This past week, I traveled to Washington, D.C. with my father, and on one day I took a short trip to Harrisburg while he perused the art museums.
On Thursday, July 3rd, I caught the 8 a.m. Acela out of Washington. My original plan called for an hour layover in Philly, 2 hours in Harrisburg, and 1 hour in philly wih a return on the 6:10 Acela.
I boarded the first coach in front of first class, and found a window seat. This was the quiet car. On one of the hottest days that I experienced his summer, the AC was on full blast. I enjoyed it. We left on time and quickly reached track speed. It seemed that the tracks were a little rougher than normal, or maybe the car that I was on had a rougher ride. Not sure. A lady traveling by herself had claimed a set of 4 seats across the aisle. Maybe she was saving them for friends later on . . . not sure. But it seemed strange that she would do that. I forgot about her until shortly before BWI. I noticed the conductor talking to her, and then saw her holding an open cell phone. Apparently she had been talking on the phone (I had on noise canceling head phones and was not disturbed). Because of the headphones, I did not hear what was said, but the body language of the conductor indicated a real scolding. She dashed to the vestibule to finish her call She left her purse. I watched it until she returned. She gathered her belongings and moved to another car. I don't know if she was told to leave, but I was glad that I had made a point of turning my phone off to respect the guidelines of the quiet car.
Shortly before entering the Baltimore tunnels, there were slow orders. I am not sure if this was track conditions or if we were following another train. We lost between and 10 minutes because of this. The rest of the run up to Philly was uneventful.
As we approached Philly, I recalled Kevin Korell's short list of restaurants near the station in Harrisburg. Even though there was a mall 5 blocks away, I thought . . . what to do in Harrisburg for 2 hours. I consulted my national timetable, and decided to catch the next train out of Philly, and then the 12 pm out of Harrisburg. This would get me back into Philly at 1:42 pm. I figured this would allow a trip on Septa. Since I had missed all of the rail fests in Philadelphia, this was an appealing idea.
At 30th street, I came up the stairs and saw the Aunt Annie's pretzel stand and was immediately hungry. i addressed the issue with a pretzel, and by the time I was done the train to Harrisburg was ready for boarding. I moved down to the car at the back of the train. As departure time neared, I kept expecting an engine to back down and hook up to the train to pull on to Harrisburg. I was startled when the train pulled forward, and then I remembered that the Keystone trains could run in push pull mode. The door was open at the front of the car so I went up to watch as we negotiated zoo interlocking. Nobody said anything. The conductor collected my ticket and then stepped into the cab to visit with the engineer. I watched out the front window for a few minutes, and saw the scope of the upgrade efforts. Quite impressive. 4 tracks with concrete ties. We passed one interlocking where we had to slow down. The tracks in this location did not have concrete ties, and there did not appear to be any improvements in this spot.
I returned to my seat to plan the rest of my day. I pulled up Kevin's web page that listed all of the past fests, and determined that line 100 represented the Norristown streetcar. I had read about this line back in the late seventies or early eighties in my Passenger Train Journal magazine. This article stuck with me all f these years, and I have always wanted to ride this line. SEPTA's sight would not work on my phone's internet browser, so I emailed Kevin, and he provided tips on how I could accomplish this. In addition to line 100, he suggested I take the R6 line to the Norristown transportation center so that I could make a circle trip rather than a simple out and back via the subway/elevated line and line 100. .
With the rest of the day's itinerary filled in, I sat back to look out the window. The Pennsy did a fine job with this line. I saw two grand junctions with flyovers. The tracks did not appear to still be busy . . . but in the past this was obviously a vary busy railroad. The Keystone corridor has a few scenic parts too. At one point the train made a sharp curve through a small pass. The rolling hills and green fields were pleasant to look at. One town was located in a valley, and as the train left the station, it crossed a massive bridge. This must be quite a view from the ground.
We arrived Harrisburg on time, and I dashed into the station to buy some combos and a coke at the news stand, and then came back and boarded the 12 pm train to Philly. A group of men boarded in Harrisburg, and they were going to see the Yankees play the Red Sox. I talked to one of them, and when he found out I was a football fan he told me he neighbors to one of the players on the 1958 Giants team. That was pretty cool.
We arrived into 30th street on time, and I went to purchase my SEPTA tiickets. The people at SEPTA are trained to be unhelpful. The group on duty that day performed admirably. Question's were met with incomplete one word answers or with I don't know. How can you not know what the fare is on the 100 line. If I had not gotten the information from Kevin, or had any sense of how to use public transportation, I would have not gone anywhere. I hope the Eagles finish last in the NFC east, these jerks deserve it.
After somehow acquiring a ticket to Norristown transportation center, and two tokens that I were not sure would work on the 100 line, I headed off to find the platform for the R6 line. This was the easy part. On the way to the platform, I stopped off and grabbed and R6 schedule. The front did say R6, but there was nothing about Norristown. This was strange. The signs on the platform indicated that the R6 line went to Norristown, so I was not to worried. I went back to the timetable rack and looked again.. Farther down near the bottom I saw another R6 schedule. This one had the info for Norristown. Now I felt better.
The R6 line is a great ride. You head east out of 30th street (unexpected in my case since I did not have a map and I new Norristown was Northwest) and pass through the tunnel and make stops at center city and market place. This was my first sampling of SEPTA, and I liked it. I know nothing about the SEPTA and the Philly transit system, so this was a completely new experience. After exiting the tunnel, the train curves around to and then takes a north westerly angle towards Norristown. I am not sure where we passed under the NEC. AFter awhile, we follwed the Schuylkill river. This was quite scenic, and also unexpected on a commuter line. At Norristown transportation center, I got off, and the station for the streetcar line was right there. I walked over and took the up escalator. This was a very modern building. No public restrooms in sight but not an issue for me on this trip.
I got on the street car and put one of my tokens and asked for a transfer to the subway. The guy asked for additional money. It was 1.35 or something like that, but it was unexpected. I had a second token, which I knew I would not be using . . . so I gave it to another passenger. No big deal. I wasn't that put out since I was doing this at the last minute and had not had the time to do proper research.
The street car crosses the river on a long bridge, and then makes a pleasant 20 minute run. I was on an express, but it made stops. I could not determine the difference between an express and a local since it seemed to stop at most of the stations. The line has a rural/suburban feel as you pass through fields and woods. The stations often appeared to be in the middle of a field or a forest. However the riders provided a more urban vibe. This was definitely a different kind of trip.
The ride into 69th street terminal provides a view of the vast streetcar/rapid transit yards. We made a slow entrance into the terminal. Slow, stop, slow for a few feet stop, move, stop, etc. This was not a very smooth process. But judging the reactions around me, this was routine. Once inside the station, i found the rapid transit line, and boarded the train for 30th street.
The El line is different than in Chicago. There is concrete under the ties, and it seems to be a much sturdier construction. The train's AC was not functioning well, and this was an issue with the hot sun shining into the car. Not pleasant. By the time we reached 30th street, I was ready for some AC. As I excited the subway station, I was somewhat confused. I did not see any clear signs marking the way to 30th street Amtrak station. I followed signs towards 30th street, and end up on a regular street. I asked directions, and then walked to 30th street station. This was about a block, crossing one street. No big deal, but I was expecting a direct passage to the waiting room like there is at Penn station in NYC.
In 30th street I wen to Au Bon Pan and attempted to order to bagels with lox and cream cheese. Rather than taking my order, I was instructed to write it down. The form did not not have a clear way for ordering what I wanted. So after submitting it, I waited. The guy looked at me and state brusquely, "what is is your problem?" I explained to him that he was the problem, and demanded to see the manger. When the manager came over, the employee came over to state his case. I said that I was the customer, and as far as I was concerned he did not have a side, and that she was going to waste my time listening to him I would go someplace else. She was immediately conciliatory, and she checked my order and told the guy to make it. Then she walked me to the cash register to complete my drink order. She was read to comp me the entire meal, which I did not really want her to do. We compromised and I paid half. The food was good. I think the employees need to understand that everyone who walks in the door will not understand the procedures for ordering.
After my meal I had an hour to wait for my train back to DC. I ordered a smoothie to beat the heat. It was OK, not my favorite thing. The Acela was on time, and the AC was cranked. I had a pleasant ride back to DC.
On Thursday, July 3rd, I caught the 8 a.m. Acela out of Washington. My original plan called for an hour layover in Philly, 2 hours in Harrisburg, and 1 hour in philly wih a return on the 6:10 Acela.
I boarded the first coach in front of first class, and found a window seat. This was the quiet car. On one of the hottest days that I experienced his summer, the AC was on full blast. I enjoyed it. We left on time and quickly reached track speed. It seemed that the tracks were a little rougher than normal, or maybe the car that I was on had a rougher ride. Not sure. A lady traveling by herself had claimed a set of 4 seats across the aisle. Maybe she was saving them for friends later on . . . not sure. But it seemed strange that she would do that. I forgot about her until shortly before BWI. I noticed the conductor talking to her, and then saw her holding an open cell phone. Apparently she had been talking on the phone (I had on noise canceling head phones and was not disturbed). Because of the headphones, I did not hear what was said, but the body language of the conductor indicated a real scolding. She dashed to the vestibule to finish her call She left her purse. I watched it until she returned. She gathered her belongings and moved to another car. I don't know if she was told to leave, but I was glad that I had made a point of turning my phone off to respect the guidelines of the quiet car.
Shortly before entering the Baltimore tunnels, there were slow orders. I am not sure if this was track conditions or if we were following another train. We lost between and 10 minutes because of this. The rest of the run up to Philly was uneventful.
As we approached Philly, I recalled Kevin Korell's short list of restaurants near the station in Harrisburg. Even though there was a mall 5 blocks away, I thought . . . what to do in Harrisburg for 2 hours. I consulted my national timetable, and decided to catch the next train out of Philly, and then the 12 pm out of Harrisburg. This would get me back into Philly at 1:42 pm. I figured this would allow a trip on Septa. Since I had missed all of the rail fests in Philadelphia, this was an appealing idea.
At 30th street, I came up the stairs and saw the Aunt Annie's pretzel stand and was immediately hungry. i addressed the issue with a pretzel, and by the time I was done the train to Harrisburg was ready for boarding. I moved down to the car at the back of the train. As departure time neared, I kept expecting an engine to back down and hook up to the train to pull on to Harrisburg. I was startled when the train pulled forward, and then I remembered that the Keystone trains could run in push pull mode. The door was open at the front of the car so I went up to watch as we negotiated zoo interlocking. Nobody said anything. The conductor collected my ticket and then stepped into the cab to visit with the engineer. I watched out the front window for a few minutes, and saw the scope of the upgrade efforts. Quite impressive. 4 tracks with concrete ties. We passed one interlocking where we had to slow down. The tracks in this location did not have concrete ties, and there did not appear to be any improvements in this spot.
I returned to my seat to plan the rest of my day. I pulled up Kevin's web page that listed all of the past fests, and determined that line 100 represented the Norristown streetcar. I had read about this line back in the late seventies or early eighties in my Passenger Train Journal magazine. This article stuck with me all f these years, and I have always wanted to ride this line. SEPTA's sight would not work on my phone's internet browser, so I emailed Kevin, and he provided tips on how I could accomplish this. In addition to line 100, he suggested I take the R6 line to the Norristown transportation center so that I could make a circle trip rather than a simple out and back via the subway/elevated line and line 100. .
With the rest of the day's itinerary filled in, I sat back to look out the window. The Pennsy did a fine job with this line. I saw two grand junctions with flyovers. The tracks did not appear to still be busy . . . but in the past this was obviously a vary busy railroad. The Keystone corridor has a few scenic parts too. At one point the train made a sharp curve through a small pass. The rolling hills and green fields were pleasant to look at. One town was located in a valley, and as the train left the station, it crossed a massive bridge. This must be quite a view from the ground.
We arrived Harrisburg on time, and I dashed into the station to buy some combos and a coke at the news stand, and then came back and boarded the 12 pm train to Philly. A group of men boarded in Harrisburg, and they were going to see the Yankees play the Red Sox. I talked to one of them, and when he found out I was a football fan he told me he neighbors to one of the players on the 1958 Giants team. That was pretty cool.
We arrived into 30th street on time, and I went to purchase my SEPTA tiickets. The people at SEPTA are trained to be unhelpful. The group on duty that day performed admirably. Question's were met with incomplete one word answers or with I don't know. How can you not know what the fare is on the 100 line. If I had not gotten the information from Kevin, or had any sense of how to use public transportation, I would have not gone anywhere. I hope the Eagles finish last in the NFC east, these jerks deserve it.
After somehow acquiring a ticket to Norristown transportation center, and two tokens that I were not sure would work on the 100 line, I headed off to find the platform for the R6 line. This was the easy part. On the way to the platform, I stopped off and grabbed and R6 schedule. The front did say R6, but there was nothing about Norristown. This was strange. The signs on the platform indicated that the R6 line went to Norristown, so I was not to worried. I went back to the timetable rack and looked again.. Farther down near the bottom I saw another R6 schedule. This one had the info for Norristown. Now I felt better.
The R6 line is a great ride. You head east out of 30th street (unexpected in my case since I did not have a map and I new Norristown was Northwest) and pass through the tunnel and make stops at center city and market place. This was my first sampling of SEPTA, and I liked it. I know nothing about the SEPTA and the Philly transit system, so this was a completely new experience. After exiting the tunnel, the train curves around to and then takes a north westerly angle towards Norristown. I am not sure where we passed under the NEC. AFter awhile, we follwed the Schuylkill river. This was quite scenic, and also unexpected on a commuter line. At Norristown transportation center, I got off, and the station for the streetcar line was right there. I walked over and took the up escalator. This was a very modern building. No public restrooms in sight but not an issue for me on this trip.
I got on the street car and put one of my tokens and asked for a transfer to the subway. The guy asked for additional money. It was 1.35 or something like that, but it was unexpected. I had a second token, which I knew I would not be using . . . so I gave it to another passenger. No big deal. I wasn't that put out since I was doing this at the last minute and had not had the time to do proper research.
The street car crosses the river on a long bridge, and then makes a pleasant 20 minute run. I was on an express, but it made stops. I could not determine the difference between an express and a local since it seemed to stop at most of the stations. The line has a rural/suburban feel as you pass through fields and woods. The stations often appeared to be in the middle of a field or a forest. However the riders provided a more urban vibe. This was definitely a different kind of trip.
The ride into 69th street terminal provides a view of the vast streetcar/rapid transit yards. We made a slow entrance into the terminal. Slow, stop, slow for a few feet stop, move, stop, etc. This was not a very smooth process. But judging the reactions around me, this was routine. Once inside the station, i found the rapid transit line, and boarded the train for 30th street.
The El line is different than in Chicago. There is concrete under the ties, and it seems to be a much sturdier construction. The train's AC was not functioning well, and this was an issue with the hot sun shining into the car. Not pleasant. By the time we reached 30th street, I was ready for some AC. As I excited the subway station, I was somewhat confused. I did not see any clear signs marking the way to 30th street Amtrak station. I followed signs towards 30th street, and end up on a regular street. I asked directions, and then walked to 30th street station. This was about a block, crossing one street. No big deal, but I was expecting a direct passage to the waiting room like there is at Penn station in NYC.
In 30th street I wen to Au Bon Pan and attempted to order to bagels with lox and cream cheese. Rather than taking my order, I was instructed to write it down. The form did not not have a clear way for ordering what I wanted. So after submitting it, I waited. The guy looked at me and state brusquely, "what is is your problem?" I explained to him that he was the problem, and demanded to see the manger. When the manager came over, the employee came over to state his case. I said that I was the customer, and as far as I was concerned he did not have a side, and that she was going to waste my time listening to him I would go someplace else. She was immediately conciliatory, and she checked my order and told the guy to make it. Then she walked me to the cash register to complete my drink order. She was read to comp me the entire meal, which I did not really want her to do. We compromised and I paid half. The food was good. I think the employees need to understand that everyone who walks in the door will not understand the procedures for ordering.
After my meal I had an hour to wait for my train back to DC. I ordered a smoothie to beat the heat. It was OK, not my favorite thing. The Acela was on time, and the AC was cranked. I had a pleasant ride back to DC.
