Cab Rides In Today's Times

With all the terrorism BS and everything else going on, what are the chances of getting a cab ride in todays SEPTA?

I think you inadvertently answered your own question. Even putting the terrorism hysteria aside for the moment, the Federal Railway Administration takes a very dim view of unauthorized folks in the cab. FRA is much more strict today than they were in years past. I would say the chances are close to zero. An engineer can lose his certification for such an offense. I know that sounds harsh, but it's today's reality. I can't imagine any engineer would risk his or her career and livelihood to let a railfan ride up front with them.

Inappropriate to create a thread on this subject IMHO.

While I wouldn't call it inappropriate, i'd call it "neigh impossible."
At least on Septa.
You can always stand in the front door looking out the front of a Silverliner. I haven't had an engineer complain. But getting a ride in a AEM-7 is not going to happen.

I thought the New Hope & Ivyland gave Father's Day cab-rides for a price. If you wanted to you could even shovel coal in to the firebox.

The tourist railroads would probably be your best bet.

AlexC wrote: ...I wouldn't call it inappropriate...

I agree. If you don't ask you don't know.

You can always stand in the front door looking out the front of a Silverliner. I haven't had an engineer complain.

I was already yelled at once by a jerk conductor who felt I was a liability if the train made a sudden stop and was told to take my seat. He wasn't interested in my reasoning that I HAVE to stand at times on peak hour trains where there simply isn't a seat for all.

Thanks, I was not trying to raise a stink or anything, I was talking to a buddy of mines and was telling him how I use to be able to ride upfront on the BSL and this was right before 9/11 and a few times after it whenever I came back into town.

And we gotten into the discussion of Abrahms closing (not actually closing but no access for railfans) and how he would get rides in the cabs while they was switching and stagging trains over night.

I was just curious as to if it was plausible/possible for this to happen on SEPTA cause there are some stories that surface on other Commuter Roads about still being able to get a ride in the cab for those roads. Not that I am trying to do that, as somebody said you can see through the door on the Siverliners and I am happy with that as I still tend to find things I have not seen before.

Franklin Gowen wrote:I think you inadvertently answered your own question. Even putting the terrorism hysteria aside for the moment, the Federal Railway Administration takes a very dim view of unauthorized folks in the cab. FRA is much more strict today than they were in years past. I would say the chances are close to zero. An engineer can lose his certification for such an offense. I know that sounds harsh, but it's today's reality. I can't imagine any engineer would risk his or her career and livelihood to let a railfan ride up front with them.

Absolutely right! Your odds are pretty much nill unless you know the engineer on a personal level and its past 11:00pm when no one is really riding. Personally, I wouldn't mind letting someone come up front (a true railfan that is), but Mr. Gowen is right. It really is not worth the risk to the engineer in question. If he/she gets caught, the carrier has them dead to rights for punitive action, especially if there's an accident while they are up there (fatality at grade crossing, kids stoning trains breaks fireman's windshield and glass goes in railfans face, SEPTA supervision doing compliance checks unexpectedly boards head end and asks for headend pass, etc.)

Jeffrey: I understand your frustration. Some SEPTA engineers respectfully request their conductors to keep passengers from 'looking over their shoulders' while they are operating the trains. It can really be annoying sometimes, even though one's railfanning intentions are innocent enough. We as Locomotive Engineers have no idea if one is simply railfanning or is really observing speeds, signals, and rules compliance for the company. I know the excuse the conductor gave you was pretty lame, but I think my explanation here is a more truthful assessment.

I think the FRA is correctly concerned about the disruption of too many non essential employees without even a thought to visitors. Cabs used to occaisonally get crowded with employees alone. Picture unwittingly having the conductor and one deadheading crew of 3 in there, all talking. So the rule is zero non essential people. As far as the Company goes, I recollect two sad incidents where fans have been killed in the cab, one did result in a lawsuit. Fair question, One of One Sixty, I hope the answer is satisfactory.

Bill

I'm just glad SEPTA doesn't pull an NJT and paint the front window glass black!

I've had my share of cab rides---on the Newtown line, but that was like riding a tourist line compared to the rest of the system.

I think I'd be annoyed trying to do my job only to look behind me and see some foamer fogging up the window, so I certainly respect the crew's wishes. Besides, if one wants a head end ride on SEPTA, you can easily do so on the P&W or MFL, or if you really really want one on the RRD, I'd suggest a "back end" ride and just sit in the back car and look out that window. Not as exciting, but you still get a firsthand view of the ROW.

i had a cab ride on a Reading RDC in between reading and pottsville ca 1980?? (train was from reading terminal). My grandmother MADE SURE i got in .

Pretty sure there was no chance of another train being around on that stretch. it was still a huge thrill for an 11 year old.

cheers

I don't remember the equipment exactly but I think the SL II's used to have pull-down shades on the end doors. Unfortunately I don't ride nearly as often as I used to (daily) so I don't know if they're still in place.

glennk419 wrote:I don't remember the equipment exactly but I think the SL II's used to have pull-down shades on the end doors. Unfortunately I don't ride nearly as often as I used to (daily) so I don't know if they're still in place.

Yep! some of them (very few) still do.

jfrey40535 wrote:I'm just glad SEPTA doesn't pull an NJT and paint the front window glass black!

I think you are going to see this in the very near future on SEPTA. The reason I say this is because some idiot took it upon himself to film an engineer through the cab door window reading what he thought was a newspaper and sent the video to FOX 29 news. They blew the story way out of proportion when the engineer could have been reading bulls or a schedule. You can definitely expect a bad reaction by crews now to someone looking through the window into the cab!

They blew the story way out of proportion when the engineer could have been reading bulls or a schedule.

I didn't see the story, but does it matter what he was reading?

I don't know what SEPTA's regs are, so I am posing this from a philosophical standpoint. Is it dangerous to read while operating a train?

-If yes, it shouldn't matter what he was reading. He should be in trouble whether he was reading something work related or not.
-If no, it shouldn't matter what he was reading. Let him read whatever he wants.

As far as I am concerned, the engineer's job is the get the safely train from A to B. It doesn't matter to me how he does that.