I've just about hiked all the flat hikes we have in Baltimore (specifically the Northern Central rail-trail and C&O Canal towpath), and I'm looking to check out some other venues to get a good walk without having to stumble over rocks and steep slopes. So I looked farther afield, and lo and behold, I found the Schuylkill River Trail which runs from Philadelphia to at least Valley Forge, and beyond. One cook thing about it is that it parallels the SEPTA Norristown line from Manayunk to Norristown, which would allow me tot take one-way car-free hikes via 30th St.Station. That way, I can do some Amtrak points runs in addition to the hike.
I did my first section last weekend from Center City Philadelphia to Manayunk. It seems that if you take a day trip on Staurday from Baltimore on the Northeast Regional, you can get low-bucket fares in both directions. If you go on Sunday, you can get a low bucket fare in the morning, but the Sunday afternoon trains are all in the higher buckets. It annoys me enough to have to pay $46 for a one way fare, but seeing $80, and even $100 one way fares for a 1-hour 10 minute 90 mile ride blows my mind. (And the 2-week advance purchase $35 fare doesn't work for me, as I need to buy close enough to my planned day that I know the weather will be reasonable.) In the event, I made my reservations on Tuesday fro my Saturday hike, and got the low bucket fares.
The Northeast Regional left BAL at 7:04 AM. We left on time, I had a seat to myself in the quiet car, but I was Impressed at how full the car was, despite the crazy high fares. This one stooped at Aberdeen in addition to Wilmington, and we had some slow running between Aberdeen and Havre de Grace, I guess that was the track work related to the major disruption earlier in the week when the NS freight train took down some catenary. We also were running in the left hand track until right before Wilmington. In any event, we got to Philly on time, which just goes to show you that even "high speed rail" has padded schedules.
After going to to the SEPTA level and getting a timetable for the Norristown line, I want back to the station, enjoyed seeing an "old fashioned" Solari split-flap display (we lost ours in Baltimore a couple of years ago). and then went out the front, and walked over the Schuylkill River on JFK Blvd.
Here's a view of 30th St. Station, in my mind, one of the most impressive in the Amtrak system.
Right across the river are the stairs to the trail. It follows the CSX freight line for a few hundred yards to just before the Art Museum.
The trail follows the river around the base of the hill on which the Art Museum sits. In the last few years, they've restored a number of scenic footpaths and the old (1805) waterworks, which I think was the first public water supply system in the United States. Right beyond the Art Museum the trail merges into riverside bike path that was built in the late 1960s. This is familiar ground to me, as I used to bike it a lot when I was in high school. The path continues about 4 miles between the river and what I knew as "East River Drive," now called Kelley Drive. It passes though Fairmount Park, passing "Boathouse Rove," where all the rowing clubhouses are located and is a scenic, if somewhat noisy corridor. (I-76, the "Sure-Kill Crawlway," i.e., Schuylkill Expressway is across the river, and most of the cars on Kelley Drive are exceeding the 35 mph speed limit.)
There are a couple of sights of rail interest along this walk. The CSX line comes back to parallel the drive, and I got to see a big freight train pass. There's the Columbia Bridge, which is where the first rail line from Philadelphia to the west pass over the river. And at Girard Avenue, one can see both the Northeast Corridor bridge (in this case with some SEPT Silverliners) and also, some updated PCC streetcars on the no. 15 trolley line:
After the Fall Bridge, the trail twists under and around through some large interchanges, and then it runs for about a mile and half along streets until it enters Manayunk. This was a mill town neighborhood that in all of my youth running around Philadelphia, I never actually went there. It was sort of a down in the dumps sort of place in which no one who didn't live there would actually go to. For some time, though, it's been revitalized and yuppified, and now it's quite the hot spot.At this point the trail follows the towpath of an old canal that was built along the river to carry freight from the hinterlands into the city, a sort of poor cousin to the C&O Canal, and something that I never knew existed when I was growing up in Philly. But I was done with the trail for this trip, I was going to take SEPTA back into the city. First, though, I got some lunch, and then I found the old Reading station on the elevated track that ran through the neighborhood.
I got to ride a Silverliner V!
The ride back to Center City was pretty quick. So quick, in fact, that the Conductor never got around to collecting my fare. (The ticket office at the station was closed, and it seems that SEPTA doesn't believe in automatic ticket vending machines.) I got off at MArket East Station, I mean "Jefferson Sation," that's what they're calling it now. From a conversation I overheard as I was riding the escalator up, it seems that the lack of fare collection on SEPTA trains is not an uncommon occurrence.
Anyway, there I was in downtown Philly with 3 and half hours before my train home, What to do? Well, ride trains, of course! I followed the Gallery and the SEPTA concourse to the 8th and Market station, the end point of my afternoon commute on the Broad-Ridge Spur when I was in high school. But rather than riding the Broad St. Subway, I decided to see what has happned over the years with the PATCO line (and get a nice view when crossing the bridge.) Trains run on 20-minute headways on Saturdays, and mine came in soon enough. It seems like they're still using the same rolling stock they got when the line was built in 1968, and it's amazing, but it's still in pretty good condition for being 46 years old. Got a nice scenic view of the waterfront of both Philly an Camden as we crossed the bridge, and as I was sitting in the first car, I got a good view through the front window of the track coming up. Got to see the "ghost" Franklin Square station, and the old analog automatic train control in action. This train runs FAST for a rapid transit train. The wikipedia article says they originally went 75 mph, but it has since been slowed down to 65 mph. That's still pretty fast for a subway train. I rode out to Lindenwold, got out, went to the rear, now the front of the train, and rode back. While waiting, a NJT Atlantic City train passed the station. Back in the day, the Atlantic City train., such as it was, terminated in Lindenwold, and was usually just a single RDC.
After returning to Philly, I went to the Convention Center to see what they dod to the old trainshed of Reading Terminal, and then went into Reading Terminal Market to get a cheesesteak. Finally, it was time to head back to 30th st, via Jefferson Station.
I still had some time to kill, so I headed for the Bridgewater Pub in the station and had a fancy German beer. (They have 10 fancy, I guess they call it "curated" beers on taps, and good bottle selection, too.) Then I went to the Club Acela, an dlo and behold, nobody answered my persistent bell ringing. I thought I was doomed to standing in the cattle line, but I checked agin, after using the Men's room, and the attendant (there was only one) let me in. Soon it was time to board, and we went down the elevator, on to the platform, where I got to see the northbound Silver Star pull in. Our train was about 10 minutes late, and we lost even more time between Wilmington and Aberdeen, so we ended up arriving in Baltimore about a half hour late. Don't know what that was about.
My next segment on this hike is from Manayunk to Conshocken or maybe all the way to Norristown. It might also be possible to hike out to Valley Forge from Norristown, Any further out, and I'm going to have to drive up to the trailhead. All in all, a nice day, and I enjoyed repeating one of my teenage joyrides, too.
I did my first section last weekend from Center City Philadelphia to Manayunk. It seems that if you take a day trip on Staurday from Baltimore on the Northeast Regional, you can get low-bucket fares in both directions. If you go on Sunday, you can get a low bucket fare in the morning, but the Sunday afternoon trains are all in the higher buckets. It annoys me enough to have to pay $46 for a one way fare, but seeing $80, and even $100 one way fares for a 1-hour 10 minute 90 mile ride blows my mind. (And the 2-week advance purchase $35 fare doesn't work for me, as I need to buy close enough to my planned day that I know the weather will be reasonable.) In the event, I made my reservations on Tuesday fro my Saturday hike, and got the low bucket fares.
The Northeast Regional left BAL at 7:04 AM. We left on time, I had a seat to myself in the quiet car, but I was Impressed at how full the car was, despite the crazy high fares. This one stooped at Aberdeen in addition to Wilmington, and we had some slow running between Aberdeen and Havre de Grace, I guess that was the track work related to the major disruption earlier in the week when the NS freight train took down some catenary. We also were running in the left hand track until right before Wilmington. In any event, we got to Philly on time, which just goes to show you that even "high speed rail" has padded schedules.
After going to to the SEPTA level and getting a timetable for the Norristown line, I want back to the station, enjoyed seeing an "old fashioned" Solari split-flap display (we lost ours in Baltimore a couple of years ago). and then went out the front, and walked over the Schuylkill River on JFK Blvd.
Here's a view of 30th St. Station, in my mind, one of the most impressive in the Amtrak system.
Right across the river are the stairs to the trail. It follows the CSX freight line for a few hundred yards to just before the Art Museum.
The trail follows the river around the base of the hill on which the Art Museum sits. In the last few years, they've restored a number of scenic footpaths and the old (1805) waterworks, which I think was the first public water supply system in the United States. Right beyond the Art Museum the trail merges into riverside bike path that was built in the late 1960s. This is familiar ground to me, as I used to bike it a lot when I was in high school. The path continues about 4 miles between the river and what I knew as "East River Drive," now called Kelley Drive. It passes though Fairmount Park, passing "Boathouse Rove," where all the rowing clubhouses are located and is a scenic, if somewhat noisy corridor. (I-76, the "Sure-Kill Crawlway," i.e., Schuylkill Expressway is across the river, and most of the cars on Kelley Drive are exceeding the 35 mph speed limit.)
There are a couple of sights of rail interest along this walk. The CSX line comes back to parallel the drive, and I got to see a big freight train pass. There's the Columbia Bridge, which is where the first rail line from Philadelphia to the west pass over the river. And at Girard Avenue, one can see both the Northeast Corridor bridge (in this case with some SEPT Silverliners) and also, some updated PCC streetcars on the no. 15 trolley line:
After the Fall Bridge, the trail twists under and around through some large interchanges, and then it runs for about a mile and half along streets until it enters Manayunk. This was a mill town neighborhood that in all of my youth running around Philadelphia, I never actually went there. It was sort of a down in the dumps sort of place in which no one who didn't live there would actually go to. For some time, though, it's been revitalized and yuppified, and now it's quite the hot spot.At this point the trail follows the towpath of an old canal that was built along the river to carry freight from the hinterlands into the city, a sort of poor cousin to the C&O Canal, and something that I never knew existed when I was growing up in Philly. But I was done with the trail for this trip, I was going to take SEPTA back into the city. First, though, I got some lunch, and then I found the old Reading station on the elevated track that ran through the neighborhood.
I got to ride a Silverliner V!
The ride back to Center City was pretty quick. So quick, in fact, that the Conductor never got around to collecting my fare. (The ticket office at the station was closed, and it seems that SEPTA doesn't believe in automatic ticket vending machines.) I got off at MArket East Station, I mean "Jefferson Sation," that's what they're calling it now. From a conversation I overheard as I was riding the escalator up, it seems that the lack of fare collection on SEPTA trains is not an uncommon occurrence.
Anyway, there I was in downtown Philly with 3 and half hours before my train home, What to do? Well, ride trains, of course! I followed the Gallery and the SEPTA concourse to the 8th and Market station, the end point of my afternoon commute on the Broad-Ridge Spur when I was in high school. But rather than riding the Broad St. Subway, I decided to see what has happned over the years with the PATCO line (and get a nice view when crossing the bridge.) Trains run on 20-minute headways on Saturdays, and mine came in soon enough. It seems like they're still using the same rolling stock they got when the line was built in 1968, and it's amazing, but it's still in pretty good condition for being 46 years old. Got a nice scenic view of the waterfront of both Philly an Camden as we crossed the bridge, and as I was sitting in the first car, I got a good view through the front window of the track coming up. Got to see the "ghost" Franklin Square station, and the old analog automatic train control in action. This train runs FAST for a rapid transit train. The wikipedia article says they originally went 75 mph, but it has since been slowed down to 65 mph. That's still pretty fast for a subway train. I rode out to Lindenwold, got out, went to the rear, now the front of the train, and rode back. While waiting, a NJT Atlantic City train passed the station. Back in the day, the Atlantic City train., such as it was, terminated in Lindenwold, and was usually just a single RDC.
After returning to Philly, I went to the Convention Center to see what they dod to the old trainshed of Reading Terminal, and then went into Reading Terminal Market to get a cheesesteak. Finally, it was time to head back to 30th st, via Jefferson Station.
I still had some time to kill, so I headed for the Bridgewater Pub in the station and had a fancy German beer. (They have 10 fancy, I guess they call it "curated" beers on taps, and good bottle selection, too.) Then I went to the Club Acela, an dlo and behold, nobody answered my persistent bell ringing. I thought I was doomed to standing in the cattle line, but I checked agin, after using the Men's room, and the attendant (there was only one) let me in. Soon it was time to board, and we went down the elevator, on to the platform, where I got to see the northbound Silver Star pull in. Our train was about 10 minutes late, and we lost even more time between Wilmington and Aberdeen, so we ended up arriving in Baltimore about a half hour late. Don't know what that was about.
My next segment on this hike is from Manayunk to Conshocken or maybe all the way to Norristown. It might also be possible to hike out to Valley Forge from Norristown, Any further out, and I'm going to have to drive up to the trailhead. All in all, a nice day, and I enjoyed repeating one of my teenage joyrides, too.
