Long Train Runnin'
Engineer
The following is a report I wrote on 1/14/10, but since I was traveling without my laptop I hand wrote it in notebook, and it’s just taken me some time to type up the report. It chronicles my first real trips traveling in the Philadelphia area on SEPTA.
My trip was originally suggested to me in November of 2008 when I had asked for advice on interesting day trips from the New York Metro Area. It was suggested that I should travel down the NEC on nothing but commuter railroads. Yesterday I found out I needed to be in Wilmington, DE tomorrow evening, so the planning began immediately. I didn’t want to leave my car at Metropark, so I decided to catch a ride with my mom at 7 AM. She could drop me off at the Middletown train station, so I began planning my trip from that point. That gave me 10 hours until I needed to be in Wilmington opening up a world of possibilities.
The trip I drew up would involve taking 8 different trains on 6 different train lines on NJ Transit and SEPTA. It would also allow me to cover 4 SEPTA routes almost entirely.
The days riding began at 7:27 when I boarded a North Jersey Coastline train from Middletown bound for New York Penn Station. It was the fastest direct train of the morning, and made the trip to Penn Station in 71 minutes. I could have taken a local train, and transferred in Rahway to a train bound for Trenton, but what would be the fun in that? I had roughly 30 minutes in New York and used the time grab a bagel, and check into the Club Acela.
I had my breakfast and once I saw the track was posted I made my down to track 7 where I boarded a NJT Northeast Corridor Express to Trenton. The train was pretty much empty which wasn’t surprising since it was the tail end of rush hour, and this train was heading outbound. The ride itself was totally eventful as we zipped along the Northeast Corridor. We arrived in Trenton 4 minutes late at 10:19.
It was now time to perform my first ever “Trenton Shuffle” as I switched from NJT to SEPTA. It was only my third time on a SEPTA train. The first being a very short ride between Center City stations, and I walked through the Silverliner V set during National Train Day in Philadelphia. So, I was considering it my first “real” SEPTA ride.
We departed the Trenton Transportation Center right on time. The 3 car train was roughly half full when we departed Trenton however by the time we reached North Philadelphia the train was very close to standing room only. I detrained a few minutes later at 30th Street Station. I would be using 30th Street as a transfer point for all of my SEPTA trips.
The first order of business in 30th Street was to purchase an Independence Pass which allows unlimited rides on any regularly scheduled SEPTA service. It was only 11 dollars, and I knew I’d be saving quite a bit of money by using it. I then took a stroll through the main concourse, since it had been over 6 months since my last visit.
I spent a little too much time wandering around and found myself dashing back to the SEPTA concourse to catch the 11:47 train to Elwyn. It’s now officially the Media/Elwyn Line it was formally known as the R3 line. This train was only 2 cars, so the 2 conductors each simply called out the station stops instead of using the PA. The stops were frequent and brief. Each station saw a couple of people getting off. A grand total of 5 people including myself detrained at Elwyn. I waited for the train to pull out of the station before crossing over to the inbound platform. The crew changed ends and performed a brake test just outside the station, and they pulled up on the inbound platform. I was allowed to get right back on the train. 20 minutes after I had arrived I was on my way back toward Center City.
The ride inbound was very similar to the outbound ride except this time there were a handful of people boarding at each station. SEPTA may lack in a few areas, but as I liked the ride on the Elywn line, and as we arrived in at 30th Street Station I left with a very good impression.
I had 18 minutes until my next train, so I used the time to grab something to eat. Lunch in hand I waited a few minutes on the correct platform, and the train to Warminster pulled up. This train had a decent crowd on it, but I had no trouble finding a seat to myself. I ate lunch while on the train. The ride to Warminster was similar to the ride to Elywn with the conductor coming into each car to make announcements. Once we got out of the city a little ways the area became typical suburbs, and looked very similar to parts of New Jersey. When we arrived in Warminster I started walking around looking for a way to cross over to the inbound platform. I quickly realized there was only one platform in Warminster, so I took a seat on a bench and waited for the doors to reopen. After a quick test of the brakes I was allowed to reboard the train.
After a 17 minute layover I was moving again toward Center City. The 50 minute ride back to Philly was very similar to the outbound trip. This train would be running through, and would serve the airport. I detrained at 30th Street, and since I had about 40 minutes until my desired train to Wilmington, so I headed for the Club Acela. It was only my second visit to the Philadelphia Club Acela. There were more folks then I would have expected waiting there. I took a seat at one of the desks, and began writing this report.
Around 4:05 I departed the Club Acela and made my way to the platform to catch my final train of the day the 4:13 local to Wilmington. It was standing room only for most of the trip. I was able to get a seat for the last 10 minutes of the ride. I was surprised to see the timetable made no mention of the crossing of state lines. I used my phones GPS and Google Maps and found the crossing between Pennsylvania and Delaware took place between the Marcus Hook and Claymont stations. Shortly after the stop in Claymont I arrived in Wilmington. It was my first time detraining here, and I believe all the renovations were finished. It was a nice station with a newsstand and 2 rental car counters. I took advantage of the stations several quick-trak machines, and printed some tickets out for the weekend.
Overall, it was great day riding on some new rails. I will certainly be returning to the Philadelphia Area to finish the rest of SEPTA and take advantage of their $11 day pass.
Thank you for reading!
My exact itinerary was:
Train 3224 North Jersey Coastline Dp. 7:27 Middletown-Ar. 8:38 New York Penn Station
Train 3924 NJT Northeast Corridor Dp. 9:01 New York Penn Station- Ar. 10:04 Trenton
Train 734 Trenton Line Dp. 10:45 Trenton- Ar 11:33 30th Street Philadelphia
Train 9341 Elwyn/Media Line Dp. 11:47 30th Street- Ar. 12:22 Elwyn
Train 9354 Elwyn/Media Line Dp. 12:42 Elwyn- Ar 1:18 30th Street
Train 432 Warminster Line Dp. 1:30 30th Street- Ar. 2:24 Warminster
Train 443 Warminster Line Dr. 2:41 Warminster- Ar. 3:34 30th Street
Train 9243 Wilmington/Newark Line Dp. 4:13 30th Street- Ar. 5:06 Wilmington
My trip was originally suggested to me in November of 2008 when I had asked for advice on interesting day trips from the New York Metro Area. It was suggested that I should travel down the NEC on nothing but commuter railroads. Yesterday I found out I needed to be in Wilmington, DE tomorrow evening, so the planning began immediately. I didn’t want to leave my car at Metropark, so I decided to catch a ride with my mom at 7 AM. She could drop me off at the Middletown train station, so I began planning my trip from that point. That gave me 10 hours until I needed to be in Wilmington opening up a world of possibilities.
The trip I drew up would involve taking 8 different trains on 6 different train lines on NJ Transit and SEPTA. It would also allow me to cover 4 SEPTA routes almost entirely.
The days riding began at 7:27 when I boarded a North Jersey Coastline train from Middletown bound for New York Penn Station. It was the fastest direct train of the morning, and made the trip to Penn Station in 71 minutes. I could have taken a local train, and transferred in Rahway to a train bound for Trenton, but what would be the fun in that? I had roughly 30 minutes in New York and used the time grab a bagel, and check into the Club Acela.
I had my breakfast and once I saw the track was posted I made my down to track 7 where I boarded a NJT Northeast Corridor Express to Trenton. The train was pretty much empty which wasn’t surprising since it was the tail end of rush hour, and this train was heading outbound. The ride itself was totally eventful as we zipped along the Northeast Corridor. We arrived in Trenton 4 minutes late at 10:19.
It was now time to perform my first ever “Trenton Shuffle” as I switched from NJT to SEPTA. It was only my third time on a SEPTA train. The first being a very short ride between Center City stations, and I walked through the Silverliner V set during National Train Day in Philadelphia. So, I was considering it my first “real” SEPTA ride.
We departed the Trenton Transportation Center right on time. The 3 car train was roughly half full when we departed Trenton however by the time we reached North Philadelphia the train was very close to standing room only. I detrained a few minutes later at 30th Street Station. I would be using 30th Street as a transfer point for all of my SEPTA trips.
The first order of business in 30th Street was to purchase an Independence Pass which allows unlimited rides on any regularly scheduled SEPTA service. It was only 11 dollars, and I knew I’d be saving quite a bit of money by using it. I then took a stroll through the main concourse, since it had been over 6 months since my last visit.
I spent a little too much time wandering around and found myself dashing back to the SEPTA concourse to catch the 11:47 train to Elwyn. It’s now officially the Media/Elwyn Line it was formally known as the R3 line. This train was only 2 cars, so the 2 conductors each simply called out the station stops instead of using the PA. The stops were frequent and brief. Each station saw a couple of people getting off. A grand total of 5 people including myself detrained at Elwyn. I waited for the train to pull out of the station before crossing over to the inbound platform. The crew changed ends and performed a brake test just outside the station, and they pulled up on the inbound platform. I was allowed to get right back on the train. 20 minutes after I had arrived I was on my way back toward Center City.
The ride inbound was very similar to the outbound ride except this time there were a handful of people boarding at each station. SEPTA may lack in a few areas, but as I liked the ride on the Elywn line, and as we arrived in at 30th Street Station I left with a very good impression.
I had 18 minutes until my next train, so I used the time to grab something to eat. Lunch in hand I waited a few minutes on the correct platform, and the train to Warminster pulled up. This train had a decent crowd on it, but I had no trouble finding a seat to myself. I ate lunch while on the train. The ride to Warminster was similar to the ride to Elywn with the conductor coming into each car to make announcements. Once we got out of the city a little ways the area became typical suburbs, and looked very similar to parts of New Jersey. When we arrived in Warminster I started walking around looking for a way to cross over to the inbound platform. I quickly realized there was only one platform in Warminster, so I took a seat on a bench and waited for the doors to reopen. After a quick test of the brakes I was allowed to reboard the train.
After a 17 minute layover I was moving again toward Center City. The 50 minute ride back to Philly was very similar to the outbound trip. This train would be running through, and would serve the airport. I detrained at 30th Street, and since I had about 40 minutes until my desired train to Wilmington, so I headed for the Club Acela. It was only my second visit to the Philadelphia Club Acela. There were more folks then I would have expected waiting there. I took a seat at one of the desks, and began writing this report.
Around 4:05 I departed the Club Acela and made my way to the platform to catch my final train of the day the 4:13 local to Wilmington. It was standing room only for most of the trip. I was able to get a seat for the last 10 minutes of the ride. I was surprised to see the timetable made no mention of the crossing of state lines. I used my phones GPS and Google Maps and found the crossing between Pennsylvania and Delaware took place between the Marcus Hook and Claymont stations. Shortly after the stop in Claymont I arrived in Wilmington. It was my first time detraining here, and I believe all the renovations were finished. It was a nice station with a newsstand and 2 rental car counters. I took advantage of the stations several quick-trak machines, and printed some tickets out for the weekend.
Overall, it was great day riding on some new rails. I will certainly be returning to the Philadelphia Area to finish the rest of SEPTA and take advantage of their $11 day pass.
Thank you for reading!
My exact itinerary was:
Train 3224 North Jersey Coastline Dp. 7:27 Middletown-Ar. 8:38 New York Penn Station
Train 3924 NJT Northeast Corridor Dp. 9:01 New York Penn Station- Ar. 10:04 Trenton
Train 734 Trenton Line Dp. 10:45 Trenton- Ar 11:33 30th Street Philadelphia
Train 9341 Elwyn/Media Line Dp. 11:47 30th Street- Ar. 12:22 Elwyn
Train 9354 Elwyn/Media Line Dp. 12:42 Elwyn- Ar 1:18 30th Street
Train 432 Warminster Line Dp. 1:30 30th Street- Ar. 2:24 Warminster
Train 443 Warminster Line Dr. 2:41 Warminster- Ar. 3:34 30th Street
Train 9243 Wilmington/Newark Line Dp. 4:13 30th Street- Ar. 5:06 Wilmington
