This was a trip my son Nate and I took in May 2015 for 2 reasons: for me to attend the East Penn Trolley Meet held over the weekend of May 16th and 17th at the Convention Center (former RDG RR terminal), for my son a visit back to the place we lived from 1979 to 2001.
The plan was to ride Concord Coach to Boston South Station then Amtrak Regional to PHL on Friday May 15th, returning Sunday May 17th. However events put a wrench on our plans when on May 12th Amtrak train 188 derailed at speed at Frankford Jct. causing a regrettable loss of life but also disruption of train service, with all trains from Boston cut back to NYP. We decided to proceed anyway. I looked into air and bus alternatives but they were expensive and many sold out no doubt due to the travel disruption. So we decided to continue with our original plan and just see what alternatives were available,
On the morning of May 15, we drove to Portland ME to catch the Concord Coach to South Station. If we had waited a couple of years we could have taken it from Auburn near our home but that service was still 2 years away. The connecting times didn't work for the Downeaster which is why we took the bus. Concord coach runs mostly hourly and goes directly to South Station which is another advantage. The trip down was pleasant and comfortable. At BOS we caught the Regional, unfortunately I did not note the train number we took. As expected the train terminated at NYP. We were able to hustle and make an NJT train to Trenton that was leaving in a few minutes. NJT honored our Amtrak tickets. Once we got to Trenton, signs directed us to a bus stop across the street from the station where there was a shuttle operating to SEPTA's West Trenton station. There was about a dozen or so people also doing the same thing. The bus came along about 10 minutes later and took us to West Trenton about a 15 minute ride to catch the SEPTA Silverliner to Center City. This was also interesting to me as I had never had a chance to ride the West Trenton Line during my time living in the Philly area. We actually got off the train in Jenkintown and caught a northbound Lansdale train as I had reserved a hotel in Fort Washington. To be honest if I had it to do over again I would have gotten a Center City hotel as having to commute the hour or so back and forth was a drawback during our visit. We walked to the hotel, the Best Western on Commerce Drive, where we had stayed before on a previous trip a few years ago.
The next day Saturday after breakfast we rode SEPTA to Market East and headed for the convention center. We spent the morning at the trolley meet. I picked up a few things for the trolley layout I was building. We stopped for lunch at the Reading Terminal Market where we picked up a couple of really good cheese steaks and sat at an outside table in the warm sunny weather to eat them.
I noticed that the trolley tracks from the former Route 23 line to Chestnut Hill still existed through the area around the convention center. I hope someday trolleys could be restored in the downtown area.
After lunch my son suggested we go visit Swarthmore, the town we lived in and where he grew up. We headed back to Market East and caught an R3 Media/Elwyn train to Swarthmore where we walked around including seeing the house where we had lived.
We returned to the station and took the train back to Market East. We walked over to the Cathedral where we attended the evening Vigil Mass, then caught the train back to Fort Washington. While waiting for the train I called Amtrak and got our tickets changed for an earlier train Sunday. We had dinner that night at a Mexican restaurant located near the station on Bethlehem Pike.
Sunday we did the trip in reverse, heading down to Jenkintown to catch the West Trenton train. I noticed from the interim schedule that SEPTA had put out that there were extra trains running to West Trenton, unfortunately running express and not stopping at Jenkintown. The shuttle bus was waiting for us when we got to West Trenton. At Trenton we caught NJT, this time riding in a more comfortable bilevel. At NYP we caught our Regional back to Boston then headed upstairs to the bus station where I purchased our tickets for Portland on the next Concord Coach trip.
All in all, an interesting experience at least for me, I think it was probably a bit too much train for my son. We have talked about doing the trip again sometime, probably staying in Center City this time.
The plan was to ride Concord Coach to Boston South Station then Amtrak Regional to PHL on Friday May 15th, returning Sunday May 17th. However events put a wrench on our plans when on May 12th Amtrak train 188 derailed at speed at Frankford Jct. causing a regrettable loss of life but also disruption of train service, with all trains from Boston cut back to NYP. We decided to proceed anyway. I looked into air and bus alternatives but they were expensive and many sold out no doubt due to the travel disruption. So we decided to continue with our original plan and just see what alternatives were available,
On the morning of May 15, we drove to Portland ME to catch the Concord Coach to South Station. If we had waited a couple of years we could have taken it from Auburn near our home but that service was still 2 years away. The connecting times didn't work for the Downeaster which is why we took the bus. Concord coach runs mostly hourly and goes directly to South Station which is another advantage. The trip down was pleasant and comfortable. At BOS we caught the Regional, unfortunately I did not note the train number we took. As expected the train terminated at NYP. We were able to hustle and make an NJT train to Trenton that was leaving in a few minutes. NJT honored our Amtrak tickets. Once we got to Trenton, signs directed us to a bus stop across the street from the station where there was a shuttle operating to SEPTA's West Trenton station. There was about a dozen or so people also doing the same thing. The bus came along about 10 minutes later and took us to West Trenton about a 15 minute ride to catch the SEPTA Silverliner to Center City. This was also interesting to me as I had never had a chance to ride the West Trenton Line during my time living in the Philly area. We actually got off the train in Jenkintown and caught a northbound Lansdale train as I had reserved a hotel in Fort Washington. To be honest if I had it to do over again I would have gotten a Center City hotel as having to commute the hour or so back and forth was a drawback during our visit. We walked to the hotel, the Best Western on Commerce Drive, where we had stayed before on a previous trip a few years ago.
The next day Saturday after breakfast we rode SEPTA to Market East and headed for the convention center. We spent the morning at the trolley meet. I picked up a few things for the trolley layout I was building. We stopped for lunch at the Reading Terminal Market where we picked up a couple of really good cheese steaks and sat at an outside table in the warm sunny weather to eat them.
I noticed that the trolley tracks from the former Route 23 line to Chestnut Hill still existed through the area around the convention center. I hope someday trolleys could be restored in the downtown area.
After lunch my son suggested we go visit Swarthmore, the town we lived in and where he grew up. We headed back to Market East and caught an R3 Media/Elwyn train to Swarthmore where we walked around including seeing the house where we had lived.
We returned to the station and took the train back to Market East. We walked over to the Cathedral where we attended the evening Vigil Mass, then caught the train back to Fort Washington. While waiting for the train I called Amtrak and got our tickets changed for an earlier train Sunday. We had dinner that night at a Mexican restaurant located near the station on Bethlehem Pike.
Sunday we did the trip in reverse, heading down to Jenkintown to catch the West Trenton train. I noticed from the interim schedule that SEPTA had put out that there were extra trains running to West Trenton, unfortunately running express and not stopping at Jenkintown. The shuttle bus was waiting for us when we got to West Trenton. At Trenton we caught NJT, this time riding in a more comfortable bilevel. At NYP we caught our Regional back to Boston then headed upstairs to the bus station where I purchased our tickets for Portland on the next Concord Coach trip.
All in all, an interesting experience at least for me, I think it was probably a bit too much train for my son. We have talked about doing the trip again sometime, probably staying in Center City this time.
