ww.RonRailPictures.com PHILADELPHIA MEMORIES
VOLUME TWO SUBWAY AND SURFACE LINES
1 Hour 7 Minutes
Philadelphia SEPTA City Transit: Juniper St to 40th St subway lines through Woodland and Chester Ave surface lines and more. 1970’s PCC Cars through 1980’s Kawasaki. Experimental color
one of a kinds. Includes Routes 10 - 11 - 13 - 34 - 36. ONLY $29.95
PHILADELPHIA MEMORIES Two Discs Set 2 Hrs 23 Min
The Colorfull Years - 1970’s and 1980’s
PHILADELPHIA MEMORIES
VOLUME 1 SURFACE LINES
VOLUME ONE SURFACE LINES
Two Discs Set 2 Hours 23 Minutes
Includes Routes 6 - 15 - 23 53 - 56 - 60
From the lens of Gary Grahl. See Philadelphia PCC’s during the color- ful 1970’ and 1980’s on Routes 6, 15, 23, 53, 56, and 60. ONLY $29.95
NJ LIGHT RAIL LINES
Two Discs Set Approx. 3 Hours Explore the history of light rail in
New Jersey from Newark Subway, thru PCC’s last ride in the Public Service Era, to NJ Transit Light Rail and More! ONLY $29.95
NJ LIGHT RAIL LINES
Two Discs Set Approx. 3 Hours
Explore the history of light rail in New Jersey from Newark Subway, thru PCC’s last ride in the Public Service Era, to NJ Transit Light Rail and More!
Add $4.00 S&H per order (PA add 6% tax) See us on the web at
www.ronrailpictures.com or mail check or M/O to RonRail Pictures, DeptT
5552 Republic Way, Bethlehem, PA 18017
Connecticut Company’s Streetcars
Relive the days of Connecticut Company's big yellow cars... Profusely illustrated, this book covers every division of the Connecticut Company, the trolley empire controlled by the New Haven Railroad. This book features nearly every type of trolley car operated across the Nutmeg State until shutdown in 1948.
CONNECTICUT
STREETCARS SOFTCOVER
$21.95 PLUS S&H - ITEM #C00082 Carstens PUBLICATIONS, INC.
CARSTENSBOOKSTORE.COM (888) 526-5365
48 JANUARY 2014 •
RAILFAN.COM schemes and
RonRail w Pictures
Purple Line For D.C. Proposed
METRORAIL’S PROPOSED PURPLE LINE in the D.C. area would roughly parallel the Wash- ington Beltway between Bethesda and New Carrollton, Md. Maryland transit officials propose that a private company design, build, operate, maintain, and help pay for the 16-mile light rail line. The project is ex- pected to cost $2.2 billion, and the private firm would be expected to contribute $500- $900 million.
After reimbursement for design, construc-
tion, and rolling stock costs, the private partner would be paid $100-$200 million an- nually to operate the line. The cost of private financing would be repaid from Purple Line fare revenue; if Purple Line fares prove in- sufficient, revenue from other transit opera- tions would be used. Fares are expected to generate $35-$40 million annually. Federal money would be sought to cover some con- struction costs. Prince George’s and Mont- gomery Counties are expected to contribute $110 million each. The contract with the pri- vate partners is assumed to be of 30 years duration. In the plan, I am happy to see three stations on the campus of my former employer, the University of Maryland. Many thanks to Michael Palmer.
SEPTA Moves in Some Direction It seems it has been at least since 1066 A.D. that SEPTA has been attempting to extend the Norristown High-Speed Line to the Philadelphia suburb of King of Prussia. It is probably not true that the idea was hatched by Benjamin Franklin and that Benedict Arnold put a halt to it. There appears to be no source of money to build the extension. Of course, SEPTA is short of money to maintain what it has. Even so, the project to the King of Prussia Mall and the Valley Forge Casino and Conference Center will plow ahead to consider a dozen routes. The summer of 2013 saw streetcar track work along Lancaster Avenue for the Route 10 Subway-Surface trolley line. The down- town trolley subway was shut down for a week in August 2013 for work on the track and wire, and some station improvements. About 4000 feet of track was replaced on Route 10, proving that capital goods wear out. Despite money problems, SEPTA com- muter trains have been moving lots of cus- tomers in fiscal 2013, when 36 million riders were served. Total SEPTA ridership for 2013 was 337.3 million trips, down two million from 2012. In other good news, Amtrak will be spending $60 million in restoration and improvements to 30th Street Station. The beautiful building serves SEPTA commuter trains as well as long distance Amtrak serv- ices and New Jersey Transit’s Atlantic City Line. Thanks to Charlie Bogart and David Harris for the news.
Patronage on South Shore Line
The NICTD/ South Shore Line commuter train ridership figures have not changed much in recent years except to decline slightly and slowly. This is a reflection of the
Great Recession and its aftermath of tepid growth. In years past South Shore trains to Chicago from northwest Indiana were some- times crowded to over 100 per cent of seating capacity. In September 2013 the most crowd- ed westbound train had only 88.3 per cent occupied seats on the 7:47 arrival at Ran- dolph Street Station. East bound the 4:02 and 4:57 departures from Chicago each had only 92.5 per cent occupancy.
An interesting fact about the patronage on Chicago region commuter trains is what kind of automobiles are parked in the sta- tion lots, and where. Surveying the parking pattern will show that many of the autos parked very close to the stations are expen- sive, top-of-the-line vehicles. This is a sign that well-paid riders are taking the early trains. The early riders are those persons working in Chicago financial district on La Salle Street. The markets open early and the workers in finance have to be there when the fun starts. Average peak hour ridership in September 2013 was 8691; average off- peak was 3494, average weekend patronage was 4482.
Fix-Ups at SEPTA
Large transit operations usually have lots of capital goods that wear out, and the South- eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Au- thority is no exception. SEPTA is plagued with a long list of maintenance and rehabil- itation projects. High on the priority repair list is the 3175-foot long bridge over the Schuylkill River between Bridgeport and Norristown on the Norristown High-Speed line. The 102-year old structure required re- placement of ties, timbers, and rails and a new paint job. The job was finished and the bridge reopened on November 11, 2013. SEPTA received money to separate freight and passenger traffic on its West Trenton line. The line is used by 57 SEPTA commuter trains and 20 CSX freight trains daily. It is no surprise that SEPTA is a major
player in getting center city Philadelphia workers to their jobs. Persons walking, biking or using transit account for 62 per cent of em- ployee travel. About 305,000 riders use SEP- TA on an average workday. Thanks to Charlie Bogart and David Harris for the news.
Angels Flight Problems The Angels Flight funicular railway in downtown Los Angeles opened 113 years ago but has been shut down many times,
PLEASE SEND light rail, tran- sit and commuter rail news items and correspondence di- rectly to Prof. George M. Smerk, Emeritus Suite, Kelley School of Business, 1309 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-1701.
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