new to Philly

Hi all, I am new to the Philly area, I think my local station is Torresdale (sorry if I spell things wrong), just moved over from the UK, I was wondering what types of locos work in the area, also looking for the best places to go for photos, I know they can be a bit funny about it on stations, so I am looking for busy routes for some freight work, I will just follow the mainline for pics of HHP-8s (I quite like them), are there any tickets like a rover type ticket that you can buy so I can travel a bit? I am keen on loud loco hauled (and HHP-8s) not multi-units, any help would be appreciated

I am not particularly familiar with the kinds of locomotives presently operating in the Philadelphia Area, though I grew up there. I relocated in 1967, however, Philadelphia, in the 20th Century, became very heavily electrified, beginning during the era of the private railroads ( Primarily the PRR and Reading Railroads, with some service from the B&O, though the B&O did not electrify in Phila.) and was where the electrification of what is now the Northeast Corridor actually began. As such, its commuter rail services were increasingly electric MU- operated beginning in 1915. There are others here who can give you an accurate and up to date listing of locomotives used today.

Tiger, suggest you also post on the SEPTA forum if you haven't already done so, traffic here is a bit slow.

Rich

Tig:As one who spends time in PHL,if you have the time purchase a SEPTA zone 3 weekly or monthly pass. Weeklies are valid from Monday to the following Sunday.Monthlies for the calendar month. Torresdale(Yes-you spelled it right) is a 3 station so you can ride on a 3 pass: Between CCP and all zone 1,2,3 zone stations at all times;ANYWHERE off-peak weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday.If you go into zones 4,5 or 6-Trenton during PEAK hours(shaded portion of timetable) you pay a zone step-up charge of $2.50 to Z4 and $3.00 to zones 5 and 6. These passes allow UNLIMITED use on the RR system except as described and ALL septa transit routes at all times. A SEPTA secret is the railroad system map in the R1 Airport TT.Get out and enjoy! Any station on the Trenton line and Wilmington line will have Amtrak service. Go find those ARMADILLOS(my term for the HHP8) and enjoy Philly! MACTRAXX

Not sure of exactly whats in Philly...my girlfriend's family is from Lansdale and I DO know that the best place to get food to go for railfanning is WAWA! ....the best hoagies on earth.

Greg

Tigger, welcome to Philadelphia.

The best place to see locomotive hauled passenger trains is right in your backyard along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. It will also provide the greatest variety of power including Amtrak Acela trainsets, AEM-7 and HHP-8 locomotives plus Septa AEM-7, ALP-44 and electric MU equipment of multiple generations. New Jersey Transit diesel powered passenger trains can also be seen between Frankford Junction and 30th Street Station, this service runs to Atlantic City. Conrail Shared Assets also operates freight along this line between Frankford Junction and Holmesburg Junction, which is a great place to see all of the above equipment except for the NJT trains.

Septa offers day passes which allow unlimited travel anywhere on the system, including the rail lines although it would be very difficult to cover all of the lines in one day. If you have several days to do some exploring, a weekly Trailpass may be a better bargain. As far as security, the Amtrak PD keep a pretty tight lock on the NEC and may question you, especially if you are anywhere on Amtrak property, including stations. By all means, do NOT go anywhere near the tracks. This is a high speed section of rail and trespassers are definitely not tolerated. Security is a little less stringent on Septa but you can still be questioned by police or crews.

Once again, welcome and good luck.

As for freight, you will see some along the line there. They will come out of Frankford Jct. Power can be from an SW1001 to a GP38. If you a little closer to Center City, Port Richmond section, you will find the Delair Branch and the Port Richmond Industrial Branch. The Delair Branch is the way CSX & NS get in and out of South Jersey. You can find a few mixed freight along with unit coal and stone trains as well as NJT Atlantic City trains. This is also the location for Frankford Jct. with locals that run both directions on the NEC and around the area there.

On the Port Richomd Branch you will find a local working with tank cars as well as unit stone trains. Power here for the local is a GP40-2 and the stone trains normally sport a trio of NS High Hood GP38's.

There are 2 big yards in the South Philly area but there is great area to get pics or sit and wait for trains. Most of the area is either now fenced off or are not railfan friendly.

Going in the other direction, away from Center City, you would need to go around the Langhorn area. This would be the route that CSX has to get in and out of NY. You can/should be able to sit at the Septa station without any problems.

I hope this helps.

Brian

glennk419 wrote:

Septa offers day passes which allow unlimited travel anywhere on the system, including the rail lines although it would be very difficult to cover all of the lines in one day. If you have several days to do some exploring, a weekly Trailpass may be a better bargain. As far as security, the Amtrak PD keep a pretty tight lock on the NEC and may question you, especially if you are anywhere on Amtrak property, including stations. By all means, do NOT go anywhere near the tracks. This is a high speed section of rail and trespassers are definitely not tolerated. Security is a little less stringent on Septa but you can still be questioned by police or crews.

Once again, welcome and good luck.

Daypasses do NOT allow unlimited travel on the Regional Rail, only one trip! It does allow unlimited travel on the trolleys and subways though.

PARailWiz wrote:

glennk419 wrote:

Septa offers day passes which allow unlimited travel anywhere on the system, including the rail lines although it would be very difficult to cover all of the lines in one day. If you have several days to do some exploring, a weekly Trailpass may be a better bargain. As far as security, the Amtrak PD keep a pretty tight lock on the NEC and may question you, especially if you are anywhere on Amtrak property, including stations. By all means, do NOT go anywhere near the tracks. This is a high speed section of rail and trespassers are definitely not tolerated. Security is a little less stringent on Septa but you can still be questioned by police or crews.

Once again, welcome and good luck.

Daypasses do NOT allow unlimited travel on the Regional Rail, only one trip! It does allow unlimited travel on the trolleys and subways though.

Thanks for the correction. I suppose a weekly trailpass would be the next most cost effective method to travel the entire system. At $45.50, it has to cheaper than individual tickets.

Well For $ 7 you can go from end to end via any connection in center city. Also consider a weekend railfanning trip(s) included in the price of an $18.75 Zone 1 weekly (Monday to Sunday, weekends all RR included). Although on the weekends you can't get to every single outlying stop on the R2 or R5 Pennsy side routes.

For the best variety and density, you can't beat Frankford Jct.....
NJT GP-40's on pass trains to jersey.
NS/CSX/CR freights to jersey.
CR locals out of the yard there
Everything amtrak.

It's a terrible neighborhood, so I'd go with someone.
Most of the RR cops and employees are are a little security nuts
these days....I don't know if there's any spot that doesn't look
to threatening to them. Still don't know why they can't tell the
difference between a railfan and a terrorist. Maybe they just hate
railfans, too.

Holmesburg jct, as mentioned above, sounds like a nice spot, but
no trains to south jersey there.

The Phila area really isn't that good for density...there are so many ex-PRR and ex-Reading lines, none of the traffic is centralized on any one or 2 lines. Most of the freight and passenger is split on different lines, too.
The ex-B&O line south/west of Phila has 20+ freights a day, but they are
unpredictable. You can sit by the line for 4 hours and see no trains, or 5 or 6 trains, depending on your luck.

pdt