PHILADELPHIA GUIDE HOMEPAGE SEPTA HOMEPAGE RAILFAN GUIDES HOME RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
Philadelphia, at least compared to Baltimore, offers
much more for the railfan. Most notable is the 30th Street station, which
is rated number 3 of the tourist attractions for the whole city by one of the
sites linked on the introduction page. Then there is the ZOO wye,
Norristown, and for the transit fan, the 69th Street Terminal. There are
many large and small yards. And then when you're tired of the west side of
the Delaware River, you can go over to Camden, New Jersey and spend a day.
Covering the area can easily fill up a weeks worth of railfanning to "do it
right".
I guess one of the best places to start if you have
limited time is the 30th Street station. For one, you can get there by
train, and secondly, a large portion of the trains coming in, out, or though
Philadelphia pass thru here.
Just up the river from 30th Street, is ZOO, there is a wye and massive
interlocking to get the commuter trains separated from the Amtrak trains going
in and out of 30th Street, and is the junction between the North East Corridor and the
Harrisburg line.
Fairmount Park is kind of interesting spot, for
since the Conrail split-up in 1999, it is the junction between NS and CSX.
This is now CSX's link to the north since the old B&O ended here in
Philadelphia. It's one exit away from ZOO on I76 (exit 341) - the
Schuylkill Expy (ZOO is exit 342). I don't believe Amtrak, however,
comes thru here.
If you're into transit, Philadelphia was one of
the few fortunate cities in America to resist the GM push to "busify" all of
their routes. That was lucky for us as well as the people of Philadelphia
(ya'll missed out if you weren't around in the 60's and early 70's for the
transit action around here)! You have your choice of SEPTA streetcars,
subway, and commuter trains. If you were lucky, you may have also caught
the trackless trolleys, or electric busses running. SEPTA has both updated
PCC Cars and Kawasaki's running around with both poles and pantographs (the
Kawasaki's were Japan's answer to the PCC).
The Railroads of Philadelphia:
-- CSX
-- Norfolk Southern
-- Amtrak
-- SEPTA
Real quick history....
Prior to 1968, Philadelphia had three railroads: the B&O, the Pennsy, and the
Reading. After 1968, we had the Reading, lost the Pennsy and gained the Penn Central. 1971
brought us Amtrak on the 4 track mainline between New York and Washington DC -
on what is known as the North East Corridor, and on the line to Harrisburg.
In 1972, the B&O became the Chessie System. In 1976, we lost the Penn
central and the Reading, in exchange for Conrail. In 1987, the Chessie System
became CSX when it merged with the Family Lines. The final change in the
railroad scene was the break-up of Conrail in 1999, which added Norfolk Southern
into the mix. Along the way, in the 1990's, we also saw the Susquehanna
and Canadian Pacific due to trackage rights, if you were lucky to catch them
when they were in town! For a while, we also had Penn Central and
Conrail running commuter trains until SEPTA took over that service on the first
of January, 1983.
Stations / Depots:
-- 30th Street Station (30th St and Market St)
-- The ex-Reading Terminal (12th St and Market St)
-- The former PRR Suburban Station
-- North Philadelphia ex RDG Station (near Broad Street and Lehigh - less than desirable neighborhood)
-- North Philadelphia ex PRR Station (also near Broad Street and Lehigh)
-- The 69th Street Transportation Center
There are also numerous commuter type stations on the former Pennsy and Reading lines, almost none of which are duplicates
Yards:
-- Amtrak's yard at the 30th Street Station
-- Greenwich Yard -- Originally a Pennsy yard, it is now a
CSX yard in South Philadelphia
-- Penrose Yard
-- CSX's Eastside Yard
-- NS's Morrisville Yard, shared with NJT
-- Woodbourne Yard
-- Midvale Yard
-- Bustleton Yard
-- Bristol Yard
-- Philmont Yard
-- Port Richmond Yard
-- "C" Street Yrd
-- Bleigh Street Yard
-- Fairhill Yard
-- Seaboard Yard
-- Abrams Yard
-- Lansdale Yard
-- Murlow Yard
-- Stoney Creek Yard
-- Wanamaker Yard
Bridges & Tunnels:
-- The High Line
-- CSX's 2 Bridges over the Schuylkill
-- Amtrak's NEC Bridge over the Schuylkill adjacent to the Philadelphia Zoo
-- Amtrak's NEC Bridge over the Neshaminy Creek
-- SEPTA and NS's bridge over the Delaware River next to the Betsy Ross Bridge
-- NS's Columbia Bridge over the Schuylkill
-- NS's Bridges over the Schuylkill at CP Falls/Laurel Hill/River
-- NS over the Schuylkill in Conshocken
-- 3 NS Bridges over the Schuylkill at Norristown
-- SEPTA's NHSL Bridge over the Schuylkill at Norristown
-- Former Pennsy Bridge over the Schuylkill (abandoned)
-- Pennsylvania Ave tunnel
-- Belmont Tunnel
-- Flat Rock Tunnel
-- Black Rock Tunnel
-- Phoenixville Tunnel
-- New York-Pittsburgh Subway (at ZOO)
-- 36th Street Connection (commuter train tunnel at ZOO)
-- Darby Creek Bridge
-- Commuter Bridge over the Schuylkill at 30th Street Station
Special:
-- Train / Trolley grade crossing (one of three in the United States)
-- Viaduct over 12th Street (former electrified Pennsy freight line)
On the "other side" of the river in New Jersey / Camden:
-- PATCO's subway line to Lindenwold
-- New Jersey Transit's River Line light rail line
-- The Southern RR Company of New Jersey - based in Winslow
-- The Wilmington and Western's New Jersey operations
-- NS's Pavonia Yard in Camden NJ
I love trains, and I love signals. I am not an expert. My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page. This is something I have fun with while
trying to help others.
Please Note: Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.
For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my
indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented
I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.
If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct. Once in a while,
an error may creep in :-)
My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning. Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or
disoriented. Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost! I belong to AAA, which allows you to get
local maps for free when you visit the local branches. ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the
railroads on them. If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job
of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads. Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.
Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted. Screen captures are made
with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it!
By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous
and/or other stuff.
Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit
is always given! Please be NICE!!! Contact info is here
Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.
