Fun on SEPTA

[MARC Rider]

Well, I had to go up to Philly yesterday to renew my SEPTA Senior Key Card. My previous card was set to expire at the end of the month. Unfortunately, you can't do this by mail, you have to make an appointment to show yourself in person at SEPTA HQ. I guess this is so that they can be sure that you're still alive and eligible for the card, rather than having your heirs continually renew the card so they can get unlimited free rides.

I went up of the Vermonter, paying the extra for a single seat in the 2x1 business class. I arrived at 30th St. on time and made a quick stop in the Metropolitain Lounge to use the nice clean restroom. Then up to the SEPTA level where I had to decide which platform to use. There were two trains leaving for Jefferson Station at the same time. Naturally, I picked the wrong train, we pulled out of the station partway, and then stopped for a couple of minutes, then we creeped over the bridge into the tunnel and waited for a few more minutes before we got to the platform at Suburban Station. We were apparently waiting on the other train that left at the same time as ours on a different track, but somehow got routed on to our track. We arrived at Jefferson with only a minute or two to spare for my appointment, and I dashed up the stairs through the old headhouse entrance of Reading Terminal, and then across the street and up the block to SEPTA HQ. I should have just taken the Market-Frankford Line (remember, all SEPTA is free to me), where I could have gotten off at the 13th St. station right underground in front of where I needed to be. In any event it was no problem.



Here we are lined up in front of the PCC car on display. The process is (1) give your name and show your old card and ID and take a number, like in a bakery or deli. (2) Take a clipboard with a short form in which you have to fill out information that should already be on file with them and sign it. (3) Return the cliipboard and form and then sit and wait. (4) When they call your number, go to an office where they take your old card, take a new picture of you, and then generate a new card. That's it. You don't even have to be a resident of Philadelphia or Pennsylvania for this nice benefit. While it was a bit bureaucratic, the whole thing only took about 20 minutes, and then it was off for a day on SEPTA, in this case a tour of the Cynwyd Line, the Bala-Cynwyd Heritage trail to Manayunk, and a return via the Reading Terminal Market using Regional Rail.

More pictures to come.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Oh I’m so glad you posted this, MARC Rider! I just checked my card, and it will expire the end of April. Without this reminder, I could have easily missed my deadline! Thank you!

 

[railiner]

How many years is it valid for?
Just wondering if it would be worth it for me to take the time to obtain one, if I only might use SEPTA once in a year?

 

[MARC Rider]

How many years is it valid for?
Just wondering if it would be worth it for me to take the time to obtain one, if I only might use SEPTA once in a year?

It's good for 4 years, except this time, they gave me an extra 5 months, as my previous card expired at the end of January 2023 and the new card expires at the end of July 2027.

 

[railiner]

It's good for 4 years, except this time, they gave me an extra 5 months, as my previous card expired at the end of January 2023 and the new card expires at the end of July 2027.

Thanks! Next time I go up to NYC, maybe I’ll stop by and apply…

 

[MARC Rider]

The Cynwyd Line seems to be the "red-headed stepchild" of the SEPTA Regional Rail system. It only has about 5 trains a day in each direction, Mondays - Fridays only. The line is all that remains of the PRR Schuylkill Branch, which ran all the way out to Reading and Pottsville. When I was living in Philadelphia, circa 1970, the service terminated in Manayunk. For a while in the early 1980s, it was extended to the next stop at Ivy Ridge. SEPTA discontinued it entirely in 1986 because of poor track conditions, and concern about the structural integrity of the Manayunk Bridge. According to the Wikipedia article on the subject, it's the second-shortest regional rail line in the US, after the NJT Princeton Branch.

Unlike the other regional rail lines, this one does not run through the Center City connecting tunnel, and originates at Suburban Station. This meant I had to walk through City Hall from SEPTA HQ to Penn Center. I descended on the far side of City Hall into underground passageways that looked a lot more gritty and dismal than I remembered from the days of my youth. Things started looking a little better when I actually got to the Suburban Station Concourse.

Here I got confused, because I couldn't find a departure board that showed which track the train was using. I also had to use the restroom. I passed through the faregates in Section B, and couldn't find what I was looking for. Upon asking the gate attendant, I found out I needed to go to Section A, which was in a separate faregate zone. I'd either have to exit the secure zone and re-enter zone A, which wasn't possible, or go down to the platform and go up into Zone A, which is what I did. After using the restroom (which was clean and well-maintained, by the way), I asked the gate attendant about the Cywyd train and found out it was on track 7. Every other train that uses Suburban station leaves on the through tracks 1-4. When I looked for track 7, I discovered it was in a separate controlled faregate zone. I needed to ask another attendant to gate me out and then gate me into the waiting area for track 7. I would think this arrangement might be a bit of a pain for someone who wanted to transfer from another regional rail train to the Cynwyd train, but I suspect there aren't a whole lot of people who do this. And you could also make your transfer at 30th Street, anyway with less hassle.

When it was time to go down to the platform, I found a single car Silverlner V. I appaered to be the only passenger and didn't board until the driver showed up and confirmed to me that this lonely railcar was, indeed, the 12:00 Cynwyd Local. The front facing railfan seat was taped off, and the driver asked me not to sit there, but I got a pretty good view sitting in the second row. We left right on time for the short 20 minute ride that takes you up the Harrisburg Line to 52nd St. (which used to be a station) where you branch off to the Cynwyd Branch. There are only 3 stations on the line after 30th St. -- Wynnefield Ave, Bala, and Cynwyd. Wynnefield Ave. and Bala have high level platforms, Cynwyd does not.


View of 30th St. Station as we pop out of the tunnel.


Heading west on the Harrisburg Line



Soon after leaving the Main Line, the Cynwyd line becomes single track, even though it was double tracked in its heydays as the Schuylkill Valley Branch.



Cynwyd Station at the end of the line. The old depot is well preserved and is now being used as a restaurant.


Beyond the station is the Cynwyd Heritage trail. It's about 2 miles to Manayunk. Once the tracks end, the trail has an asphalt paved surface for bikes and rollerbladers and a packed gravel surface for walkers. I found that to be a very civilized solutions, as I am usually narrowly avoiding getting hit by overly aggressive bicyclists on most rail-trails. The trail was a pleasant walk through the back yards of the prosperous Bala-Cynwyd suburb and between two large Victorian-era cemeteries, which would have been interesting to explore, if I had the time to do so. These large pastoral cemeteries were very fashionable in the mid 19th century and, before cities started laying out large parks, often were about the only open space available to urban dwellers of the time.

After about a half hour or so, I was at the Manayunk Bridge. This was always a landmark for me when driving into Center City on I-76, but it took me almost 70 years before I actually got to pass over it. In addition to crossing the Schuylkill River and canal, it also passes over a CSX freight line and I'76, the Schuylkill Expressway, or was we called it as kids, the "Sure-Kill Crawl-way."
Back in the day, the traffic was so bad, it incuded my Dad to pack up the family and move us to Center City so he would have to endure commuting on it. It still has only the same 4 traffic lanes it had when it was built in the early 1960s, so I guess now it's even more of a "Crawl-way" than it was then.



The Schuylkill River, looking upstream.


A view of Manayunk while crossing the Schuylkill Canal. Yes, the Schuylkill was navigable all the way up to the coal country, but the railroad killed all the business. Before 1986, you would be seeing this view from a commuter train.



The official end of the trail, but it looks like one can hike up the right of way farther and presumably connect to the Schuylkill Valley trail to Norristown and beyond.


The streets of Manayunk. Who knew that a Philadelphia neighborhood could resemble a picturesque Euro-style hill town? When I lived in Philly, this area was sort of terra incognita to me. I went to a high school with kids from all over the city, but I never met anyone who came from here. Back then, it was pretty working class, and some of the mills were still operating. I think it started yuppie-fying in the late 1980s or 1990s. I don't know if it's one of those formerly-cheap-neighbohoods-where-I-can't-afford-to-live-there-now, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were.


The Manayunk bridge from Main Street.

After a lunch at the Han Dynasty (Dan-dan noodles and sort-of-spicy cucumber salad (the heat probably dialed back for the Caucasian barbarians ), it was off to the SEPTA station for my ride back to 30th St. The mid-day schedule on the Norristown Line leaves much to be desired - they run more or less hourly, but I took the trouble to collect a timetable at 30th Street, so I knew when to expect the train.

to be continued

 

[MARC Rider]

Back to the city.

On the ride back, I started getting a craving for some ice cream, so when the train got to Jefferson Station. I jumped off and went over to Reading Terminal Market to satisfy that craving with some Bassetts Ice Cream. Mmmm-mmm, that's the richest ice cream around, and a small cone has 2 large scoops. I think I had my ice cream ration for about a month at least. One thing I notced though was that the ice cream might have been rich, but it wasn't too sweet. Some ice creams are sugar bombs, but not this one.

After I enjoyed my frozen treat, I waddled back down to the platform at Jefferson Station and hopped on the next train to 30th St.


Once in the station, I fired up the Amtrak app and found I had a choice between the Crescent at $60+ for coach or the Acela that ran 10 minutes later at ~$45. I did the Acela, not only for the lower fare, but also for the ability to get an assigned seat and avoid the platform-side seat assignment mess that you get on LD trains. As it turns out, that particular Acela (2163) was running about 10 minutes late (it ended up being almost 20 minutes late to the station). The asm.transitdocs data showed that the train was running on time into New Haven and started running 10 minutes late between New Haven and Stamford. There must have some kind of blockage, because they do pad the schedule up there to account for normal slow running in that segment. In any event, I chilled out in the Metropolitan Lounge and even showed a fellow traveler the asm.transitdocs/map real-time (sort of) train tracker, which turns out to be a useful tool even for non-foamers. They sent us down to the platform, and I saw that they were ripping up the roadbed of one of the tracks in the station. Not sure what that's about.


The train came in, we boarded, and I found 2 ladies sitting in my reserved seat and the supposedly empty one next to it. They didn't make too much of a fuss, and returned to their proper assigned seats. I settled into my seat, one of the first Acela seats in the last 4 rides that had properly functioning seat recline. (They really need to get the new Acelas deployed pretty soon.) After that it was a smooth ride back to Baltimore.


Here's Havre de Grace (pronounced by true Marylanders as "habberdy grace") at the mouth of the Susquehanna River. It got dark soon after that.

Exiting from the garage, I encountered a little traffic jam in the drop-off lanes at Penn Station that was a little reminiscent of the pre-covid era. Perhpas traffic was picking up, but one also had to consider that the regular taxi lane in front of the station is closed due to the construction work, so maybe we're still not back to full ridership. Anyway, I was sson home, having had some fun on SEPTA with my new Senior Key Card.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Wonderful report as always and beautiful pictures. Lots of details, but one missing—what flavor ice cream did you get?

 

[Trollopian]

Well, I had to go up to Philly yesterday to renew my SEPTA Senior Key Card....We arrived at Jefferson with only a minute or two to spare for my appointment, and I dashed up the stairs through the old headhouse entrance of Reading Terminal, and then across the street and up the block to SEPTA HQ.

Pretty impressive for a "senior" dude!