History of the Broad Street Line

The upper-right corner of that delivery loop track plan that has north oriented to the right contains an interesting bit of never-happened PRR history.

The plan shows tracks coming east on Filbert and turning north into the west side of Broad Street.

The plan was eventually superseded by the paired concept of 30th Street Station for both suburban and through trains and Suburban Station as an underground stub terminal. The earler scheme would have allowed through-Philadelphia PRR trains to loop from the old West Philadelphia 32nd Steet Station over the then-northernmost Schuylkill River bridge, descend to underground under Filbert, turn north under Broad, and finally northwest under Ridge Avenue to reach the Connecting Railway en route to North Philadelphia and beyond.

Before the Pennsy discarded the loop scheme. it presented the city transit planners with problems shoe-horning multiple railroad and transit tracks (and stations) under Broad Street.

I was at Ellsworth Federal around 3:15, 3:20 ish while I was waiting for a BSS train I heard the Wabco AA-2, which is rare at that location. A few seconds later a train passed through with blue lights on and the train had its interior lights off.

If someone could explain this it would be appreciated.

Also at Pattison how far do the tracks continue, for both levels, or do they end at the platforms?

NortheastTrainMan wrote:Also at Pattison how far do the tracks continue, for both levels, or do they end at the platforms?

They end at the platforms.

Would have been a great idea to use the lower level as part of a grade-separated interlocking and route the line to a new terminus at the new stadiums.

NortheastTrainMan wrote:I was at Ellsworth Federal around 3:15, 3:20 ish while I was waiting for a BSS train I heard the Wabco AA-2, which is rare at that location. A few seconds later a train passed through with blue lights on and the train had its interior lights off.

What you saw was a deadhead train that came off of the sports express. The Phillies have thier home opener today, game started around 3:15.

KAWASAKI-FAN100 wrote:

NortheastTrainMan wrote:I was at Ellsworth Federal around 3:15, 3:20 ish while I was waiting for a BSS train I heard the Wabco AA-2, which is rare at that location. A few seconds later a train passed through with blue lights on and the train had its interior lights off.

What you saw was a deadhead train that came off of the sports express. The Phillies have thier home opener today, game started around 3:15.

Thanks. Now thinking about it express service on the entire BSS wouldn't seem like such a bad idea. Even though a few months ago I thought the exact opposite.

At least they can still be moved..

/s

KAWASAKI-FAN100 wrote:Not really related but I would like to add that the 4 preserved vehicles that are at Fern Rock were in fact moved 4/5 tracks over so the tracks can be repaired.

Anyone else notice that the block indicator visible from the railroad side reads "234"?

OK,I may have missed this but have the BSL Kawasakies ever had a major overhaul?
I see cars now with a new truck or two but never a "redo". Do SEPTA even do this for heavy rail?
Any info would be a large help.

I know it's been awhile but anyways, I have a few more questions and observations.

#1 I think that it's common for the 3rd rail to be shut off when a person is struck and BSS service is temporarily halted correct. As in this case

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... 50204.html

http://cbs3.com/local/train.fatal.septa.2.1655315.html

#2 I notice that when waiting for a BSS train there is a sound that sounds like a chainsaw or lawnmower for a few seconds, and then it stops. Is this the 3rd rail or something else.

#3 Also I was on a BSS train heading southbound today 6-10-2010 and the Motorman made an announcement stating that no northbound or southbound trains will be stopping at Oregon until further notice. This was around 3:10-3:15 PM. Was someone struck by a train at Oregon or what? The motorman didn't specify what happened other than the fact that all trains would be bypassing Oregon.

If anyone has information concerning any of the topics above I would greatly appreciate it.

NortheastTrainMan wrote:I know it's been awhile but anyways, I have a few more questions and observations.

#1 I think that it's common for the 3rd rail to be shut off when a person is struck and BSS service is temporarily halted correct. As in this case

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... 50204.html

http://cbs3.com/local/train.fatal.septa.2.1655315.html

#2 I notice that when waiting for a BSS train there is a sound that sounds like a chainsaw or lawnmower for a few seconds, and then it stops. Is this the 3rd rail or something else.

#3 Also I was on a BSS train heading southbound today 6-10-2010 and the Motorman made an announcement stating that no northbound or southbound trains will be stopping at Oregon until further notice. This was around 3:10-3:15 PM. Was someone struck by a train at Oregon or what? The motorman didn't specify what happened other than the fact that all trains would be bypassing Oregon.

If anyone has information concerning any of the topics above I would greatly appreciate it.

#1: Standard Operating Procedure in that type of emergency.

#2: That's the main compressor charging the tanks.

#3: You answered your own question with those links.

For #3 You're saying someone was struck at Oregon? It seems odd that trains would be bypassing Oregon and continuing to Pattison rather than turning at Snyder.

NortheastTrainMan wrote:For #3 You're saying someone was struck at Oregon? It seems odd that trains would be bypassing Oregon and continuing to Pattison rather than turning at Snyder.

No, there was a stabbing in the station around 1 PM. Both attacker and attackee are hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

This is what happened.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?secti ... id=7490547

Also another thing, I noticed that there seems to be construction taking place between Ellsworth Federal and Tasker Morris. What is it for?

Hey guys it's been awhile . Not trying to play ressurector here so calm down before you start saying that I restarted a dead thread.

But here's a few questions

#1 Today 10/29/2010 around 3:10-3:15 PM as I was waiting for a train at Ellsworth Federal I heard the Wabco AA-2 horn and I looked to see what it was, since the BSL trains typically don't sound their horns in that location. I looked and on the southbound track a train with blue lights on and no interior lights on flew by the station, I'm assuming it was deadheading to Pattison. Was there a sports game today or something? Also I've seen northbound deadheads, but never a southbound deadhead so it was interesting.

#2 Why don't express trains run on weekends? Is it too costly to do so, or is it due to lack of ridership?

#3 When there are games in South Philly how many trains are at Pattison typically? Like are there trains stopped closely together , as in more than one train on each track? Or are there only two trains in the station? Also when there are local and sports express trains that depart northbound from Pattison, do the expresses typically leave first? And if not do the expresses overtake the locals south of Walnut-Locust or north of Walnut-Locust?

If someone could answer my questions I would greatly appreciate it.