When I heard that PATCO was having a special day of last rides on their un-rebuilt equipment I made sure I was on hand for it, even if it meant having to change an existing Amtrak ticket. Just like the last day of the Silverliner II's, the last day of Classic PATCO did not disappoint. PATCO was running 4 classic cars as one of their Sunday trainsets between the hours of like 7am and 2pm with the last last ride taking place around 3ish.
I caught the first run inbound at Woodcrest and, assuming the "front" would be jam packed with railfans, I got in the last car which would become the first car at 15th/16th St. Turned out that my fears were unfounded as there was actually a pretty light fan presence, the Philly Pride Parade providing the bulk of the riders. Anyway, I made a number of round trips and one partial trip until it was absolutely necessary to head off to catch my Amtrak train at 30th St. Because PATCO is a rather plain rapid transit line, the best use of the front window views was for video and in this post I will be showcasing the various videos I took on the run.
We begin with a full walkthrough of the trainset which consisted of Vickers built PATCO II cars #257, #258, #271 and #272. Note all the PATCO employees in #258 who were literally on hand to fix the cars if they developed a fault during the day xD
Next we see the operating console activation ceremony that 15th/16th and Lindenwold riders could probably repeat in their sleep. Open the console, place the rearview mirror, set the ATO and reverser switches, insert the key (not captured), set the radio and check the destination sign (also not pictured).
As is typical on weekend, PATCO was doing some trackwork and therefore single tracking was in effect between the Woodcrest and Collingswood interlockings. From my position in car #272 I captured this process.
Over the last few years I made sure to capture full line express runs from Lindenwold to 15th/16th St, however I never had the opportunity to capture even a local full eastbound run. Well I wasn't going to let that omission stand so here we have a full eastbound run from 15th/16th to Lindenwold.
Something else I was lucky to capture during the Silverliner II retirement festivities was a video of the engineer operating the controls for most of a run. Therefore I made sure to do the same and actually preserve this important piece of history as opposed to just the front window view. Due to lighting condition I captured this video eastbound between Broadway and Lindenwold.
I was so eager for runs that I seriously put myself in jeopardy of missing my Amtrak train by riding the classic cars one last time over the Ben Franklin Bridge to City Hall in Camden. Here I got this clip of the trains leaving the station, cut short as I also tried, unsuccessfully, to shoot a still.
Next week check back as I post all of the still images from that super fun day.
No comments:
Post a Comment