SEPTA Regional Rail | Riding the Trenton Line to Philadelphia | Silverliner IV Train Review
Вставка
- Опубліковано 12 кві 2022
- Welcome to the second installment in our series: Down the Northeast Corridor by Commuter Rail!
Today we are traveling from Trenton, NJ to Suburban Station in Philadelphia, PA. Our train for the evening is a SEPTA Regional Rail Silverliner IV trainset. All of the SEPTA Regional Rail network is electrified, a rare feature in the American railway scene. Because of its history as two separate systems, SEPTA today has a very interesting service pattern. We will be explaining all this in today's video!
Trains Are Awesome!
Missed the NJ Transit video? Watch it here: • Riding down the Northe...
Support us on Patreon: / trainsareawesome
Our Instagram: / tra_channel - Авто та транспорт
That black button on the wall above the window is for the conductors to signal the engineer. There are also black buttons in the ceiling of the vestibules. After the conductor has looked out at every station and every one has boarded or left, they give the engineer 2 buzzed to proceed. If someone comes running or needs to get off suddenly, they give 1 buzz to stop immediately. The button on the wall in each car is for the conductor to use to tell the engineer to stop immediately
Cool! I had no idea. Thanks for taking the time to explain!
@@Thom-TRA my pleasure and I'm still working with SEPTA so if there's anything else you're curious about, just let me know. Have fun, man!
@@MichaelCook-bw4mr thanks! I’m currently editing videos about the Broad St Line and the Market-Frankford/Subway Surface Trolleys for next week, so I might ask you if I have any questions!
@@Thom-TRA I'm looking forward to seeing them! And I'm still totally enjoying your great videos over these past few years! I'm looking forward to helping out with anything I can for you guys!! Right now I'm riding on the Norristown High Speed interurban car doing a rules compliance observation on the motorman 🤠
@@MichaelCook-bw4mr good luck with that! I want to come back to Philly soon to ride that line
One brief thing worth mentioning about SEPTA, even though I’m a year late to the game haha.
Most SEPTA trains operate their routes with silverliner fleet, but they will run the push-pull equipment (the ACS-64 and coaches) during weekday rush hour for quicker, limited stop service to the suburbs of Philadelphia.
You did a great job explaining the concept of the network though, most people don’t understand and get lost when they’re from out of town lol.
It’s nice to hear that at night the septa Trenton Line skips a lot of the stops because I went during the day after riding the NEC on NJ Transit and it was horrible stopping at every single station and it took longer to get from Trenton to Philadelphia 30th St. then it took from Trenton to Newark NJ. Also I feel like the Nah transit trains are nicer. Another thing is Septa is not nearly as frequent as Nj transit
The tunnel opened in 1984. It allowed conversion from radial to tangential lines which reduce wasteful terminal times and moves and is more convenient for some trips not destined to Center City. Prof Vuchic at Penn talked SEPTA into making lines R1 through R8 similar to an S Bahn. Alas, SEPTA has split the system largely back up with meaningless train numbers. The purpose of the tunnel has largely been defeated!
To answer the question posed in the video, my least favorite commuter rail is the Northstar line in Minneapolis, which also happens to be the line closest to where I live. The problem with this, as with many newly built commuter systems, is that it ONLY serves commuters. It has a couple of inbound trips in the morning and a couple of outbound trips at night--and ONLY on weekdays. That makes it pretty much useless to anyone who doesn't live in the northwest suburbs and work downtown.
I agree, that’s so frustrating! It’s such a limited view of public transportation, and it caters to a specific group only without attracting other riders.
Do you know if there is any progress with Northstar extensions or the train to Duluth?
@@qjtvaddict so we should expand it to make it attractive not just for commuters but for all sorts of travelers. Because remote work or not people will want to go into the city, or the baseball stadium. Might as well make it easier for them.
Geez even Orlando's SunRail has daily service throughout the day. I didn't realize that was a perk compared to other regional rail lines.
I used that black button once back in 1988. The conductor would depart the train to escort it across Main St in Norristown, then would re board on the last train. One time, we'd noticed that the conductor didn't get back on the train. We peeked out the last cat and saw him frantically running toward the train. As he somehow missed or slipped. I pushed that black button to stop the train so that he could get to us!
That is a crazy story! I bet he was grateful
That button is for the CONDUCTOR ONLY!
That "loop" you mentioned, is called the Center City Commuter Connector. It runs from the east end of Suburban, through Market East (I refuse to call it Jefferson) then it makes a 90° left to proceed north and reconnects with the Reading Main line at 9th and Poplar. That tunnel did it's job connecting the Penn Central and Reading lines into one cohesive system.
Fun fact: the Trenton Line is considered the fastest of all the septa rrd lines. It's a 32 mile run from milepost 0 at Suburban to Trenton, and once you cleared the Frankford Curve (where Amtrak derailed several years ago) you average 85-90+ between all the stops. It's also the 5th longest system wise, being beaten by the Newark, Thorndale, Doylestown, and West Trenton in that order
Why don’t you like calling it Jefferson station
The name “Market East Station” was probably a fond memory of his as a kid. I felt the same way growing up, but had to understand the fact that times change
I’ve ridden this train numerous times from Philly to New York. Cheaper than Amtrak. I used to take a bus from Wilkes Barre to Philly, then a bus home from New York. Always an easy trip.
Another interesting upload on US commuter trains. The windows of that train were very small - someone said that back in the 60/70s a major problem for both Amtrak & other commuter trains was that stone-throwing at trains was a common problem - hence why the windows were small! Not sure if that is true?
I can definitely imagine that would be a problem here in the states. I rode a Metra line in Chicago over the weekend and they have the same very narrow windows as well. Very different from the Amtrak observation cars indeed!
I remember those days of stones being thrown at the trains. I went through a period when I would only sit at the front of the car to avoid sitting next to a window since I had witnessed windows being shattered. Also, family member was on a train that derailed, then was hit by a train on an adjacent track. I figured if I was thrown forward, I'd land on a facing sit (or passenger!) instead of smacking into the back of a seat. I've gotten over worrying about where I sit. If I'm not mistaken, the window glass is unbreakable now. And we have PTC on all lines. As an aside, there was a period when the Amtrak trains would suck the windows out of the Ol' Red Rattlers, as they were called, when they passed at high speed. I also remember kids having incandescent light fights on the old Broad Street Line cars. Things have improved over time.
Love this always you all are wonderful to watch and listen to interesting facts.
Those isolated center section seats on SL IVs were actually my favorite place to sit when I used RR to commute back in the day. It was a haven of peace and quiet on a sometimes very crowded train, and my first choice for seating if they were available. If you had been on some of the older SL IIs when they were near retirement and it was raining, it wasn't too uncommon for a section of seating to be effectively blocked by leaking rainwater into the cars. Fun times!
You're right about the Silverliner IV. So basic. The Silverliner Vs are nice though. Back in the day, I would sometimes catch the train at Jefferson and take it to Queen Lane on the Chestnut Hill West line. The route crossed the Schuylkill twice (on the way to 30th Street and after 30th Street) so not the most efficient way but much more charming than taking the Broad Street Line to the bus.
Yeah I can imagine a ride on Regional Rail would be more pleasant than on the Broad Street Line! I’d like to ride the Silverliner Vs. I’ve been on the RTD trains in Denver.
good night time photoshoot. You have a great knowledge of the Septa rail network, and it was fun to listen to your narrative. Yep, it IS a large and fascinating system, although it needs a lot of improvement. BTW, have you seen the new Claymont DE station? HUGE by Septa standards, seems overbuilt. Maybe it could become an Amtrak stop in the future?
I did notice it was huge!
A new SEPTA video is dropping this Saturday!
The Silver liner 5cars have the engineer buzzer button in the door ways
Wow!
The seats on that train are more padded then a subway's but not as padded as an Amtrak!
The seat where you said you wouldn't feel comfy at ...that section was supposed to have a door. New Jersey Transit has these same cars but their's have a center door in the same exact spot, and NJT's interior looks a little older. They are called Arrows ....look them up and compare their looks.
I knew of the similarities, I’ve seen the Arrow cars many times. I wonder why they don’t have the same name if they’re so similar? Maybe you know…
How much of a price difference is there between taking Amtrak the whole way and taking the two local service trains?
@@madcrowmaxwell So that depends on when you travel. Commuter rail will be $25 dollars, even the day of. Booking Amtrak on the same day will cost between $95 and $122 dollars for their cheapest train. However, I tried booking 3 months in advance, and it cost $18. So it really depends on when you want to travel and how far in advance you know.
@@Thom-TRA Although they was built at the same time by GE, there was multiple technical differences: the Arrow-II and -III was delivered without dynamic braking, but was delivered with the center doors. The Silverliner-IVs retained the option for the center doors but was never used, and was equipped with dynamics from the factory. In 1994 the Arrow-IIIs was overhauled with transformers and electrical gear from ABB converting them to AC.
While the Silverliner-IVs was never overhauled, they did get incremental upgrades to keep their performance, plus a interior overhaul back in the early 2000's
Only draw back to the Trenton line is there is no station for Morrisville PA. You have to take a Septa bus out side of the Trenton transportation station to Morrisville.
Great video. I take use to take the chestnut hill east line to work in the city. The chestnut hill east actually stops at a different north philadelphia station than the west line. The only stations they visit that are the same are Jefferson, Suburban Station and 30th st
Are you referring to North Broad Station? If so, the Chestnut Hill East line doesn’t stop there.
I am from Philadelphia and Silverliners 4 and 5 have outlets on the 4s in the front of the train, and in the middle, and on the fives there in between the seats in the middle of the train
As someone who regularly rides NJT's Arrow III MUs, those Silverliner IVs seem odd to have a 'random' seat where center doors would be on Arrow IIIs. They should put some plexiglass there and make it into a penalty box for misbehaving commuters.
lol that might get kind of full
@@Thom-TRA FACTS….and probably why NJT wouldn’t do it.😁
Cornwells Heights, that's my stop!
Nice! Have you ever taken an Amtrak out of there before?
septa and nj transit trains should overlap slightly.
I’m taking this to a Phillies game next week! Question: are there any direct trains from Trenton local to Suburban? That’s where I need to get off to transfer to the Broad Street line to nrg.
Yes, in fact the video shows us riding a train from Trenton to suburban
Grateful if you could answer a question from a British viewer. The train seems to be almost empty - is this because of the time of day or is the SEPTA service generally not popular?
It was an evening between Christmas and New Years, during the pandemic
Can I be adopted into the DeBoo family?
Auditions are next Wednesday. Bring a lawyer just in case.
does it go to 30th street?
Yes
Some of the older NJ Transit rail cars are very similar.
The silverliner IV are old and basic but they actually do have outlets. There are 2 outlets at each end of the car by the doors on the right and 2 outlets and 2 outlets on the right by the last seat before the middle section on each half of the car
That’s not nearly enough
@Thom-TRA believe me I know
Does this train bring you ambler station
The SEPTA Lansdale/Doylestown line stops there
@@Thom-TRAone question can take Doylestown line from 30 Street station too ambler
Don’t trains on former PRR lines always change to former Reading Railroad lines and vice versa? Wikipedia has a map that has the former highlighted in red and the latter in blue, which, if the answer to the question I am asking is “yes”, may actually make a degree of sense if that map were made official, since passengers would really only have to remember “red lines” and “blue lines”, with trains changing which colors of line they are on in Center City.
You’re right, they do switch (well, most do. Some lines terminate in center city). I think however that most passengers are oriented more around destination than the heritage of their line. I worry that there’d be mass confusion if someone told them to transfer to “one of the blue lines.” Color-coding lines by destination, potentially changing the shade of color between PRR and Reading sections, would be more effective.
@@Thom-TRA I meant that the passengers would know that one terminus would be on a "red line", with the other being on a "blue line". It would not mean that it would be anyone's guess as to how the transfer would occur, since the other terminus would be clearly posted on the side of the train like it is now. It would mean that passengers would know that a train could theoretically start in West Trenton and end in Trenton, but a train could not start in Trenton and end in Chestnut Hill West. This may be of use, since it could mean that passengers may be able to more selectively choose a train that involves a "one-seat ride" to their destinations if they knew how the line change can occur and that the change could occur at all.
@@aycc-nbh7289 that’s why I’m saying, is I don’t think a binary color system would offer any clarity on that. Practically all trains already go through the system. More helpful would be a system that highlights the individual systems. Like color-coding, or giving the services a name.
@@Thom-TRA The Wikipedia map uses various shades of red and blue to highlight each of the different lines, so I guess something like that’s already what would exist.
@@blue9multimediagroup Then you should tell that to the people who run every metro system that exists, since they virtually all use colored lines for their systems as well.
Can I purchase septa tickets on the train ?
Yes, though the ticket would cost a bit more on the train
How long the trip Trenton to suburban station in septa??
It’s about a 50 minute ride from Trenton Transit Center to Suburban station
Least favorite commuter rail, metrolink. I mean c’mon, the frequency is horrible for the 2nd largest city in the country and it goes everywhere without really going anywhere which is infuriating. Significantly increased frequency and like 3-4 spurs would take it from one of the worst to one of the best.
Best commuter rail system - Vancouvers West Coast Express. JK lol. I’d probably go with LIRR or SEPTA
SEPTA has outdated trains
Yes
Silverliner V''s are about 12 years old . The railroad cars are meant to last atleast 40-45 years . NJT has the same cars and are about the same age. SEPTA is in the process of procuring new silverliners.