In General
Map
Pictures
at Baltimore
Amtrak - Baltimore to Philadelphia 30th St Station
at 30th St Station
SEPTA #36 Trolley - 30th St to 13th St
At SEPTA's Headquarters
SEPTA MFL EL - 13th St to 8th St
PATCO - Philadelphia 8th St to Camden Transportation Center
in Camden
NJT - River Line Light Rail - Camden to Trenton
in Trenton
SEPTA - Commuter Rail Trenton Line - Trenton to Philadelphia 30th St
at 30th St Station
SEPTA MFL EL - 30th St to 69th St
SEPTA #102 Trolley - 69th St to Clifton-Aldan
SEPTA WaWa/Elwyn Line - Clifton-Aldan to 49th St
SEPTA #13 Trolley - 48th St to the 40th St Portal
at the 40th St Portal
SEPTA #13 Trolley - 40th St Portal to 30th St
at 30th St Station, again
Amtrak - 30th St to Baltimore Penn Station
RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
My buddy John and I needed to visit SEPTA to renew our senior citizen card. They don't yet do senior cards via the internet - only in person, they no longer do senior cards at the Reading terminal, and you now need to make an appointment at the SEPTA HQ at 1234 Market Street. The process is quick, and only took about 10 minutes, and if you're already in the system, there is no need to take another picture if you look the same :-)
As I've mentioned on numerous occasions this card is perhaps one of the greatest bargains out there for senior citizens, for it allows "us" to ride on anything SEPTA has for free, including commuter rail!
As usual, we try to fit as much riding around on the rails as we can, usually taking a trip on NJT's River Line light rail - it's a rather peaceful ride up New Jersey at a can't beat it price of 75 cents. We wish there were more food options when you get into Trenton, but it's not that unusual for most railroad stations. We were going to try to fit in a trip on the West Trenton line, but it is probably easier to take the line out and catch a bus over the Trenton Transportation Center, since you have more options to get back to Philadelphia from there.
Another reason to ride the system as much as you can, now, is that SEPTA is planning on replacing the trolleys with new-fangled light rail style double car "things", which will take away the charm of riding the 40 year old Kawasaki's. So as you have heard me say on many of my pages, "get em while you can" :-)
BTW, it just so happened by chance that we wound up riding on a #13 trolley for the three segments we rode on them.
Not wanting to waste time driving, we opted to take Amtrak up to Philadelphia, booking far enough ahead to get one way tickets for the equivalent of $10 a pop using Amtrak points.
We tried everything we could to trade the tickets in on an earlier trip back, but Amtrak is VERY unforgiving these days, and want you to fork over unreasonable sums of money to change things at the last minute... so yes, in this instance, we wish for the old days of the Pennsy when a ticket was a ticket, and you decided which train you were going to use it on :-). Besides, I'm old enough to remember tickets on the Pennsy for 6 bucks to go from Baltimore to NYC in the 60's!
Acknowledgements:
Open Railway Map
Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
https://railfanguides.us/nj/patco/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/septa/surface/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/septa/69th/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/septa/market/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/septa/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/nj/riverline/index.htm
https://historicbridges.org/b_h_fipsm.php?bsearch=34007
https://schedules.septa.org/current/TRE.pdf
http://wikimapia.org/10339273/SEPTA-Powelton-Yard
At Penn Station Baltimore
"TV Hill" antennas for 45 (left) and 2, 11, 13 on the right. They replaced the VHF antennas a few years ago on what's called "the candelabra".
The new track 8 platform, with a "new" Pedestal signal installation.
The new catenary supports are massive! Compare them to the old ones above....
DC is no longer the only place on the NEC where you will find a B&O dwarf signal, as evidenced here.
SB PL signals for tracks 5 and 6.
The track 1 platform has been extended quite substantially!
Segment 1 - Amtrak, Baltimore to Philadelphia
Train #112, scheduled to depart 08:27 - Lv Baltimore 09:03, Ar 30th St 10:12, ACS-64 #632
Amtrak train #112 is one of the many NORTHEAST REGIONAL trains. The map of their routes is below, as well as the cities it services.
Cities alongside the blue stripe are NOT on the NE Corridor.
The station in Perryville MD, and some of the signals there.
Always impressed by the catenary supports in the Wilmington area.
Signals on the approach to 30th St.
SEPTA is replacing the older Pennsy PL signals with newer "RDG" style tri-light types.
Our train at 30th St station.
At 30th Street Station
The status board showing train #112 had departed.
The statue was still set up with the Memorial Day display.
Two of the doors leading out to 30th St.
As we say good-bye to train #112.
When we came out onto 30th Street, we had just missed the front end of a CSX freight heading south on the high line :-(
It's rare that you won't see a bus in front of the station....Segment 2 - SEPTA #36 Subway-Surface Trolley, 30th St to 13th St
Lv 30th St 10:28, Ar 13th St 10:32
at 30th Street
at 13th StreetAt SEPTA's Headquarters
Segment 3 - SEPTA MFL EL, 13 St to 8th St
Lv 13th St 11:13, Ar 8th St 11:14
at 13th Street.
at 8th Street.Segment 4 - 8th St Philly to Broadway/Camden NJ on PATCO Heavy Rail
Lv 8th St 11:23, Ar Broadway/Camden NJ 11:31
at
the 8th & Market Street station.
over the Delaware River
on the Ben Franklin Bridge.
at
the Broadway station, Camden NJ.in Camden
We JUST missed a NB train, so we had a half hour to kill at the Walter Rand Transportation Center station. We were able to catch two SB trains during the wait, but still, the half hour long wait drags on without the activity of say, 30th St station, or Trenton.
the Camden City Hall building.
The Rutgers
Nursing and Science Center building, kinda reminds me of a Sandcrawler from Starwars.
The Double Crossover adjacent to the Transportation Center station.
Additional LRV shots.
A few of the NJT busses you can find here.
Even if it appears that it is kinda "unsafe" around the Transportation
Center, there is a huge Police presence.Segment 5 - NJT River Line Light Rail, Camden to Trenton NJ
Lv Camden 12:08, Ar Trenton 13:06, LRV #3518
The Federal Street Bridge in Camden.
At the light rail shops.
The Pennsauken Transit Center, where the light rail line meets the Atlantic City line.
Peaceful vistas, there are quite a few of them along the 30 mile route!
Secondary storage at the north end of the line, and a SB signal adjacent to the NEC.
Coming into the Trenton station alongside the NEC.
Departing signals in Trenton.
in Trenton
Train activity in Trenton is brisk most of the time, if you're into passenger, commuter, and light rail trains. Trenton is the northern terminus for SEPTA commuter trains coming up from Philadelphia, and the southern terminus for most NJT commuter trains - a few of them do go into Philadelphia.
You can find some CSX activity a few miles northwest on the Trenton Sub-Division line, which carries SEPTA's West Trenton service.
The light rail comes in across the street from the station, so access is very easy. Trains run every 30 minutes, and they STILL require you to validate the stupid tickets.
If you enjoy riding the various lines the transit companies have, you can ride to the end of either the Trenton or the West Trenton line, and take the #608 bus between the two (if you wanna stay with using public transit). If you are going from the Trenton station, make sure you are waiting at the bus stop across the street and a couple of hundred feet down Raoul Wallenburg Ave, otherwise you will miss the buss. The bus picture below is the bus you're looking for, BTW - and the destination sign will say EWING, not West Trenton.
As far as food goes in the station, the station lost it's McDonalds years ago because of Covid. For food, you have Dunkin Donuts, Auntie Ann's, and a pizza joint at the far end of the station bordering Walnut Ave. If you're looking for a McDonalds, there is one right next to the light rail station at Cass Street.
The McDs at Cass Street, two stops away.
Representative trains you can catch here, including a Harrisburg train with a Metroliner Cab Car (yellow/black front). It's too bad they scrapped most of the old Metroliner cars, for they could have made a lot more train sets like this :-) 50 years and still going!
NB signal for platform 1
A couple of dwarf PL's and a view looking north which includes FAIR tower and the signal adjacent to it
SB signals for the two high speed center tracksSegment 6 - SEPTA Trenton Line, Trenton to 30th St station
Lv Trenton 15:07, Ar 30th St 15:56, Train #718 (only 1 minute late :-) Realizing that taking pictures out the window is a horrible experience, here are a few.
At ZOO Interlocking.
Along the NEC.
Leaving Trenton.
On the approach to 30th St Station.As you approach the 30th St Station, you will notice SEPTA's Powelton Yard off to your left. This is a former PRR suburban MU layover yard now used by SEPTA to store trains coming to/from the Reading side of the system during the mid-day period.
SEPTA signals coming into 30th St Station.At 30th Street Station - Take Two
Around the station.
Railing details.
Outside.
Shouldn't this say PRR since the date is 1933?Segment 7 - SEPTA MFL EL, 30 Street to the 69th Street Transportation Center
Lv 30th St station 16:17, Ar 69th St 16:36
Admittedly, there isn't that much along the ride worth taking pictures of if you not into urban landscapes, but a few buildings here and there pop out at you....
This is typical of what supports the EL.
At the 69th St Transportation Center
There's a lot going on here, between the Market-Frankford EL/Heavy Rail line, the Norristown High Speed Light Rail line, the busses, and the #101/102 Trolley lines. It's guaranteed to keep you busy for a while, especially if it's your first visit!
I cover 69th St in detail here.
Segment 8 - SEPTA #102 Trolley line, 69th St to Clifton-Aldan
Lv 69th St 16:53, Ar Clayton-Aldan 17:13, Trolley #118
Not really a whole lot to take pictures of along the route that I haven't already taken pictures of and presented on other pages....
Segment 9 - SEPTA Media/Wawa Line, Clifton-Aldan to 49th St
Lv Clifton-Aldan 17:33, Ar 49th St 17:41
The Clifton-Alden station.Segment 10 - SEPTA #13 Subway-Surface Trolley line, 48th St to the 40th Street Portal
Lv 48th St 18:01, Ar 40th St Portal 18:05, Trolley #9058
It's always interesting to look up, at least for me since I belong to the Baltimore
Streetcar Museum :-)
Bad rail at 49th St and Kingsessing Ave.At the 40th St Portal
We took a break for a while and grabbed us some iced tea and sat in a small patio area overlooking the loop. It was a gorgeous day, so why not? :-)
There is almost never a boring moment here!
Inside the one restaurant at the loop - Ronata'sSegment 11 - SEPTA's #13 Subway-Surface Trolley line, 40th Street Portal to 30th St Station
Lv 40th St 18:41, Ar 39th St 18:46, Trolley #9008
At 30th Street Station, Take Three
Had about 90 minutes to kill waiting for our train.... we shoulda taken another train ride to somewhere and back :-).
Segment 12 - Amtrak Train #55, the Vermonter, Philadelphia to Baltimore
Since the train originates in St Albans VT, a lot can happen between there and Philadelphia. The scheduled departure time is 20:16 (8:16pm), but didn't leave until 20:37. By the time we boarded (I was busy taking pictures :-), the train was almost filled -completely-. Due to the kindness of Suzanne, the Cafe Car Hostess, she allowed us to sit with her in the Cafe Car (I know, we're not supposed to). We arrived in Baltimore at 21:52, 26 minutes late - so it looks like the train lost an additional 5 minutes :-(. Not sure how, because there weren't any slow spots that we could notice.
Train 55 coming in 30th St.
The rear of train 55 in Baltimore.
Train 55 leaving Baltimore, the signal changes to APPROACH fairly quickly.
Last, but not least, a few pictures of the new CPL signal at night:
None for now
Disclaimers:
New format 10/26/23: Please check out my disclaimer page for my standard dribble and contact info here
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