In General
Map
Pictures
at Wilmington
Wilmington to Jefferson
At Jefferson Station
At SEPTA's Headquarters
SEPTA MFL EL - 13th St to 8th St
PATCO - Philadelphia 8th St to Ferry St to Camden Transportation Center
in Camden
NJT - River Line Light Rail - Camden to Trenton
in Trenton
SEPTA - Commuter Rail Trenton Line - Trenton to North Philadelphia
SEPTA Broad Street Line - North Philadelphia to Girard Ave
SEPTA Girard Ave Trolley - to the end of the line
SEPTA G1 Bus - End of the line to Lancaster Ave
SEPTA #10 Trolley to 40th St
SEPTA MFL from 40th St to 30th St
at 30th St Station
Amtrak #193 - Philly to Wilmington
In Wilmington
In Havre de Grace MD at the Tidewater Grill
Floobydust
The Days Tickets
30th St Station Details
Proposed SEPTA Service Cuts
Federal St Bridge
RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
My buddy John and I ventured north again for the annual SEPTA streetcar tunnel closure, but this year, we were joined by TWO other streetcar fans, Andy B. and Chris M. Andy needed to get his Senior Card renewed, so that was our first stop. Also, neither one of them had been over the Ben Franklin bridge on PATCO, or ridden the River Line up to Trenton, so they were on this years list bucket list. We also wanted to catch a ride on the endangered #15 Girard Ave Trolley in one of them remaining PCC cars before SEPTA does away with them due to the severe financial crisis they are facing.
As I have mentioned numerous times, the SEPTA Senior Fare Card is perhaps the greatest deal going for railfans, because it enables us older folks the opportunity to ride everything SEPTA has for free! They don't do senior cards via the internet, so your only choice is to visit their headquarters on Market Street since they no longer do senior cards at the Reading terminal. They used to require an appointment for getting a card, but now do "walk-ins". The SEPTA HQ is at 1234 Market Street. The process is quick, and only takes about 10 minutes, and if you're already in the system, there is no need to take another picture if you look the same :-)
As usual, we try to fit as much riding around on the rails as we can, usually taking a trip on NJT's River Line light rail - it's a rather peaceful ride up New Jersey and can't beat the price the senior price of 85 cents - up from last years 75 cents.
Another reason to ride the system as much as you can, now, is that SEPTA is planning on replacing the trolleys with new-fangled light rail style double car "things", which will take away the charm of riding the 40 year old Kawasaki's. So as you have heard me say on many of my pages, "get em while you can" :-)
Since we have done this circuit many times over the years, I have concentrated on a lot of detail shots, so if you're looking for pictures of the trains, please check out previous years trip reports. As you can see from a large number of the photos I took, they are not always the best when shooting thru the windows of the trains, but I think you still get the point I'm trying to make with -what I got-. If only every shot could be one of those "perfect cloudless sunny day" pictures, huh? :-)
Trip Summary:
- Drove to Wilmington DE, where we caught a SEPTA Regional commuter train into Jefferson Station.
- Visited SEPT's HQ for senior pass and shopping at the SEPTA Gift Store.
- Caught an MFL EL train from 11th to 8th St.
- Took a PATCO train from 8th St in Philly to Ferry Ave in Camden NJ, one more station than we should have, oops.
- Caught an inbound PATCO train from Ferry Ave back to Broadway.
- Took NJT's River Line Light Rail from the Walter Rand Transportation Center station in Camden NJ to the Trenton Transit Center station in Trenton NJ.
- Took an "inbound" (to Philly) SEPTA Regional commuter train from Trenton NJ to North Philadelphia.
- Took the Broad Street subway line from North Philadelphia to Girard Ave.
- Hopped on a PCC car on the #15 Girard Ave line from Broad St to the end of the line at W. Girard Ave and N. 63rd St.
- Took a #15 line bus from the end of the #15 line to Girard and Lancaster Sts.
- Took a #10 line Subway Surface Trolley from Girard and Lancaster to the Tunnel Blitz turn-around at N 40th and Filbert Streets.
- Took pictures at the Tunnel Blitz turn-around for a while - despite being rush hour, it was not as busy as previous years.
- Took the MFL from 40th St to 30th St.
- Took Amtrak train #193 from 30th St Station to Wilmington DE.
- Stopped in Havre de Grace MD for dinner and a beautiful sunset at the Tidewater Grill.
This years crew, all members of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum - a special thanks goes out to Andy for supplying us with the t-shirts!
NOTE: As of the summer of 2025, SEPTA faces a funding crisis.
As a result, SEPTA has planned to make a boatload of changes including deleting routes, changing routes, and shortening service.
As of Thursday 4SEP25, a court ruled that SEPTA can not implement the reductions in service.
Stay tuned to see what happens.
For the planned service cuts, see HERE at the bottom of the page.
Finally, as I prepare this page, Amtrak is started their "NEW" Acela service between DC and Boston on August 28th, 2025. They are cutting out several stops, including Trenton NJ.
Acknowledgements:
John Buxton
SEPTA's website
Wikipedia (and yes, I donate to them)
Open Railway Map
Google Maps
Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
https://railfanguides.us/nj/patco/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/septa/surface/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/septa/69th/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/septa/market/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/septa/index.htm
https://railfanguides.us/nj/riverline/index.htm
https://historicbridges.org/b_h_fipsm.php?bsearch=34007
https://schedules.septa.org/current/TRE.pdf
http://wikimapia.org/10339273/SEPTA-Powelton-Yard
https://wwww.septa.org/fundingcrisis/service-cuts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nipper_Building
At the Biden Train Station in Wilmington
Our train to Philadelphia was running late - being late can sometimes be an advantage, especially on the NEC. For instance, this time around it enabled us to catch the Amtrak "Crayola" engine! :-)
AND, in case your wondering about the Amtrak building you can see from the platform..... it is Amtrak's CNOC where they control most of it's national network. I'd love a tour of that place!
Segment 1 - SEPTA: Wilmington to Jefferson Station
Train #9208, scheduled to depart 09:29, but running late.
Lv Wilmington 09:57, Ar Jefferson 10:45
Since we were already running late, and needed to visit SEPTA's HQ, we decided to skip 30th Street on the way in.
Looking at the schedule below, you can see why we opted to pay for an Amtrak train back to Wilmington.
Wonder how long these will last?US13 and I-495 parallel the corridor for about 4-1/2 miles on the northeast side of Wilmington. You can get good pictures along here with a good lens.
At Jefferson Station
Already running "late", we didn't spend much time here taking pictures, but we love the tile adorning the walls!
At SEPTA's Headquarters
We decided to visit the SEPTA HQ first and get that out of the way. Andy went in and got his pass, Chris was hungry, so he went next door to the Reading Market for an early lunch, and John and I went to the SEPTA store, to see what useless things we don't need but bought anyways. Didn't take many pictures here since nuttin has really changed since we were here last year. The gift shop always seems to have something new every time we stop in.
At Jefferson Station
We were going to try to catch a train to West Trenton, but when we got down to the platform, the train we were going to take was off the board....
What happened? Dunno, cause we were down on the platform before scheduled departure time :-(
Segment 2 - SEPTA: MFL, 11th St to 8th St
Short hop to get us to the PATCO line going into New Jersey.
Lv 11th 12:58, Ar 8th St 12:59
Segment 3 & 4 - PATCO: 8th St to Ferry St, then back to Broadway
Always a beautiful ride over the Delaware River, but we weren't paying attention, and passed right on by the Broadway Station. So we got off at the next station - Ferry St. We were lucky to catch a train sitting in the pocket track stub, I'm guessing it's sitting there for rush hour service. When the next inbound train came, we hopped on it to get back to the Broadway station. For those of you who do not know the history of an electronics manufacturer back in the last century, RCA, check out the Wikipedia link about the "Nipper" building. I used to go to their camera design center in Indianapolis when we were still doing "that stuff" here in the U.S. AND, did you know, that in addition to Rutgers University being in Camden, Camden is also home to Campbell's Soup Company AND Subaru's U.S. headquarters?
Lv 8th St 13:16, Ar Ferry St 13:28, car #1061
Lv Ferry St 13:45, Ar Broadway 13:47, car #1118
In Camden NJ
Not much to do while waiting for a NB train except for taking pix of any SB trains that might come by, or of the many busses passing by the station on MLK Jr Blvd.
Segment 5 - NJT's River Line: Camden/Broadway to Trenton
Lv Camden NJ 14:07, Ar Trenton NJ 15:00
After a wait of 10-15 minutes, a northbound train came along. The River Line is always a pleasant, peaceful, restful ride. A couple of times, they clocked in at 62PH! For some reason, this was a day of not paying attention, cause I wanted to see what they've done in the wye area at Bordentown, and we blew right on by - I didn't even notice :-)
See below for more info on the bridge.
If you're a fan, there is a convenient McDonalds adjacent to the Cass Street station..... there is no longer one in the Trenton Amtrak station building.
Backing up to Canal Street, off Hamilton Ave is a small storage shed for overnight and off peak LRV's.
In Trenton NJ
I was taking pictures of the River Line LRV, when my phone rang. It was John telling me we had three minutes to get down to track 5 for the next SB SEPTA train back to Philadelphia. So there we were, four of us ole farts trying to run as fast as we could to make sure we caught the train so we wouldn't have to be at the mercy of Amtrak's convoluted pricing system to head back to Philly. Phew. We just made it with about 15 seconds to spare. :-)
NOTE: Trenton will not be serviced by the "New" Acela trains that are starting service on 28AUG2025.
Segment 6 - SEPTA: Trenton NJ to North Philadelphia
Lv Trenton 15:15, Ar N Philly 13:52, Train #9718
For a short while, US-13 parallels the North East Corridor for about 1.6 miles (2.6km). This gives you an opportunity to catch pictures of Amtrak, SEPTA, and CSX stuff, along with a fairly rare set of stand-alone PCL signals that are adjacent to the NEC.
Segment 7 - SEPTA Broad Street Line: North Philadelphia to Girard St
Lv N Philly 14:10, Ar Girard St 14:15
This was a three-station hop from North Philadelphia to Girard. "They" wouldn't let me wait till another train came along :-( So this is all I got.
Segment 8 - SEPTA #15 Girard Ave PCC: Broad Street to the end of the line
Lv Broad St 16:44, Ar EOL 17:10
We were hopeful to ride one of "them" PCC3 cars. We asked several of the operators if any were running, and they did tell us that one or two were behind them. I think three busses went by before one came, and by the time it got there, there was a crush load on it! If you're into busses, this is an excellent spot!
Segment 9 - SEPTA G1 Bus: End of the line to Lancaster Street
Lv EOL 17:20, Ar Lancaster St 17:31
Looks like SEPTA doesn't even know what to call the routes :-) Nothing much to look at along the way except for an occasional piece of artwork somewhere, or some interesting buildings.
Segment 10 - SEPTA #10 Line: Girard/Lancaster to 40th St
Lv Girard/Lancaster 17:35, Ar 40th St 17:45
At 40th St
Unlike previous years, there were not as many trolleys on the 11/13/34/36 line today, which was surprising since we were here in the middle rush hour.
From a previous Tunnel Blitz trip: seven cars lined up on Filbert Street, waiting to turn the corner onto 40th Street to load riders.
Segment 11 - SEPTA MFL Line: 40th St to 30th St
Lv 40th St 18:17, Ar 30St 18:18
Another short hop! :-)
I wonder if the "diverted" sign is up all year long?
These wait/go display panels (and "tap reader" panels below) at 30th Street look handmade.
At 30th Street Station
https://www.phillyvoice.com/art-30th-street-station-transportation/
More detail stuff on 30th St Station below
We had about an hour to kill before our train left. It was running late! I guess we coulda done something besides just sit around and do nothing, but I reckon we were starting to run out of steam :-)
Segment 12 - Amtrak: 30th St Station to Wilmington
Lv 18:56, Ar 19:20, Train #193
Quick ride compared to taking SEPTA as we did in the morning. The ride seemed like it was over almost as quickly as it started. We sat on the east side of the cafe car so I could see what there was to take pictures of at the Wilmington Shops, but again, wasn't paying attention, and blew right by it without even noticing it. At least I didn't let the Island Ave trolley shops get completely by me without at least getting one shot....
Notice there is a PCC car in the yard!
Notice the sign board about train #2169, happens more n more these days!
Train 193 coming into track 5.
In Wilmington
19:20-19:32
In Havre de Grace
20:00-21:55
Perfect ending to a perfect day.
Perfect dinner!
And the weather was cooperating - with a perfect sunset!
We ate at the Tidewater Grill, which has outdoor seating with a great view of just about everything on the water. From here, you can get great shots of trains crossing the Susquehanna River.
To get to the Tidewater Grill, you pass another one of Havre de Grace's mainstay restaurants up on Saint John St - McGregor's. They were recently featured (July 2025) in an episode of Gordon Ramsey's Secret Service TV show! I guess it needed the make-over, my wife and I ate there in maybe 2021, and weren't impressed, in fact, we didn't eat the leftovers we took home :-(.
The MARC train ends its journey just after it gets over the bridge at the Perryville MD station. The station sits in the middle of a wye with the Port Road branch heading up to Harrisburg PA. The right signal is displaying .
Representative tickets of the day
Had to buy another PATCO ticket after passing thru the exit gate in Camden, cause their machines swallow the tickets :-). There was a neat green colored ticket on the SEPTA train heading back into Philly, but I couldn't find one I could snatch :-)
Some Details of the 30th St Station
Ownership:
-- Pennsylvania RR: 1933-1968
-- Penn Central: 1968-1971
-- Amtrak: 1971-Present
Projected SEPTA Service Cuts
For us railfans, rail services being affected are:
- Five Regional Rail lines will be discontinued, including the Trenton and Wilmington Lines.
- The Broad Street Line's B3 Broad-Ridge Spur will be discontinued.
- The G1/#15 (Girard Ave) Line trolley service will be permanently replaced by bus service.
- The T1/#10 Line trolley service will be permanently replaced by bus service.
- Services will be curtailed or changed to busses after 9pm.
- NO more special service for sports events concerts, etc.
Here are SOME details from SEPTA's website:
Proposed Regional Rail service cuts.Federal Street Bridge
GPS Coordinates: 39.94333,-75.10500
About: 1365 Federal St.
https://historicbridges.org/b_h_fipsm.php?bsearch=34007
https://www.bridgehunter.com/bridge/25131
Other misc data just for SnG: Left John's 07:19, at PnR 07:50-07:58, Ar Wilm 09:09.
Flip side, Lv Wilm 19:32, at Tidewater 20:00-21:55, at PnR 22:14, at Johns 22:44, hm 23:02.
Disclaimers:
New format 10/26/23: Please check out my disclaimer page for my standard dribble and contact info here
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