Railroad Forums 

  • Final nail in the coffin for pccs on the Route 15?

  • Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.
Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.

Moderator: AlexC

 #1567208  by Silverliner II
 
Meanwhile, the first two PCC's are in various stages of rebuild at Woodland Shops. Paint has been completed on the first car; other work remains to be completed with wiring and the interior. The second car is undergoing body work.
 #1613400  by JeffK
 
Silverliner II wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:22 pm Meanwhile, the first two PCC's are in various stages of rebuild at Woodland Shops. Paint has been completed on the first car; other work remains to be completed with wiring and the interior. The second car is undergoing body work.
Bumping the thread with this from KYW:

SEPTA working to bring historic trolley rides back to Philly
 #1613445  by Silverliner II
 
ExCon90 wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:58 pm Good catch. I'd say that in this case seeing is believing. Interesting that SEPTA was able to interest a general-audience TV channel in covering it.
Last I heard, four trolleys are now complete; a fifth is almost done, and work is in various stages of progress on another four cars. Either way, it's getting done, that's for sure.
 #1613547  by rrbluesman
 
I've been closely watching the PCC rebuilds and the Route 15 reactivation, and while I am excited and a highly irregular rider of that route, I am not noticing excitement outside of the railfan community for it. Social media pages are filled with NIMBYism about how trolleys "move too slow for traffic, " "can't pull over to let traffic by, " etc. Very few supporting the service. When and if SEPTA actually gets enough of the PCC fleet rebuilt for service on the 15, is there going to be ridership to support it and will Police keep parked cars out of the tracks?
 #1613577  by Silverliner II
 
The ridership will be there, because people who ride the route will still need to ride the route.... nothing will really change. The 'regular' riders don't really care what shows up as long as something shows up.
As for double-parked cars on the tracks, nothing is likely to change with that. They hardly enforce the ones that double-park along the Subway-Surface routes. So nope, nothing special happening there, either.
 #1613586  by ExCon90
 
Unfortunately true. Unless something occurs to induce the City (streets dept. and police) to take an active interest, nothing will change. The same situation existed with the 56 on Erie Ave.; the "keep off" signs were ignored by motorists and police alike.
 #1613594  by JeffK
 
There was a time many millennia (!) ago when the city did bother. When I took the 23 to classes at Temple, some department (police, PPA, not sure) had a huge truck with push bars on its front. Double-parked cars would be unceremoniously shoved off the tracks, sometimes even sideways. If "sumthin' was to happen", say a bashed-in door or bent axle, oh well.

But that hasn't gone on since IIRC the 1980s.
 #1613609  by Silverliner II
 
JeffK wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 2:46 pm There was a time many millennia (!) ago when the city did bother. When I took the 23 to classes at Temple, some department (police, PPA, not sure) had a huge truck with push bars on its front. Double-parked cars would be unceremoniously shoved off the tracks, sometimes even sideways. If "sumthin' was to happen", say a bashed-in door or bent axle, oh well.

But that hasn't gone on since IIRC the 1980s.
PTC, and early era SEPTA supervisor trucks had those huge bars.... they had full rights to push vehicles blocking the tracks in the clear. I think that disappeared in the 80's, along with using shoo-fly crossovers to keep rail service running during track replacement projects.
 #1613649  by ExCon90
 
I wonder whether it would be possible (if there's a will) to restore those push bars. They might only need to equip one truck -- once a few cars got pushed aside I think the word would get out pretty fast and blockages would become rare. (Or let the Philadelphia Parking Authority do the work and assess fines -- they'd love it; maybe send out a pilot truck ahead of every trip.)
 #1614281  by pjabowling
 
Septa's plan is to have some of the rebuilt PCC's ready for the fall of this year. They will be supplemented by bus service to cover the schedule.

These trolleys will be the stop gap solution for now until they eventually purchase new light rail vehicles. Their current plan only includes the 7 trolley routes (10,11,13,34,36,101,102).

To implement the light rail vehicles new platforms will have to be built and narrow street stops will have raised sidewalks.

This will require more space for corner stops on the narrow portion of the route..

Stop elimination and signal prioritization is necessary to decrease route times and dwell at corners.
 #1615918  by ekt8750
 
pjabowling wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 5:00 pm These trolleys will be the stop gap solution for now until they eventually purchase new light rail vehicles. Their current plan only includes the 7 trolley routes (10,11,13,34,36,101,102).
Their plan includes the 15. Read the Trolley Modernization PDF. The 15 is included in all of the plans.