Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Pence
I used to be a conspicuous train geek, and I carried a portable scanner so I could listen in on railroad communications. I did have the decency to use an earplug. In Philadelphia I kept hearing references to the "snake pit." When I saw that storage yard from the platform, I understood what they were talking about - densely-placed tracks, full of trains. Rush hour was approaching, and as equipment was positioned and lined up, I could see long, silvery trains slowly easing into place with snake-like movements through switches and crossovers.
Most rail rolling stock has a long service life, especially when you're dealing with cars like the Silverliners that used lots of stainless steel. With good maintenance and periodic updates to the propulsion and controls, it's conceivable that they can run fifty years. The late-1920s cars on the South Shore between South Bend and Chicago ran until the early 1980s, and that was with minimal maintenance in the last several years when CSX had bought the line and was trying to kill the commuter rail business. I think the Insull-era cars were faster than the later-generation cars that NICTD bought to replace them.
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I've been a train geek since I was a little kid, and it shows at the edges. #9016 is a Silverliner II that was originally built for the PRR in the mid-sixties, and is due to go out of service as the new Silverliner Vs come in. For my money, though, Silverliner II and IIIs offer the quietest, smoothest ride of any car in SEPTA's fleet, especially if you can snag #269 with its good leather seats or one of the cars retrofitted for Airport operation back in the '80s. What I was commenting on, in part, was the
timelessness of the station scene.