Newark, NJ Line.

scotty269 wrote:

glennk419 wrote:Does anyone know the purpose for this? Additional car storage?

Limejuice?? ExBuddman ??

This site was occupied by the project offices for the Fox Chase station project. I can only assume they're replacing what they took out.

Seems strange that they would go to all of that work, especially with the bumpers in place south of Rhawn Street and the crossing OOS. The only thing they used the trackage north of Rhawn for within the last 10 years was for storage of MOW equipment during the single tracking project.

Does an abandoned SEPTA line have to have existed during the lifetime of SEPTA to be considered an abandoned SEPTA line? If so the West Chester trolley would be out.

If anything that touched Septa trackage is fair game I vote for the Newtown Square Branch.

Patrick Boylan wrote:Do you mean Newark De and Newark NJ? I don't think that's any more confusing than having 2 stations named Highland Ave and Highland, or 2 stations named West Trenton and Trenton

Don't forget Chestnut Hill East and Chestnut Hill West, which are both end-of-line stations, although only a few blocks apart at the end.

rslitman wrote:

Patrick Boylan wrote:Do you mean Newark De and Newark NJ? I don't think that's any more confusing than having 2 stations named Highland Ave and Highland, or 2 stations named West Trenton and Trenton

Don't forget Chestnut Hill East and Chestnut Hill West, which are both end-of-line stations, although only a few blocks apart at the end.

Yes, West Trenton vs. Trenton on the NEC probably takes the prize.

Maybe the first thing we should bring back are the "R's". BTW, on the current Philadelphia Magazine poll regarding SEPTA's biggest screw ups, losing the R codes is tied with filthy stations for the lead.

Fair use comment: "And now, for our final Best of Philly bracket, we ask you to vote for what you think was the biggest Septa Fail of the year, starting with the eight public transport shortcomings that we found to be the most egregious, most painful or most flat-out ridiculous."

http://www.phillymag.com/best_of_philly ... index.html

glennk419 wrote:The only thing they used the trackage north of Rhawn for within the last 10 years was for storage of MOW equipment during the single tracking project.

Bingo. The same reason certain sidings are still in service that haven't seen a freight car in years (Oreland Tank Car, Ambler freight house track, etc.) Track dept. simply needs a place to put track equipment during a project, and they generally renew ties (20%) and resurface a branch every 5 years or so. If not for that need, Rhawn would've been paved over a long time ago. They typically can't wait to straight rail a siding or eliminate any other maintenance-intensive structure like a road crossing, even to the point of not going through the proper DOT/STB channels. They ripped out Conte Luna's switch in Warminster, then CSX came along one night looking to deliver cars! They also took out Ambler Warehouse's switch right when it was sold, much to the surprise of the new owner. So that's all that's happening there. Having Fox Chase North back as it was could be beneficial, but probably not worth the cost. Had it not been vandalized so terribly, it would probably be in service right now.

All of the lines cut under SEPTA's tenure should be restored from the city out:

1) Fox Chase-Newtown, first and foremost
2) Elwyn-West Chester
3) Cynwyd-Ivy Ridge
4) Thorndale-Atglen

Then:
5) Norristown-Pottstown
6) Lansdale-Quakertown

Finally:
7) Pottstown-Reading-Pottsville
8) Quakertown-Bethlehem/Allentown