Wayne Junction to Glenside track/signal project

Agreed, but the problem here is that SEPTA has acquired a reputation, fairly or not, of not being a 'real railroad.'

Reminds me of the time I was talking about SEPTA with an Amtrak engineer, and when I said SEPTA he said "oh, you mean that FOREIGN railroad"

jfrey40535 wrote:

Agreed, but the problem here is that SEPTA has acquired a reputation, fairly or not, of not being a 'real railroad.'

Reminds me of the time I was talking about SEPTA with an Amtrak engineer, and when I said SEPTA he said "oh, you mean that FOREIGN railroad"

SEPTA has a bad rep, period. And it has spread. Back in September, I was in Toronto, doing some video at a TTC subway station. A TTC Special Constable and a supervisor asked what I was doing, and when I explained, and made mention of SEPTA, the police officer actually said "SEPTA?? Oh no, THAT outfit? My condolences to you!"

Wow.

Matthew Mitchell wrote:

I would NEVER say SEPTA engineers aren't engineers.

Agreed, but the problem here is that SEPTA has acquired a reputation, fairly or not, of not being a 'real railroad.'

While I'm sure some of it is lingering (still!) resentment from the 1983 strike and its aftermath (in which many of the personnel with seniority left SEPTA for other railroads), SEPTA management and the SEPTA culture has a lot to do with it too. SEPTA is the only railroad in the nation that's operated by a bus company, and some of the things their management does are different from other railroads.

Worse yet in this respect is the culture where SEPTA doesn't want to operate the railroad as a real railroad, and looks for every opportunity not to. Take for example Schuylkill Valley, where SEPTA was giving serious (millions of dollars of study serious) thought to running a 62-mile trolley line. You have to be really dead set against railroading to pursue a folly like that.

So (with some exceptions*) the current operating personnel are the victim of circumstances rather than doing anything to deserve that reputation.

*--then again some of the stuff I've seen SEPTA personnel do--like the engineer who decided to open the vestibule door and take a leak onto the tracks while his train was stopped to board passengers--makes me have second thoughts about that statement.

Exactly. I've mentioned this many times in some of my posts under various topics on this forum. SEPTA is a bus company first and foremost. Their RRD operations people are clueless about real railroading. I wish that SEPTA had some people that really knew what they were doing at the helm, especially with the money that SEPTA spends in capital projects. Could everyone imagine the potential?
As for the engineer who 'eased nature' in such an unprofessional way, I apologize for him because that makes us all look bad. I can, however, note that SEPTA doesn't provide facilities aboard their RRD equipment, and when 'you have to go you have to go' . I've seen numerous passengers, male and female, do the same thing in broad daylight because they simply could not hold it any longer.

whovian wrote:Exactly. I've mentioned this many times in some of my posts under various topics on this forum. SEPTA is a bus company first and foremost. Their RRD operations people are clueless about real railroading. I wish that SEPTA had some people that really knew what they were doing at the helm, especially with the money that SEPTA spends in capital projects. Could everyone imagine the potential?
As for the engineer who 'eased nature' in such an unprofessional way, I apologize for him because that makes us all look bad. I can, however, note that SEPTA doesn't provide facilities aboard their RRD equipment, and when 'you have to go you have to go' . I've seen numerous passengers, male and female, do the same thing in broad daylight because they simply could not hold it any longer.

Two thoughts to add to whovian's comments...

If I may add....SEPTA doesn't have restroom facilities at a lot of outlying terminals either.

If SEPTA had their way, all of RRD would be nothing more than a larger version of the Washington Metro. I've heard some folks at 1234 describe that as the future of RRD over the years.

As an engineer myself, it is a bit disheartening to see SEPTA continually trying to "de-railroadize" Regional Rail, especially with regards to terminology. Yard Supervisors instead of yardmasters. Supervisors instead of trainmasters or road foremen. No brakemen or flagmen on the longer trains, just a conductor and multiple assistant conductors (or whatever they are calling them this month)....

Silverliner, I agree with you on everything you just stated. Only, we do actually have facilities at all of the turn-around points.

we do actually have facilities at all of the turn-around points.

Too bad they're only for crews and not passengers. SEPTA really does not care about the comfort and ammenities for its customers.[/quote]

whovian wrote:Silverliner, I agree with you on everything you just stated. Only, we do actually have facilities at all of the turn-around points.

Yep. And the engineer in question had just made station stops at Glenside and Jenkintown, which both were open and have rest rooms for both customer and employee use.

And I stand corrected on the crew restroom issue at the turnaround points.