Wheatsheaf Lane (Foot) Bridge Over NEC

alewifebp, I assume it was for people who worked in the railyard east of the Amtrak line to get to and from the once upon a time slightly less than desolate semi-residential area west of Amtrak. It's hard to figure anything else in walking distance east of that bridge, in the past or now. Walmart at least has been there for quite a while, I can't remember when Lowes opened. But none of that development is near the bridge, and isn't very pedestrian friendly.

Patrick Boylan wrote:alewifebp, I assume it was for people who worked in the railyard east of the Amtrak line to get to and from the once upon a time slightly less than desolate semi-residential area west of Amtrak. It's hard to figure anything else in walking distance east of that bridge, in the past or now. Walmart at least has been there for quite a while, I can't remember when Lowes opened. But none of that development is near the bridge, and isn't very pedestrian friendly.

I would tend to agree that it was specifically for the yard workers. Frankford Yard was once a very busy place which served innumerable industries along the branch that once ran all the way down Trenton Avenue, along with the Frankford Arsenal, Rohm & Haas and the NEC.

The EGE wrote:Amtrak rents a couple sets of commuter equipment on Thanksgiving Sunday for WAS-NYP runs to supplement regular service. They're not up to the standards of regular Regionals - a fact Amtrak is explicit about on their booking page - but they work well enough for the one day a year where a) the commuter equipment is not running in commuter service and b) the demand far outstrips the available seats.

I'm guessing that Thanksgiving Sunday is a great (and possibly popular) day for trackside (or "fly-by") railfanning along the NEC for that reason!!! I'll have to keep that in mind for next Thanksgiving! Are there any other days during the year when you would likely see commuter trains from other NEC cities passing through Philly/SEPTA territory???

Not that I know of - the only regular out-of-territory service is the Metro-North football trains.