Category: Quaker City

Urban railfanning in PA-NJ

Inspired in part by posts by Classy Whale and Trains Are Awesome, I drove up to the Philadelphia metro to ride some transit services that were new to me.

diesel light railquick shotOn Friday, starting from Trenton, I rode the River Line light rail to Camden to connect to PATCO for a short hop to Philadelphia. Hmm, the heat in my River Line car didn’t seem to be working. While there are plans to renovate/redevelop it, the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden is, right now, nothing short of a dump.

one of the seasonsI closed the loop with a SEPTA train back to Trenton. The tile mosaic in Jefferson Station is stunning.

thanks for ridingwaiting and fullSaturday was a bit more enjoyable. Starting from Trenton again, I rode New Jersey Transit’s (NJT) Trenton line to Newark Penn Station, switched to a PATH train and rode it as far as Exchange Place.

view thru light snowlight snowA quick snap of the New York Financial District in some light snow that followed the overnight wintry mix, and then I was off to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail station.

you are hereyour are here (closer detail)During my 10-minute wait in the chilly weather, I glanced at the rather fine historical map built into the Exchange Place station platform. (I’m still looking for some information about this map.)

not so poshlast one for the tripThe HBLR took me to Hoboken Terminal, where I boarded an NJT train that ran all of two stops to Newark Broad Street. From there, the third of NJT’s light rail systems, the Newark Light Rail, took me back to Newark Penn Station. Completing my round trip on the Trenton line, I was back to Dr. Hardtacks and headed for home.

Hoboken Terminal is a place of drafty, broken grandeur. Flooding from Superstorm Sandy didn’t help the situation. Some stained glass remains, and the vintage benches are still serviceable, but a renovation (also planned) cries out to become reality.

Something the video bloggers don’t talk about much is how much time you spend waiting. Since I was traveling on Saturday, I had a bad connection at Hoboken Terminal and laid over for almost two hours. Fortunately there are two coffee and donut shops still operating there.

In Newark, my first return train was cancelled. There were lots of delays on Amtrak and elsewhere posted on the departure boards, no doubt due in part to the winter storm.

Philadelphia getaway

In the winter holiday break, I Amtraked up to Philadelphia to take in the Barnes Foundation (underwhelming: the pictures can’t breathe) and reacquaint myself with the Duchamp room at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. And to be a bit of a transit flâneur.

my ridemore ridesChanging plans at the last minute, I staked out a loop with the Market-Frankford line1 (heavy rail), the 102 line toward Sharon Hill (light rail/streetcar), and the Wawa line (commuter rail2). The interchange at Clifton-Aldan is apparently an afterthought, as there is no streetcar platform and the operator warned me to look out for cars passing the streetcar on the right. Here’s two shots of the 101/102 rolling stock at 69th Street.

finally cameTo get to the Museum of Art, I took my old beloved rattletrap subway-surface line3 to 22nd Street to catch a bus up to Fairmount Avenue.

mini machinetailor shop windowIn the vicinity of my hotel, I spotted a fun tailor shop window,

bays and stairsand a lovely fire escape.

first bodega catAnd I photographed my first bodega cat! This is Chaucer, mascot of Book Corner, for the benefit of Friends of the Free Library. I found a Joseph O’Neill that I’d been casually looking for.

1SEPTA is rebranding the subway and light rail lines, but apart from colors on the signage, nothing is carrying the new designations.

2Somewhat confusingly called “regional rail” by SEPTA. Philadelphia’s gonna Philadelphia.

3The subway-surface would drop me right at the corner of Chestnut Street for Grad Towers. It’s not as rattly as I remember.