From: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: NEC
Date: 24 Jan 93 03:45:46 GMT
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <3213@tymix.Tymnet.COM> romeo@niagara.Tymnet.COM (Michael Stimac) writes:
> In article <38731@cbmvax.commodore.com> grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) writes:
> >In article <16B5CF000.M00209@MBVM.Mitre.Org> M00209@MBVM.Mitre.Org writes:
>   
> 
> >>            7.) Other Philadelphia area stuff.  You can't get out of 30th Street
> >>          Station without using the Corridor for at least a short distance.
> >>          In addition to the Amtrak local service to Harrisburg that I already
> >>          mentioned, SEPTA runs trains (multiple unit electrics) to several
> >>          other destinations (Paoli, Chestnut Hill West, Philadelphia Inter-
> >>          national Airport, Media) that start their trip from 30th Street on the
> >>          Corridor for at least a few yards!  Also, New Jersey Transit is
> 
> >Not exactly true - The NEC runs "through" the basement concourse, while the
> >commuter lines run crosswise through the upper level.  I don't know the exact
> >routing off all the commuter lines into the station, but some, at least the
> >Paoli Local don't (obviously) tread on the corridor.
> 
> This cannot pass unchallenged!
> 
> The suburban station tracks proceed to the "Main Line" (i.e. to Paoli
> for example) via Zoo Junction.
> 
> George, are you trying to claim that *some* of the tracks in Zoo Junction
> are part of the corridor while some other tracks are *not* part of the 
> corridor?
> 
> That's pretty darn nit-picky, and I doubt if you'll find very many
> railroaders who would agree that "part" of Zoo Junction is not the
> corridor. 

Well, I don't know if it's nit-picking or not, but I felt that the original
posting gave the impression that all the commuter runs arrived or departed
on the north/south mainline (aka NEC) before diverging onto different branches.

This would be incorrect, since the Paoli Local runs directly out the
East-West (Harrisburg) mainline, after admittedly wandering through
one edge of the Zoo interlocking.

Whether this is "starting on the corridor", crossing the corridor or
using facilities part of the corridor seems mostly a matter of definition
and "Northeast Corridor" may or may not be that precisely defined.

> NB - the term "Main Line" has a both a general and a special meaning
> with regard to the Pennsy in Philadelphia. The general meaning is
> what you would expect, the special meaning is those tracks departing
> Zoo Junction to the west up to about Paoli. The term also includes
> the towns and real estate within several miles of such track.

Yeah, growing up in Delaware near the north-south "main line", I was
eventually surprised to find out that the "Main Line" was on some
other line.  Of course the north-south line wasn't even the "Pennsy"
until sometime in the early 1900's...

Stupid Questions:

What is the burned out elevated station (kind of on a bridge where
one line passes over the other) between Overbrook and 30'th street?
When was it last in service?

Is there one other electrified branch heading northwest from the west
end of Zoo?  Riding past on the Paoli Local I see tracks, but can't
tell what's going on.  One of these days, I'll have to buy survey
maps and trace out the different branches, past and present.

-- 
George Robbins - now working for,     work:   to be avoided at all costs...
but no way officially representing:   uucp:   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr
Commodore, Engineering Department     domain: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com
Newsgroups: rec.railroad