R3 to West Chester?

PARailWiz wrote:...there's already catenary all the way to West Chester, so I figure you might as well use it. Unless it needs so much work as to make using it impractical. It looked at least usable the one time I saw it, if not perfect

I work in the vicinity of the West Chester Branch. Catenary is in fine shape. The only exception is a tear under the US 202 overpass. One or two poles could use replacing. Otherwise, the catenary has really held its own. It is de-energized past Lenni, so no risk of anyone hurting themselves. The track is also is great condition (thanx to the West Chester Railroad---SEPTA was too busy letting it rot), but would need work to make it good for commuter standards.

yet despite all of that SEPTA wants millions and millions just to go to WaWa. What's wrong with that?

Nothing wrong at all. Folks living in the West Chester area could use the startup again. If you have catenary, use it, don't abuse it.

...

http://www.delcotimes.com/site/news.cfm ... =461&rfi=9

A brief excerpt:

"MIDDLETOWN -- The expanded former Franklin Mint property on West Baltimore Pike is slated to be developed as a town center with a number of different uses, including residential, retail and office.
The Mint property now encompasses well over 100 acres. In addition to the land occupied by the Mint until it ceased operations in spring 2004, the property includes the adjacent Pennsylvania State Police barracks. The Mint has purchased Brodeur’s County House Inn to the east of the barracks, as well as the Fink property, the Lobster Pot property and the Paramount property to the west."

Hopefully SEPTA has the smarts to tie the Wawa extension into this somehow and convince the developers to provide easy pedestrian access to the Wawa station site. It would be quite a hike up the hill from the station site to the Mint but I hope they don't isolate the station from the new development.

With the horrible traffic at rush hours on US1 in the area of the Mint the R3 extension makes too much sense not to happen now. Of course sense and SEPTA don't seem to go hand in hand.

I think we all have to admit that the relality is that in most cities, the West Chester line would be up and running. It never would have been shut down in 1986 because the state government would not allow it (Think about the LIRR's Ronkonkoma-Greenport stretch---the LIRR tries to ignore its existence and have tried to shut it down several times, but NY State will not allow it. The money to run it keeps coming in from the state).

SEPTA is so poorly run, and there is no doubt in my mind that the R3 would still be running out the WC if Chester County had put their foot down and prevent the closure of the line. Instead of choosing to either rehab the Elwyn-WC section of the R3 vs. expanding station parking at the R5's Exton, both could have been done. We all know that reopening a dormant line is incredibly difficult once it is shut down (R6 Cynwyd could suffer this fate any day now). If anything, service would be increased and a passing siding or two would have been added (think of NJT's Pascack Valley Line - granted, the population along that line is much higher, but NJT has been trying to improve beyond the line's physical limitations).

Someone here mentioned that SEPTA doesn't really try because they are the only show in town. Look at the R2 Wilmington/Newark, DE line. DelDOT puts their all into it, all four stations they have. SEPTA runs it, but the $$$ and the drive comes from DelDOT. The DE-side of the R2 is an example of what SEPTA is truly capable of---if they cared.

Septa has like 1/3 of their regional rail lines ending up in the city, especially very short ones like Cynwyd.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:Septa has like 1/3 of their regional rail lines ending up in the city, especially very short ones like Cynwyd.

All regional rail lines end up in the city. The system radiates out and in, to and from center city.

Pardon my english, I meant where some of the lines end that are not in center city. Septa needs to think a little more. Why do they always run two car trains most of the time, especially on the longer branches. Some of their branches could be a lot faster than they are, especially the R5 Doylestown. What I do like about Septa is that they do well with with their equipment selections, mostly MUs. Being that the stops are so close to one another, you don't want to use locomotive hauled sets. Those are best used on expresses. Any other factors would be contributed. In terms of routes being cut back, unforetunately, Cynwyd, because it is literally a very short spur and the service is not that good. You also have enough transit routes nearby. Also, one of the Hill branches should be looked at. I would like to see more service to Delaware, especially at least Dover.

sccaflagger74 wrote:http://www.delcotimes.com/site/news.cfm ... =461&rfi=9

A brief excerpt:
"MIDDLETOWN -- The expanded former Franklin Mint property on West Baltimore Pike is slated to be developed as a town center with a number of different uses, including residential, retail and office.
The Mint property now encompasses well over 100 acres. In addition to the land occupied by the Mint until it ceased operations in spring 2004, the property includes the adjacent Pennsylvania State Police barracks..

Sorry, off topic, but since it came up...
Could someone familiar with this Franklin Mint situation tell me what happened - the FranklinMint.com site is still up and running with nary a news notice (except a contact address of 105 Commerce Drive, Aston, PA). I guess they just moved, but the reason I bring this up is that I liked to stop and look in their store at Roosevelt Field until last year, when it closed up suddenly (I remember being in a mall in New Jersey a little later, and their Mint store was closing up too).

Sir Ray wrote:Sorry, off topic, but since it came up...
Could someone familiar with this Franklin Mint situation tell me what happened -

I don't recall the specifics but the local paper reported last summer that they simply shut their doors and laid everybody off. I don't know if they kept anything open elsewhere but everything in Middletown closed. A google will probably give you some better info about the closure.

Regards,

Bob

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:Septa has like 1/3 of their regional rail lines ending up in the city, especially very short ones like Cynwyd.

Yes, both R7 and R8 Chestnut Hills, R8 Fox Chase, R1 Airport, and the R6 Cynwyd. These lines are really subway/transit lines masquerading as commuter trains.

Pacobell73 wrote: Someone here mentioned that SEPTA doesn't really try because they are the only show in town.

That is true in almost every city....the local transit authority IS the only show in town. Using Pittsburgh as an example, Port Authority is the only local transit authority in Allegheny County serving Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs. And in my years riding that system, I found it to be better managed, friendlier employees, and yet struggle with the same budget woes SEPTA has.

SEPTA itself is not the problem.....apathetic management and political squabbling is the problem.

And to cover myself before someone else mentions it, yes, downtown Pittsburgh is served by WCTA, BCTA, and MMVTA. But those systems operate closed-door within Port Authority territory except for their downtown loops.

Silverliner II wrote:

Pacobell73 wrote: Someone here mentioned that SEPTA doesn't really try because they are the only show in town.

That is true in almost every city....the local transit authority IS the only show in town. ... SEPTA itself is not the problem.....apathetic management and political squabbling is the problem.

SEPTA has been around so long that people are forgetting it was separate, competing systems that got us into the mess that led to their operations being taken over in the first place.

Uncoordinated competition was what gave you CHE/CHW serving the same communities a half-mile apart, Norristown having two parallel lines when there was barely business enough for one, two terminals 5 blocks apart with no connection and no fare interchange, and so on.

It pains me as an old-style Goldwater Republican to say this, but I'm coming to the conclusion that there are some things that have to be provided on a universal basis. Suppose for ex. that the Post Office were sold and broken up. You could conceivably have DHL delivering to Media and FedEx to West Chester but not the other way around, or mail reaching your house only after being trans-shipped between the two companies. And they might decide some places were uneconomical to serve, so they'd have no mail whatsoever. Not fantasy - that's effectively the way transit was operated before SEPTA.

The real problem is that no one is willing to

(1) bash heads in Harrisburg and Washington
(2) walk into 1234 with a book full of pink slips