New Hope Passenger Power

I was going to post this on the Newtown RS3 thread but didn't want to hijack it. Does anyone know what power was used on the New Hope branch prior to the end of passenger service in 1954? Was it steam up until the end or did diesels run until the demise of service? I have an undated picture of some standard coaches (in two tone green) at Hatboro but can't tell what was pulling them. I also recall a photo of the FP-7's that was captioned as being taken at New Hope, possibly on some sort of demo run, but I can't confirm its' validity. I'll assume that the RDC's never ran on the branch but I guess it is possible since they were on the property prior to the end of service.

Don't forget that the line to New Hope was the beyond the end of the electrification that I think ended at Hatboro at the time. It now ends at Warminster (Ivyland). Passenger service to New Hope was provided by a gas-electric car that was discontinued about 1954. I remember this self-propelled car that looked like the MU's, but didn't have a pantograph. I lived in Roslyn at about that time, and the branch ran behind our house. There were a couple of interesting passenger moves on that branch, such as Snellenburg's Dept. Store in Willow Grove having some kind of fashion show with unusual cars in it. I believe some were SP daylight cars. Also, there were the Snellenburg's Santa Claus specials that also ended up in Willow Grove (I know lots more about those if you ask). Also, the Crusader was used for excursions to the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope in the late '50's and early '60's.

One other thing--there is a photo of the Reading's only Pullman the "Ottawa" on the end of a train on the branch. Don't know what year it was taken.

Thanks, Geep. The picture I saw of the FP7's in New Hope did include the Crusader cars so I guess that picture was legit. I grew up in Warminster and remember the catenary ending in Hatboro as that is where we caught the train when I was a kid. Thanks also for mentioning the Santa Claus trains, I had actually forgotten about them until you brought it up. My mom worked at Snellenburgs and later Lit Brothers at the time so we got a little "special treatment". I also remember the rails in Easton Road in front of Weinrich's, not sure if they were remains for the trolley line or if there was ever a siding into the area of the shopping center.

How far did the gas-electric run? Was it a shuttle between New Hope and Hatboro or did it also run all the way into the terminal? Obviously there is not a lot of photographic evidence of this operation.

From what I've read, the shuttle ran from Hatboro to New Hope only.

With all the development along the corridor today, kind of makes you wonder what's keeping commuter service out of discussion, or how they were able to support it "back in the day". I'd love to see some kind of service there, but apparantly NHIRR has had such poor luck with attracting commuters that they gave up on their Warminster-New Hope trips during the summer, then again, at $40 round trip, how often are you going to take that trip? Scheduling was also less to be desired with its meet with SEPTA's trains. Maybe when we get $8/gal gas, people will start thinking about it.

glennk419 wrote:I also remember the rails in Easton Road in front of Weinrich's, not sure if they were remains for the trolley line or if there was ever a siding into the area of the shopping center.

I also thought that they were a trolley track, but never measured the gauge. They don't match with any Philadelphia Rapid Transit track map that I've seen. I think the carbarn was between here and the Reading tracks, so a railroad connection would be difficult. From recent cracks in the asphalt, I think they were just paved over.

There was also a control trailer passenger car for the gas-electric. MU combine trailer 799 with the pantagraph for heat during the layover at Hatboro would bring the New Hope branch mail up from Philadelphia. The sacks were on portable racks for easy transfer to the gas-electric train.

The first New Hope & Ivyland passenger train out of New Hope was hauled by a Reading streamlined Diesel on daily lease, with the nose facing towards the rear of the train!

The Crusader wasn't the only charity train to New Hope. About 1954, a brand new Canadien Pacific "Canadian" fresh from the Budd plant also ran there. I don't know if the domes were included.

With all the development along the corridor today, kind of makes you wonder what's keeping commuter service out of discussion, or how they were able to support it "back in the day". I'd love to see some kind of service there, but apparantly NHIRR has had such poor luck with attracting commuters that they gave up on their Warminster-New Hope trips during the summer, then again, at $40 round trip, how often are you going to take that trip? Scheduling was also less to be desired with its meet with SEPTA's trains. Maybe when we get $8/gal gas, people will start thinking about it.

The NH&I service was not intended as a commuter run, just an extended trip over rare mileage for the ambitious railfan/tourist. Having ridden it once, I can tell you that to bring the line up to anyone's definition of a commuter rail standard would be an engineering challenge to say the least. Don't know how many full circles you go through, but it's a twisty piece of railroad. And what you see from the train is generally not encroaching development (yet), but woods, quarries, lots of cuts, and the biggest community along the line is probably Little Italy, operative word little. I'm actually surprised that passenger service held on as long as 1954, and today's development really wouldn't do anything for ridership because everything's so scattershot. You would need park'n'rides at every station, and that's assuming that the folks who live up that way even commute to Center City. My bet is there's some New York commuters there, professionals from New Jersey and Doylestown, maybe a lot of self-employed / work-from-home people. I for one think it's nice to have a piece of true branchline railroad that's happily in the middle ground between abandonment and half-hourly SEPTA service.

A Philly to Cape May service restoration, on the other hand, THAT I would love to see.

About the 1976 Bi-centenial commuter experiment, all 3 regular commuters asked that the subsidy be continued. Neither S.E.P.T.A. nor Penn D. o. T. listened.
There were 2 men from Ivyland who worked in Philadelphia, and one man from Almshouse Rd. (his name really was Mr. Poorman!) who worked at the Johnsville Air Base. There was also a Friday only commuter from Hood who shopped, I think in Hatboro.

Is there any way to get from Philly to New Hope directly by public transportation?

The only public transporation to New Hope is the Trans-Bridge bus which runs from the Septa Doylestown train station, through New Hope, to NYC. A copy of the schedule can be found here: http://www.transbridgebus.com/sched_frenchny.htm

Glennk,
THANKS for the info.My brother lives over in Clinton in NJ and I've got Trans-Bridge schedules so I'm familar with their service, but I'm somewhat surprised that there's not any sort of direct service from Philly as New Hope is a rockin' little town throughout a good portion on the year.
The meager NJ Transit service into Lambertsville from Trenton is just
as curious unless that's what suits area residents.

Mick

Hi! Usually I'm a PRSL viewer, but thought I'd add some info. a 1953 Rdg CO ETT doesn't have that nice Maltese Cross symbol the PRR and PRSL ETT's use for gas-electric equipt used on a certain run. The other 2 major gas-electric runs were the R&C and Slatington locals from Reading-the W&N also-all ending around 1948 or 49. I would imagine the Rdg retired its gas electric fleet at this time and went to diesel-hauled trains as did the near-by Newtown branch, that used RS3's until the RDC's bumped them in the 60's My mom, now in her early 80's, took it from Philly to the Montessori school stop, as a camp counsellor in the 40's, and as many plug runs were called back then, was known as the " dinky". We hiked the line for a short ways shortly after its abandonment. How that part of the world has changed! As far as the carbarn went, the PRT, later PTC ran what was the Route 6 as far as Willow Grove til the early 50's-later cut back to the Philly city limits around Old York Rd and Cheltenham Ave. The Route 6 continued as a bus-only line to Willow Grove NAS (from a Phila Bulletin almanac,vintage 1968!)Hope this helps!

mitch kennedy wrote:As far as the carbarn went, the PRT, later PTC ran what was the Route 6 as far as Willow Grove til the early 50's-later cut back to the Philly city limits around Old York Rd and Cheltenham Ave. The Route 6 continued as a bus-only line to Willow Grove NAS (from a Phila Bulletin almanac,vintage 1968!)Hope this helps!

The 6 trolley actually ran until 1957, remains of the Willow Grove terminal and the tunnel into Willow Grove park survived into the late 60's, remains of the ROW are still clearly visible along EdgeHill Road and Tyson Avenue. The 6 bus was renumbered as the 22 which still runs today to Willow Grove Park Mall. For several years, the 6/22 continued to follow the old trolley route although it now follows a (more direct) routing along Easton Road. The 55 bus continues to service Willow Grove NAS on its' runs from Broad & Olney to Doylestown.

Thanks for the update, Glenn-I'm gone from the area for nearly 20 years now!

My pleasure, I've often said I was born a few years too late to experience the heyday of the railroads and trolleys although I do have some good memories of all the PCCs that used to run around the city and the 10 years before Conrail. I vividly remember the Ogontz loop of the Route 6 and have tons of fond memories of trips into Reading Terminal.

Geez....I think I've totally hijacked my own thread!