Railroad Forums 

  • First "All-Day" Push-Pull Set coming soon...

  • Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.
Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.

Moderator: AlexC

 #1504524  by rcthompson04
 
Silverliner II wrote:
glennk419 wrote:Train 3420 having problems again today. From Twitter, it is short cars and was expressing from TU to Jenkintown. Just got to Roslyn 23 minutes late.
Short cars? Can't make that PP set much shorter than the 4 cars it normally is...

Edited to add:

I did some digging. The train ran into issues early in the day and Silverliners were substituted for the run cycle prior to 3420. However, the issues must have been resolved, and the push-pull swapped back into the rotation in time for train 4571 out of Center City.
Were the issues tied to signal issues? I keep track of the run a few times a day and saw a mention of signal issues.

I have begun to wonder if SEPTA is doing this completely wrong by pairing it to through runs instead of running it on runs that terminate at one side of Center City or another. With several Paoli Thorndale Line trains terminating at Suburban right now wouldn’t make more sense to just run this set back and forth on that line? You could probably get 6 round trips a day if done right including some peak runs.
 #1504532  by glennk419
 
Silverliner II wrote:
glennk419 wrote:Train 3420 having problems again today. From Twitter, it is short cars and was expressing from TU to Jenkintown. Just got to Roslyn 23 minutes late.
Short cars? Can't make that PP set much shorter than the 4 cars it normally is...

Edited to add:

I did some digging. The train ran into issues early in the day and Silverliners were substituted for the run cycle prior to 3420. However, the issues must have been resolved, and the push-pull swapped back into the rotation in time for train 4571 out of Center City.
Seems that 3420 came out of Powelton as it was reported to be loading on Track 6 at 30th Street. It was back to PP for the Warminster run.
 #1504553  by CNJGeep
 
3420 was protected through Center City, however it was only two MUs and twenty minutes late, leading to heavy crowding. The original 3420, the push pull, ran behind it as a cleanup train. It was back in the correct rotation starting with 4571.
 #1504998  by rcthompson04
 
Curious if there is any talk of using any of the push-pull equipment on weekend runs.

When I went by Frazer on 9561 (Great Valley Flyer) this evening there were 4 ACS-64s sitting in the yard along with a few coaches and the Toaster that NJT did not lease.
 #1505007  by Silverliner II
 
rcthompson04 wrote:Curious if there is any talk of using any of the push-pull equipment on weekend runs.

When I went by Frazer on 9561 (Great Valley Flyer) this evening there were 4 ACS-64s sitting in the yard along with a few coaches and the Toaster that NJT did not lease.
With the 4-car set running, plus the six 6-car sets out on their rush assignments, there are 40 cars out of 45 required for service. Two of the trailer coaches were sitting in the yard today, and cab car 2405 is in the shop with its interior rehab in progress. Likely two other cars were inside getting attention as well for whatever reason.

No weekend runs are in the plans at this point that I'm aware of.
 #1505088  by Acela150
 
rcthompson04 wrote:Curious if there is any talk of using any of the push-pull equipment on weekend runs.

When I went by Frazer on 9561 (Great Valley Flyer) this evening there were 4 ACS-64s sitting in the yard along with a few coaches and the Toaster that NJT did not lease.
I can't see them using the PushPull stuff on weekends. Most Septa T&E crews are on rest days on either Saturday or Sunday. So a factor of qualified crews would come into play. Conductors aren't the issue. They are qualified on the Bombers when they're hired. Engineers have to have a certain amount of time in before Septa will let them play with the big trains.
rcthompson04 wrote:Rode on 4571 out to Exton tonight. It was 10 minutes late coming into Suburban. Lost another 3 minutes between Suburban and Paoli, but it was 17 minutes late at one point. Anyone who rides out here on the Paoli-Thorndale line regularly knows that being a little late can compound tardiness.

I am a fan of running the Sprinter on this run, but it should be running out of Roberts.
4571 used to come out of Roberts everyday. During my time as a PA at Septa I worked that train quite a bit.
 #1505093  by Silverliner II
 
mcgrath618 wrote:Currently in an apartment next to Overbrook station, and what do I see but a push pull set. It’s 1 AM right now though, I didn’t think it ran this late.
That would be train 591, running a bit late. Last train in the rotation of the set until morning... it really does not get much rest.
 #1506329  by CNJGeep
 
MUs today as well.

For those who keep track of that sort of thing, 2401 has been pulled off the small train and placed on a regular push-pull set. I do not think there is a spare available, and that is why it has been MUs.
 #1506346  by njtmnrrbuff
 
That's too bad that that. I guess at the end if the day, it's still better to have MUs covering that run. In the next month, I would like to get down to Philadelphia and photograph that midday push pull set if possible.
 #1506364  by Silverliner II
 
CNJGeep wrote:MUs today as well.

For those who keep track of that sort of thing, 2401 has been pulled off the small train and placed on a regular push-pull set. I do not think there is a spare available, and that is why it has been MUs.
Highly probable. With the 6 regular sets and the short train requiring 7 cab cars.... and one of the regular sets currently has 2 cabs in its train, so there's 8... Cab 2405 is out getting its interior makeover... that's 9. That leaves one cab car unaccounted for, and it may well be in another train, and it might take a day or two for one of those sets to make it to Frazer to get switched out and replaced with a coach, freeing up a cab for the short train....