Bad Week for Route 15

This was definitely one of those weeks for the 15. To start off, on Tuesday, a police chase involving armed robbers terminated at Richmond & Indiana, suspending trolley service between Allegheny & Cumberland for about 3 hours.

Then Thursday morning, another light-bright truck driver attempted to sqeeze his oversized semi under the former Reading Railroad underpass between Lehigh and Somerset, pulling the wires down and causing a small fire. Trolley serivce is now temporarily terminating at Cumberland loop until further notice, which is expected to be Saturday, although SEPTA "forces" were out effecting repairs this afternoon.

Within the next few weeks, I'll put together another thread on progress on this line. I'm waiting to see how some of the former Elmwood operators are working out (so far, not bad).

Trolleys resumed normal operations this morning. Hats off to SEPTA forces for the expedient job! Missed my chance to get photos of the trolleys rolling through Cumberland loop though....next time, since this sort of thing happens every 3 months or so.

drove accross girard avenue this morning about 730-745 from 29th to I-95

saw 2 PCCs west bound
1 east bound (the way i was travelling)

then 3 BUSES west bound

what is the deal with that??

There are two or 3 three bus routes that share the toad with the 15 before branhing off

the buses had a big 15 on the placard

it looked like bustitution to me

For some reason, occasional bus-stitution is continuing on Route 15. It is less frequent now than it was before the current schedule took effect. There is always at least 1 bus on the line which is the protect bus in the event of a trolley failure.

I thought by now the buses would have dissapeared with more operators from Elmwood becoming available, but I'm guessing there is still a shortage, and Route 10 is a higher priority since it cannot be bustituted (ever see a bus at Juniper?).

I actually saw a New Flyer on the 15 Sunday, which is very rare. The 15 has been notorious for receiving the worst equipment out of Callowhill. The line was mostly served by Neoplans before the trolleys returned. The Neoplans, from what I've been told, have been donated to New Orleans.

donating buses to new orleans, that's a great jesture

they (septa) must have bad pr people. i'm a transit junkie (obviously) and i didn't hear about that

as long as we didn't donate any streetcars...

Unfortunately we've donated (or practically given away) PCC's last summer. A few of the old Chestnut Hill PCC's were donated to a museum in Maryland.

Note to moderator: You might as well make this thread a sticky.

Again another truck ran under the Reading Railroad bridge at Lehigh sometime after 10pm and took the wires down. Crews were out tonight repairing the wires....again.

To add insult to injury, there was no coordination of the shuttle bus and trolley at Cumberland. The trolley I was on arrived at Cumberland at 12:37am, and the bus didn't pick us up until 1:02am. Of course no line supervisor was around, he was probablly busy eating donuts somewhere.

At this point, I have no choice to say that the trolley was a bad idea. Under SEPTA, its been nothing but problems.

jfrey40535 wrote: At this point, I have no choice to say that the trolley was a bad idea. Under SEPTA, its been nothing but problems.

My opinion is that this is exactly what Septa wants people to think. Run a Terrible service, so bad you wish for buses....In a few years, regretably, I expect the buses to come back permanently.

A trolley done right (low-floor, signal pre-emption, more new trackwork) and not the "new" old PCC's wouldv'e been A Lot better.

well i'm going to enjoy seeing the streetcars for as long as they last

the saddest part is driving down girard and seeing the concrete in the middle of just about every cross street, where the former lines once crossed the 15

I think its pretty evident they want the line to fail. It almost seems like a sherade of SEPTA trying to make the line work. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was paying those trucks to go under the bridge, but it goes beyond that. The service is very poor (bear in mind it was bad as a bus route) and almost unbearable.

If you actually ride SEPTA by choice what features do people look for? Reliability, punctuality and effectiveness. The 15 is none of those. Its not the PCC's that make the line bad its: management, supervision, planning and enforcement.

Eh maybe not, I saw a K-car on the 15 today with 'Not In Service' signs and a 'Student Driver' sign in the front window...

If it was a 'K', they were probablly certifying for the 10, although I think operators have to be certified on both cars at Callowhill, especially if they're on the slate.

Hiya everyone, I defiantely saw the K car on the 15 yesterday around 1155am. I was running my train coming in from West Trenton and I saw it and didnt pay any attention to it at first until I realized I was looking at the rt 15. I did have NOt in Service signs.Wish I had my camera with me