Of course location was no guarantee of success. Not only is some equipment held out as spare or for maintenance, others might be substituted with no warning in case of a mechanical issue. However on this morning I did pretty well for myself, catching 5 of the 7 AEM's. You can see the complete set of photos here and I urge you to check it out because if I were to post every train photo this blog post would have something like 150 photos! For the sake of brevity a lot of good content had to get cut.
I arrived at North Broad from the Broad Street Subway in time to catch the first push-pull set with Comet II cab car #2408 and AEM-7 #2303.
North Broad is just south of 16TH ST junction where the Norristown Line branches off. Previously all passenger traffic to Reading and coal country would also diverge at this point. Morning push-pull sets from the former PRR territory are deadheading to Roberts yard at this point for mid-day storage.
Although the signals at North Broad look as if they might be for the 16Th ST interlocking, they are actually the Milepost 2.9 automatics governing a short signal block in advance of the 16TH ST home signals. here we see SEPTA Silverliner IV #184 n the tail end of a northbound train.
What I assume to be an outbound Silverliner V equipped R6 train makes a stop at North Broad while a longer train of V's proceeds towards Center City on track #3.
SEPTA SL-IV #398 heads inbound under the MP 2.9 signal bridge. The presence of bi-directional peak flows between here and 30th St generally precludes the 3+1 style directional operation seen in the New York region.
This push-pull set led by AEM-7 #2305 is still full of passengers as is breaks out from under the Broad St overpass and heads towards Center City with Comet II cab car #2404 on the rear. Although popularly considered to have a rating of 7000hp, the figure is actually 7000 "diesel equivalent horsepower", which is a marketing way to describe having a 5700 continuous horsepower rating with a short duration overload to something around 7000.
No sooner had the inbound push-pull set passed than another outbound set appeared with cab car #2402 and AEM-7 #2304. The push-pull sets themselves consist of about 5 or 6 mixed Comet II and Comet III coaches. I think at one point SEPTA tried to keep the single set's worth of III's together, but have since stopped.
At some point signal problems developed in the form of a bobbing track circuit, backing up northbound trains approaching 16Th ST. To avoid the risk of unintended cab signal penalties, the trains just passed the MP 2.9 signal at Restricted speed and southbound traffic returned to normal. Here we see one train of SL-V's approaching 16TH-ST on track 2 while what might be an R6 waits at North Broad trying to figure out the signal situation. Traffic was still flowing southbound as attested by the train of SL-V's passing both V's on track 3.
The conductor on the outbound train observes the track 1 block signal as the train departs North Broad.
SEPTA SL-IV #160 on the rear of a northbound train waiting at 16TH ST while being passed by southbound SI-IV #309.
SEPTA northbound SL-V #711 passing trailing southbound SL-IV #811 at North Broad. 700-series cars are single units while 800-series units are married pairs.
Congestion was still evident as northbound trains approached 16TH ST JCT.
In this video you can see an outbound R6 waiting for an outbound Main Line train to clear up on track 2 before getting the signal for a diverging move onto the Norristown Line while an inbound R6 is routed into track 4 (efficiency!) as well as a plethora of SL-V trains passing North Broad.
Another PRR push-pull approached northbound on Track 1 with Cab Car #2405 and AEM-7 #2307. I was able to get a bunch of photos of this set due to the signal issue reducing speeds. At this point 4 of the 2 push-pull sets run to/form the PRR territory (1 Wilmington and 3 Thorndale) with the other two originating at West Trenton. Recently there was also a Trenton run and in the past sets have originated from Warminster, Norristown and Doylestown.
SEPTA SL-V #712 at the rear of a train creeping towards a Stop signal at 16TH ST JCT while SL-IV #400 and friends is signaled through towards Robert's Yard and Wayne Jct.
Now this is what I call a winning hand! SEPTA Silverliner IV's #298 and #299 leading on different trains on adjacent tracks!
SEPTA SL-IV #350 and SL-V #712 heading under Broad St at the same time to either wait at 16Th ST JCT or proceed through. For anyone looking to capture photos of every SEPTA railcar, North Broad is really the best place to do so.
Southbound SEPTA SL-IV #130 on track #3 passes northbound SL-IV #430 on track #1.
Here northbound SL-IV #423 on track 2 passes southbound SL-V #729 on track #4.
Yet another PRR trainset heads for Roberts Yard with Comet cab car #2410 and AEM-7 #3202. The SEPTA AEM-7's were ordered as part of a final batch in 1987-88 with 4 others going to MARC and 7 more to Amtrak. As The Budd Company had folded by this time, Simmering-Graz-Pauker constructed the stainless steel carbodies. Because of their recent construction and single run, 5-day a week usage pattern, the SEPTA AEM-7s were actually very low mileage and likely could have been rebuilt as has been done with even older Rc family locomotives in Swedish service. However when one is spending someone else's money the temptation is to always buy the newest and fanciest thing on the menu :-(
This is probably as good a time as any to discuss the old Reading North Broad station, which is the limestone building visible to the left behind #2302. Back before the neighborhood became a war zone, it was actually quite prosperous with both the PRR and Reading building their "125th St-Harlem" stations in the area which also hosted the Philadelphia Athletics and Phillies baseball teams. The collapse of the local economy caused ridership to crater and now both North Broad and North Philadelphia see only a handful of riders as most residents have shifted to the more frequent and more affordable Broad Street Subway. Both old station buildings have been re-purposed and both have had tracks removed with North Broad now only consisting of a pair of bare bones side platforms.
With #2302 heading off into the shadows the morning parade was over and it was time to pack up and get out before I wore out my welcome xD
That's all for now. Next time some photos from the B&O's old Main Line.
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