SEPTA Railfan Guide and Signals

RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

SEPTA TRANSIT SYSTEMS
SIGNAL and RAILFAN GUIDE

SEPTA, which covers Philadelphia PA and the surrounding suburbs, has one of the more diverse transit systems around, with Light Rail, Heavy Rail, several different styles of streetcars, and busses. They stopped using their trolley bus line several years ago. :-( Streetcars come in three varieties, updated PCC cars, And Kawasaki's with both poles (on most of the routes) and pantograph's (on routes 101 and 102). The Norristown Light Rail line is fairly unique in the sense that it uses third rail for power, which is usually reserved for heavy rail systems.

SEPTA has two large transit centers: 30th Street which handles mainly Commuter Trains and the Market St Subway Line (Amtrak is also co-located in the main station), and the 69th Street Terminal, which handles light rail, heavy rail, the route 101 and 102 Kawasaki Streetcars, and of course, busses - in three different staging areas. In addition, there are the Norristown (R6 Commuter, Light Rail, and busses) and Frankford Transportation (just busses) Centers.

The SEPTA system is extensive..... SEPTA's selection of maps is at: http://www.septa.org/maps.html.

A nice personal SEPTA website with a really good selection of maps is: http://www.phillytrolley.org

Although SEPTA has a fairly liberal photo policy, the SEPTA police will stop you and take your name and address info down if they even see you running around with a camera on their property - it happened to me in the 69th Street terminal after photographing the Kawasaki's out on the street. At least they don't detain you for hours on end like METRA does!

All 9 of my SEPTA maps are now available in one PDF document. The PDF drawings are much better cause Corel Draw apparently converts them into a PDF much better than it converts drawings in the JPEG format! click here

SEPTA's Photo Policy

I get a fair number of emails regarding SEPTA's photo policy, for it is difficult to find on their website.

If you want to go to their photo policy page, it is at: http://www.septa.org/policy/film.html

For your convenience, I have Snagged the important parts of the page in the two snapshots below. In addition, I called the SEPTA police non-emergency number, and asked about the photo policy. The fellow at the other end of the phone wasn't well versed in in, but did say that you can be stopped. I was stopped at the 69th Street Terminal once after shooting some pictures of the Norristown Light Rail cars, but all they wanted to do was take down my name, address, yadda, yadda, yadda. The cops were professional and not arrogant as some can get. (they actually kinda found it humorous that someone would take a day off from work to waste their time taking pictures of stuff they see everyday :-), so taking photos on SEPTA property shouldn't be a problem unless you're trying to do something outside the norm!

The officer that answered the phone did say that it was probably a good idea to call the last phone number listed (215-580-7842), just to stay ahead of the game, and then you can show any officer that you have already been in touch with them on taking pictures.

This was also confirmed by a call to the 580-7842 number on the last day of FEB2011, and the woman I spoke with said even if you are taking pictures for yourself, it's a good idea to call them at this number and let them know where you will be on their property, and on what date(s). This way, they can send over an email to the police guys, and when the local cops grab you for taking pictures, they will call into HQ, and you will already be on record as to who you are and what your intentions are. It may seem like a lot of trouble, but it could also keep you OUT of trouble!

PLEASE NOTE: If you plan on taking pictures at the 30th Street station, even on the SEPTA platforms, it is AMTRAK property, so you will have to go see them to stay out of possible trouble. I haven't done this in Philly, but in Harrisburg, it posed no problem for the manager of the station. I'm guessing most of us are aware of the federal law prohibiting the photography of government buildings, and unfortunately, railroad stations DO fall under this law... I wasn't detained, but was told to "knock it off" when taking pictures of the station in Wilmington DE back in 2005.

As always, if you have something to contribute, please send it to: toddgp30@yahoo.com
If you have a particular question about transit or railfanning in the Philly area, there are several Yahoo groups for that purpose,
please check 'em out first cause there are many area experts on those groups (and I'm not one of them :-).

Overall Map

Overall map of the SEPTA Rail Systems