Which abandoned Septa line would you want back?

ekt8750 wrote:Yeah that train just refuses to go past Fox Chase for some reason.

Because there isn't enough track to get 'er up to 88mph for the flux capacitor to engage.

limejuice wrote:

ekt8750 wrote:Yeah that train just refuses to go past Fox Chase for some reason.

Because there isn't enough track to get 'er up to 88mph for the flux capacitor to engage.

Still not 1.21 jigiwaat in juice coming out of the Jenkintown substation either.

ChrisinAbington wrote:

limejuice wrote:

ekt8750 wrote:Yeah that train just refuses to go past Fox Chase for some reason.

Because there isn't enough track to get 'er up to 88mph for the flux capacitor to engage.

Still not 1.21 jigiwaat in juice coming out of the Jenkintown substation either.

But the Doylestown sub should be plenty to cover for that.

If you really want to hit 88' lets start right before Fox Chase and then when we hit the barricades at 88' they will be gone and it will be a clean shot to Newtown. (Just set it to 1980 )

Well if the Wayne sub can't supply 1.21 Gigawatts to Fox Chase, they'll have to hook a Mr. Fusion up to an RDC, then get NH&I 40 to push it starting from Crescentville using Doc Brown's special Presto-logs.

Ok, I need to take a vacation.

Marty, it runs on steam!

"Doc...did you build a nuclear-powered RDC for the Libyans???"

"No, no, Marty; it was just an RDC with engine compartments full of used pinball-machine parts!"

"Hmmmm, okay Doc...so that means it's in the same condition as any other SEPTA RDC still on the Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line in '82, right?"

"Good one, Marty."


[cue up Huey Lewis & The News]

walt wrote:

Franklin Gowen wrote:

Tritransit Area wrote:I guess these pre-dates SEPTA, but I'd love to have the Liberty Bell over the P&W and beyond back...although it would probably take 5 hours just to get to Allentown.

Lehigh Valley Transit's hourly limiteds used to make the Upper Darby--Allentown run in as little as 1:58. Yes, that far predates SEPTA.....LVT's Liberty Bell Route service quit in 1951; 60 years ago.

Elaped travel time between 69th Street & Allentown wouldn't be as big a problem

I missed this post shame on me. Anyway...

I was speaking to some people, including family, who rode the Liberty Bell. When LVT ended direct service to 69th St. and started terminating in Norristown, they told me it wasn't as convenient as before. One person told me that the Reading ran two trains a day from Allentown down the Perkiomen branch so he'd get off the trolly at 3rd & Hamilton Streets and take the train most of the time instead of the Liberty Bell if he were going to Norristown or points west. If he wanted to go to Philadelphia, it was much more convenient to take a train to Reading Terminal. Also the grading of the line wasn't as "smooth" (to quote my aunt) as a train. The cars constantly rocked side to side when they reached topped speed. Makes the Silverliner II's seem like a Maglev train.

Besides, in Montgomery County, both the Liberty Bell and the Reading's Bethlehem Branch had many stops in the same towns. If the Reading had ever decided to run passenger service on the Stoney Brook line, there essentially would have be two competing lines.

Pacobell73 wrote: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

i seriously doubt service from cynwyd to ivy ridge would return due to the fact that the norristown line has an ivy ridge station

iamapokemonlegend wrote:i seriously doubt service from cynwyd to ivy ridge would return due to the fact that the norristown line has an ivy ridge station

The PRR Ivy Ridge actually came first. If you look on the Conrail-era rail map, you'll see that there is no Ivy Ridge at all on the Reading side- trains went from Manayunk to Shawmont. The current Ivy Ridge station was built after the Ivy Ridge Line was truncated. That's why the Reading station is directly connected to the PRR station via stairway.

I still think Ivy Ridge should be served by both the Norristown and Cynwyd lines, as well as the bus that runs up Umbria. Could serve as a sort of Northwest Transportation Center. The Ivy Ridge Line could also be used for service to Pottstown-Reading if they decided to build the connecting track between the two lines. It may save time into CCP, as well, as it would avoid 16th Street Junction.

tgolanos wrote:The current Ivy Ridge station was built after the Ivy Ridge Line was truncated. That's why the Reading station is directly connected to the PRR station via stairway.

When I first became familiar with the SEPTA regional rail layout in 1985 or 1986, both sides were running to an Ivy Ridge station. So the Reading (current) one was built before the Pennsy Ivy Ridge line was truncated.

However, I'm referring here to a stop on the Norristown line. If you mean that a new station building at an existing Reading side Ivy Ridge station was built after the Pennsy Ivy Ridge line was truncated, then I apologize for this misunderstanding on my part.

rslitman wrote:

tgolanos wrote:The current Ivy Ridge station was built after the Ivy Ridge Line was truncated. That's why the Reading station is directly connected to the PRR station via stairway.

When I first became familiar with the SEPTA regional rail layout in 1985 or 1986, both sides were running to an Ivy Ridge station. So the Reading (current) one was built before the Pennsy Ivy Ridge line was truncated.

However, I'm referring here to a stop on the Norristown line. If you mean that a new station building at an existing Reading side Ivy Ridge station was built after the Pennsy Ivy Ridge line was truncated, then I apologize for this misunderstanding on my part.

I should've phrased my above statement better- I meant to say that the current Ivy Ridge station on the Norristown Line came after the PRR station was built. I'm pretty sure PRR Ivy Ridge was closed in 86, but I could be off by a year. My best guess would be that SEPTA built the current one just before closing the upper level because ridership warranted a stop between Manayunk and Shawmont, and was a good P&R location. I wasn't even born until 89, so I never had the chance to see the PRR-side in action to know for sure.

There is a new article on wikipedia covering SEPTA's former diesel services. It is well sourced, so it may less of a wikipedia article and more of a good write-up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEPTA_diesel_service

Pacobell73 wrote:There is a new article on wikipedia covering SEPTA's former diesel services. It is well sourced, so it may less of a wikipedia article and more of a good write-up

Based on 27 (!) distinct citations of John Pawson's 1979 book, that Wikipedia page strikes me as more of a lazy high-school book report than anything else. Such overwhelming reliance on one source among several (albeit a superb one) adds little if any new data for those who are already serious students of this subject. Alas.

Some of the phrasing is somewhat too close at times to Mr. Pawson's original literary voice for my comfort, too. I won't call it plagiarism but I will say that I find such instances regrettable.

It's unfortunate that the decline and fall of such once-useful passenger services appears to have so little in print that enthusiastic followers of the subject are confined to a relatively small body of data. I certainly wish that I knew more about it, but from informed sources other than the tried-and-true classics. Through no fault of their own, the latter are somewhat mined-out after three decades.

Franklin Gowen wrote:

Pacobell73 wrote:There is a new article on wikipedia covering SEPTA's former diesel services. It is well sourced, so it may less of a wikipedia article and more of a good write-up

Based on 27 (!) distinct citations of John Pawson's 1979 book, that Wikipedia page strikes me as more of a lazy high-school book report than anything else. Such overwhelming reliance on one source among several (albeit a superb one) adds little if any new data for those who are already serious students of this subject. Alas.

Some of the phrasing is somewhat too close at times to Mr. Pawson's original literary voice for my comfort, too. I won't call it plagiarism but I will say that I find such instances regrettable.

What do you think Wikipedia is? I could post a Wiki about anything fraudulent I want and people think its real cause its on Wikipedia.

PooPooPedia.