Abandoned elevated line Phili 30th Street Sta?

Looks like an elevated track that left 30th St Sta in Phili. Track disconnected from main. Substantial stone and metal bridge in area of the station. What was this and when was it abandoned? Cant believe su h an infrastructure would be left to rot in such a high populated area.

Are you referring to the High Line? It's still an active freight railroad.

Coming into 30th St. station from the west I just passed it it’s a single track line that goes up on stone arches and then appears to swing south going through the city the track was definitely disconnected from the main it was severed and dead ended with a barricade sign and there were trees growing up on the bridge the cater ary wire has also been removed with just the polls remaining.

carajul wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 4:03 pm Coming into 30th St. station from the west I just passed it it’s a single track line that goes up on stone arches and then appears to swing south going through the city the track was definitely disconnected from the main it was severed and dead ended with a barricade sign and there were trees growing up on the bridge the cater ary wire has also been removed with just the polls remaining.

If it was this line (coming in from the Keystone/Harrisburg Amtrak line) then it's CSX's Harrisburg Subdivision, which stretches from near East Falls down to the Navy Yard. You may of found one of the barracaded leads attaching to Amtrak, but the line itself was formerly electrified before being de-electrified when it was handed over to CSX. It's still in use.

I believe you will find that was where the fleet of trains that operated to South Philly and Memorial Stadium where the Army-Mavy game was once exclusively played.

I rode such during. IIRC for the 1955 game.

https://www.chisholm-poster.com/posters/CL53487.html

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 8:02 pm I believe you will find that was where the fleet of trains that operated to South Philly and Memorial Stadium where the Army-Mavy game was once exclusively played.

I rode such during. IIRC for the 1955 game.

https://www.chisholm-poster.com/posters/CL53487.html

Let me pick your brain on the routing then, because I assume if you had to transfer at 30th street you'd be taking the PRR special there and hitting the connection south to the Greenwich yard, where an underpass lead to the old football stadium (where a hockey stadium is now). I don't know where you picked it up from, from the current layout (although I won't be surprised in a since-removed crossover north of 30th Street). Was that correct?

And, of course, the ever important question: Who did you root for?

You used to be able to get on to the High Line at Zoo or Arsenal. Both ends have been severed from Amtrak, and Arsenal has been extensively reconfigured and is not even an interlocking on Amtrak anymore, only on SEPTA and I believe CSX, though they are no longer related.

To wit:
Trains coming from the South would go to No. 1 Track at Brill and head up to Arsenal and onward to the 25th St. Viaduct there.

Trains coming from New York would go via the Berry Tracks on to the High Line at Zoo.

Trains from Harrisburg, and again my memory is a bit hazy on this, would go via the WBY and on to the connection at Zoo.

They also ran long trains of Silverliner IIs from Paoli and (I think) Trenton. I rode from Paoli a couple of times, (didn't go to the game, that wasn't the point) planted myself in the rear cab of the last car, and got a splendid view of the whole route, including a great view from overhead of 30th St. Upper Level trainshed and platforms. The line was officially the West Philadelphia Elevated Branch, always referred to as the High Line. In later years, weed growth on the arched portions earned it the sobriquet of the Hanging Gardens of West Philadelphia, but it's been in continuous use, including by heavy ore trains, since it was built. Actually, the whole 30th St. complex is down in a bowl at water level while the High Line keeps the freight traffic overhead and out of the way.

. The line may be the abandoned line to suburban station when LD service was discontinued to Broad street station. (1952). 30th street was built as a thru station as Broad street was a stub end station.That would be the north side of the tracks from 30th st to Broad street station ( Surburban) station. Broad street was first and Suburban stastion was built south of Broad to handle just EMUs.I believe that track viaduct was once called the Chineese wall.

The North end of the High Line used to be triple track and is now single track, so there is room for trees to grow on the brick arches. The barricade sign may have been temporary for track work.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:03 pm Let me pick your brain on the routing then, because I assume if you had to transfer at 30th street you'd be taking the PRR special there

Not at all, Mr. Wolf, back in '55, the P-Road had limitless supply of G's and P-70's that could be pressed into service for whatever event be it Army-Navy, a Presidential inauguration, March on Washington, whatever. The particular train my Father and I were operated non stop Penn to Memorial Stadium and tied up as depicted in the Grif Teller linked artwork.

There was never the Amtrak party line "we haven't got the equipment; here's the number for a busline".

PRR once had a Bureau (Team in todayspeak) within the Passenger Department solely to manage "special moves", but by '68 that Department had been chipped away by retirements and reassignments, that is why the RFK Funeral train was a comparative "fiasco" complete with spectator fatalities and G's featuring "worms in love".

One must wonder if today Amtrak has anymore the institutional expertise to handle another '09 Obama inaugural train. Who knows to what extent a '21 Joe inaugural train was considered.

Finally, there was Navy within the family - even if my Father only served in the Fairfield Navy.

I found it...sorry I was disoriented. I didn't realize that coming from Harrisburg, Keystone trains don't go thru the station they back out again but head east.

Ok here is the line I saw. It's for sure abandoned. Looks like it was a connector track of sorts...

Here are the google map coordinates of the bridge that carried the track
39.978729, -75.227911

Ok, looking at that, yeah that's disconnected and honestly not at all what I thought you meant.

The rest of the line is SEPTA only at this point.

The coordinates are for the Westbound passenger track bridge at 52nd St. station. Westbound trains towards Harrisburg now use a former freight track under the bridge, trains to Cynwyd use a former freight track that runs beside the ramp down from the bridge going towards Cynwyd.