03-08-11 CLASSIC PHOTOS: 2003 SEPTA Mid-Summer Trip

In honor of the 16th SEPTA Mid-Winter Trip taking place this Tuesday, I wanted to post some classic photos from the first and so far only SEPTA Mid-Summer trip. At the time, many of the SubCHAT regulars were still in school and summer presented an opportunity to come on down and experience some weekday SEPTA service. The itinerary worked in typical Mid-Winter fashion with a mix of SEPTA transportation modes including the MFL, Rt 100 and Regional Rail. Chuchubob was along for the ride as the only "senior" member of the excursion, which actually became an important plot point that I'll let you discover below.

All of the photos can be found here

The first stop was the newly reconstructed Frankford Terminal. The old Bridge-Pratt station had only been retired about a month earlier and the NYC area fans were interested in the results. Here SEPTA M-IV car #1087 departs the new terminal as we approach from the south.

M-IV car #1139 sitting at the new terminal platform.

The 1918 Elevated structure was still in the process of being demolished.

While the east headhouse was demolished, the west headhouse was being rebuilt for future use. The entire Frankford Transportation Center concept, including new trackless trolley and bus terminals, was still under construction.

SEPTA Comet cab car #2402 laying over at Suburban Station for its afternoon run back to the Suburbs. 

SEPTA M-IV car #1036 pulling out of 69th St terminal to head up and around the loop for a return trip to Frankford Terminal.

M-IV car #1056 arrives at the head of another 69th St train (making all stops).

SEPTA N-V interurban car #147 hanging out at 69th St terminal. Back in 2003 the rollsigns had not yet been replaced by an LED display.

At this point a SEPTA employee noticed our group taking photos and instead of calling the police, they assumed that we were a school group from Transit Tech (someone was wearing a shirt) on a field trip to Philly and Bob was the teacher. We did little to disabuse the employee of this notion and the result was that we were offered a quick tour of the SEPTA MFL 69th St shoppes. Unfortunately due to the unofficial nature of the tour we couldn't take photos inside, but I did get some shots of the old M-III cars stored for work train service. This one was labeled 82X.

65X (former M-III car #610) was parked behind a number of spare, rusting M-III axle sets. The Budd-built M-III cars utilized an uncommon right angle drive first experimented with on the 1958 vintage Pioneer III (Silverliner I) cars built for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

These modern looking stainless steel cars were actually never equipped with air conditioning. The roof humps housed ventilation fans and provided the cars with the nickname "Almond Joy".

SEPTA N-V car #136 at the Norristown Transportation Centre.

SEPTA Silverliner IV #350 pulling into the Norristown TC Regional Rail station.

We rode the R6 to the North Broad Station where we then walked the short distance to the former PRR North Philadelphia Station. Upon our arrival a westbound CSX freight was passing by Amtrak's still active NORTH PHILADELPHIA tower on the former Conrail Delair Branch led by CSX SD40-2's #8240 and #8137.

Amtrak Phase IV painted AEM-7 #906 pulls through on Track 3 with a southbound Regional train.

Northbound Acela Express train on track #1 featuring power car #2019.

Inbound SEPTA R7 local making a stop on track 4 with Silverliner IV #367.

Here the Mid-Summer Trip participants pose in from of the 1914 vintage NORTH PHILADELPHIA tower. The tower was closed and the interlocking was re-signaled about two years later. For decades the overbuilt plant was left to decay, with extraneous tracks slowing being removed. 

Outbound SEPTA R7 local making a stop on track #2. If outbound Amtrak and SEPTA trains are in potential conflict at ZOO Junction, the dispatcher will often run the Amtrak on local track #1 to North Philadelphia before crossing it over in front of the SEPTA that has to stop anyway.

Of course no SEPTA Mid-anything trip would be complete without a visit to Fern Rock to see what passes for SEPTA's historic fleet.

Well that's it. Hope to see at least some of you on MWT 16 in two days time.