Philadelphia rail compared to others on the same scale

Irish Chieftain wrote:

(And of course to remind myself why Philadelphia is so much more livable and enjoyable than the affluent Babylon called NYC)

Well, to nitpick, Babylon is about 43 miles west of NYC, on Long Island...

I don't think they were referring to Babylon the town, but were using the term to describe New York.

babylon: "A city or place of great luxury, sensuality, and often vice and corruption."

Three different uses of the phrase "Main Line" have been invoked here. Let's differentiate between them. Only one of them is relevant to the thread.

PRR referred to its Philadelphia-Paoli route as its Main Line (ex-Main Line of Public Works, ex-Philadelphia & Columbia RR). It is now simply Amtrak's Harrisburg Line. The phrase "Main Line" has long since lost its exclusive, literal railfan use. It is commonly understood to mean the western Philly suburbs along the Route 30/Lancaster Pike corridor as far west as Malvern and Frazer. Such usage is not new. The former upper-class-only social implications of the phrase have been greatly diluted since the post-WW2 exodus of middle-class city folk to this area. I doubt that one person in a thousand outside of railfandom knows the origin of this use of "Main Line".

RDG referred to its route west of Belmont along the Schuylkill River's south bank as its Main Line (ex-Philadelphia & Reading RR). This is in contrast to the ex-RDG route on the north bank, which is now SEPTA's North Broad-Manayunk-Norristown R6. The former RDG Main Line is now Norfolk Southern's freight-only Harrisburg Line, paralleled by the Schuylkill Expressway.

SEPTA's Railroad Division refers to its Zoo-Suburban Station-Jenkintown-Lansdale route as its Main Line. This is a relatively new designation, since SEPTA didn't take full control of the fomer PRR & RDG Philly-area commuter railroad services until 1983. If you want to dig into the history, much of SEPTA's Main Line trackage (at least north of Fern Rock) is the former RDG Bethlehem Branch. Since we're talking about SEPTA operations of the R1 while on SEPTA trackage east of 30th St. Station, SEPTA's Main Line designation trumps all others.

Apologies if this sounded hopelessly geeky, but a clarification was needed at this point in the thread! I hope I explained it to everyone's satisfaction.

Thanks for the clarification! I never heard anybody use the term main line for what you just described, but I guess you learn something new everyday.

I was flipping through some old RRD bulletins and it is definitely true. But just to clarify, SEPTA's main line does not include the R1 Airport.

...and I just noticed that we're getting pretty far off topic as well.

You mean you never heard of the famous "Philadelphia Main Line?" How times have changed!

What would C. K. Dexter Haven and Tracy Lord(*) have to say about that?


(*) Definitely NOT any relation to Traci Lords, btw!

Irish Chieftain wrote: Well, to nitpick, Babylon is about 43 miles west of NYC, on Long Island...

The Caternary Type wrote:WOW

That was extremely useless!

The Spanish Inquisition wrote:Useless...

The Caternary (sic) Type forgot that flames aren't allowed when he wrote:That was extremely useless!

I daresay what you posted was equally useless. I at least confessed to nitpicking.

3) Heavy rail suburban lines are out, even if underground (i.e. Berlin S-Bahn, Paris RER, BART, PATH, MetroNorth, LIRR, NJT, and Tokyo suburban lines that run in subway during rush hours); and

I wouldn't put the PATH in the same category as the Paris RER, NJT's and LIRR. I consider the PATH a subway. One of the few 24 hour subways in the world.

PATH is a railroad. It is regulated by the FRA, the same as NJT, CSX, BNSF, etc. It may run in a hole in the ground, but it is a full fleged railroad.

But it parallels the 6th ave local, runs to the world trade center, etc.
so what if the cars must be modified to FRA regulations?
It is a subway to me!

Months ago I solicited opinions on what parts of philadelphia's rail infra structure should be included on an international "subways" at the same scale mapping project.

Check out the results, Philadelphia rail fans, at:

http://www.fakeisthenewreal.org/subway/index.html

Although the trolleys have unfortunately been left out, I'm a little shocked at the relative size of our system. The gaps in service graphically stand out. However, if the Regional Rail division ran at greater frequency and with a more sensible fare, perhaps it would deserve inclusion in our metropolitan system.

I hope this is of interest to some of you,

regards

Much as nitpickers are loathed, I noticed the map on the link only includes patco as far as 8th st, missing the locust st subway portion. Its only a mile or 2, but its there

Maybe its just me but I don't see Philadelphia on that site.

Sean@Temple

Sean@Temple wrote:Maybe its just me but I don't see Philadelphia on that site.

Sean@Temple

It's there, just look for the city with the (seemingly) fewest lines.

I am a little curious about the map -- why was the 100 included, but not the 101 & 102, for instance? They are all trolleys (sorry everyone, the NHSL is *not* a railroad anymore, and hasn't been anywhere close to qualifying for a LONG time). I suppose the grade-separation could be the key here, but that leads to another question: why are the subway portions of the SS lines not included, then, since they are grade-separated there and, as subways, exactly meet the title of the site?

The map does really show exactly how much we need to expand the system, though... way too many holes. Ah well, that's another fight for another thread...

Umblehoon wrote:

[bgcolor]why are the subway portions of the SS lines not included, then, since they are grade-separated there and, as subways, exactly meet the title of the site?[/bgcolor]

thats because the SS lines parallel the Market-Frankford Line 95% of the line as a Subway, and I guess in that scale, it would probably blurr[/quote]