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How We Get Around
United States
Registrace 7. 05. 2017
Hi, I'm Steve, just a guy from a suburb of Philadelphia who likes things that go, from trains to cars to ships to planes.
Here, we talk about transportation, both with a wide vision, but using my home region as a measure, showing us the past, present, and the hopeful future of a better means of getting to the places we want to go, and maybe discovering something new along the way.
Here, we talk about transportation, both with a wide vision, but using my home region as a measure, showing us the past, present, and the hopeful future of a better means of getting to the places we want to go, and maybe discovering something new along the way.
A Streetcar City Reborn: The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Philadelphia's Trolleys
On June 16th, 2024, after four years of waiting and wondering if they would ever be seen again, the SEPTA's Route 15 service on Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia were met with a long loved sight: A fleet of green and cream colored 1940s Streetcars began serving passengers again for the first time in four years. In revenue service. With cars that are nearing 80 years old. While a fantastic story in of itself, it's merely beginning of the latest chapter of the story of the trolleys and streetcars of Philadelphia. From the 1850s until now, it has been seen as a story of triumph and downfall, but now can be one of revival and hope for the future of transportation here.
They may be old, but they are the harbinger of the future, and this is but the tip of the iceberg of the push to revive the once mighty passenger rail services of the City of Brotherly Love, and it's a tale that deserves to be told as a new age of Philly transit begins.
Links to the sites about SEPTA Forward and the Trolley Modernization plan
wwww.septa.org/trolley-modernization/
iseptaphilly.com/blog/newtrolleyfleet
wwww.septa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SEPTA-Trolley-Station-Design-Summary.pdf
wwww.septa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SEPTA-TrolleyMod_ProgramGoals.pdf
Credit to Philadelphia Trolley Tracks, a website that chronicles the history of Philly's trolleys and was instrumental in making this video.
www.phillytrolley.org/index.html
Keywords: Trolley, Tram, Streetcar, Bus, Transit, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Urban Planning, Public Transport, Trains, Light Rail, Trolleybus, History, SEPTA, Rise, Fall, Revival, City, PCC Streetcar
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:59 The Beginning of Philly's Trolleys
5:18 Route 15 and its Importance
8:55 From Glory to Collapse
13:38 Arrival of SEPTA
15:29 A System Going Down in Flames
19:52 The Unlikely Rebirth of Route 15
23:18 Turning Around 80 Years of decline in Four Years?
29:04 Restoring the Lost Lines
34:39 A Golden Opportunity
37:58 Conclusion
They may be old, but they are the harbinger of the future, and this is but the tip of the iceberg of the push to revive the once mighty passenger rail services of the City of Brotherly Love, and it's a tale that deserves to be told as a new age of Philly transit begins.
Links to the sites about SEPTA Forward and the Trolley Modernization plan
wwww.septa.org/trolley-modernization/
iseptaphilly.com/blog/newtrolleyfleet
wwww.septa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SEPTA-Trolley-Station-Design-Summary.pdf
wwww.septa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SEPTA-TrolleyMod_ProgramGoals.pdf
Credit to Philadelphia Trolley Tracks, a website that chronicles the history of Philly's trolleys and was instrumental in making this video.
www.phillytrolley.org/index.html
Keywords: Trolley, Tram, Streetcar, Bus, Transit, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Urban Planning, Public Transport, Trains, Light Rail, Trolleybus, History, SEPTA, Rise, Fall, Revival, City, PCC Streetcar
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:59 The Beginning of Philly's Trolleys
5:18 Route 15 and its Importance
8:55 From Glory to Collapse
13:38 Arrival of SEPTA
15:29 A System Going Down in Flames
19:52 The Unlikely Rebirth of Route 15
23:18 Turning Around 80 Years of decline in Four Years?
29:04 Restoring the Lost Lines
34:39 A Golden Opportunity
37:58 Conclusion
zhlédnutí: 27 556
Video
High Speed Rail in America: It's Finally Happening. | A Ramble about American HSR projects.
zhlédnutí 29KPřed 2 měsíci
High Speed Rail in America. It's a phrase that so often has been a dream, and one that elicits either a laugh or a groan. While the world at large has reaped the benefits of high speed rail since the technology came to the fore in the 1960s, America has had some half-hearted attempts that came nowhere close to their potential, despite the overall popular demand for it. However now, particularly...
Railroad Crossings are Even Worse than You Thought. Here's What We Can Do.
zhlédnutí 16KPřed 3 měsíci
From the cities to the countryside, from California to Maine, and everywhere in between, one of the biggest annoyances of everyday transportation is dealing with Railroad Crossings. Drivers, cyclists and pedestrians hate these crossings. The trains block traffic, create noise and cause a major safety risk for cars, cyclists and pedestrians alike. The trains hate them too. It legally limits thei...
Is this the return of American Streamliners?: A Ramble About The FRA Long Distance Trains Proposal
zhlédnutí 28KPřed 4 měsíci
Nearly 100 years ago, overnight sleeper trains, best epitomized by the legendary Streamliners, were true household names, the epitome of long distance transportation, and symbols of American pride, but today not so much. They're constantly delayed, slower than flying, and simply don't get service to a lot of places like they used too. However, there are plenty of people out there (including mys...
A Philly Transport Icon: 50 Years of the Silverliner IVs and What's Next? | How We Get Around Philly
zhlédnutí 5KPřed 6 měsíci
It's been a familiar face for the people of the Philadelphia area, and it's likely older than you and maybe even your parents. The Silverliner IV electric trains have been the face of SEPTA's regional rail operations for the last 50 years, and it's only NOW that SEPTA has gotten serious to find a replacement for them. It's amazing to consider how something has lasted 50 years in regular use, se...
America: Land of the Train Again!?: A Ramble about the Corridor ID Program | How We Get Around
zhlédnutí 54KPřed 7 měsíci
America's passenger rail sector has a reputation for barely existing in many parts of the country. Since Amtrak's inception in the 1970s, it has been besieged on all sides by forces seeking its demise, while its attempts at expansion have been haphazard and without a cohesive strategy. That's all changed now. Last month, the FRA's Corridor ID Project has released its choices for support for the...
Leveling with You: Conshohocken Station and Good Station Design | How We Get Around Philly Episode 2
zhlédnutí 3,4KPřed 7 měsíci
It's funny the kind of rabbit hole a single picture can lead you down. A humorous story of a misspelled sign at a SEPTA station led me to realize that said station was undergoing a major rebuild that makes it objectively better for everybody who ever uses it going forward. Alongside the replacement of a station with a port-a-potty as the main facility with something far more fitting for the com...
The SEPTA West Chester Line: Of Ambition and Reality | How We Get Around Philly Episode 1
zhlédnutí 15KPřed rokem
It may be just under 10 miles, but it has quite the story to tell... If you ride SEPTA's Media/Wawa line out of Philadelphia to the end of the line at the (kind-of) brand new Wawa station, you may notice that the tracks keep going into the woods beyond. That line used to go all the way to the town of West Chester, Pennsylvania until 1986, and in the time since then, the effort to preserve the l...
Wow, the SLV's is based off of the MR-90....
We should have short-hop rail between cities! More reliable, less chance for delays and infinitely scalable!
I will love to see the 56 route go back to trolley.
I see a lot of comments from many videos said "China build a lot of it and everywhere, and we should have it too!"... It show they have no idea the China's HSR is run by the government using tax payer money, and losing billions of dollars every year. So, even if the HSR is hours away from you and you will never use it, you will still pay for it every single day, do you think you will like that? That's why the HSR in America only will be to done by private companies, and private companies found it is not profitable when air travel system in America is very mature and fixable, and a lot of people own a car can just drive to their destination.
The US has never been the "Gold Standard" for HSR. The kept cruising in fume belching, bell clanging, horn blaring diesels. They never transitioned directly from steam to electric. They liked "engineers" in bibs, dirty clothes and hands, derailing trains and struggling uphill. And now, they found out that catenaries and pantographs are required to become electric. And here they are, 80 years behind Europe.
I love the old trolleys. I totally relate to your reaction to Roosevelt Blvd. I avoid it like the plague.
Water ice pronounced “wood•er ice”
The reason they closed the tunnel connecting EL & Trolleys to reach 30th Street Station of Pennsylvania Railroad is do to those who don't respect life as those who create stabbings, drug use and worse.
YES! exclaimed repeatedly is hype. They are ugly and unsafe as SEPTA is not safe to ride on. I used to ride the 23 to Cheastnut Hill to Center City Daily.
Nice video can you make a video regarding possibility restoring passenger service to oxford pa as it think there a lot of demand and also maybe a video of passenger service from willimgton to coatesville pa
No it really isnt 😂
Im for all this...i.e. NYC to Orlando would be the greatest...Dude, our roads and bridges are falling apart..don't you think that has to be fixed first before we go with HSR?
You mean Medium speed rail, stop calling ti High speed rail...70mph is midium speed rail.
no its not, wait another 50 years for 100+mph HSP rail in Merica
Wake up and smell the pretzels 🥨. Haha!! Good one.
Love the old trolleys. It was a sad day when the 56 switched to busses. I remember when I was little in the 70's, all the busses and trolleys were that color green. Brings back memories of what definitely was a much better time in America, even though it certainly wasn't perfect.
solution to giving rail projects funding: ban cars. Then everyone would want increased rail and bus service!!!!
Believe it or not There are still people to this day who still likes cars Like the 50's
They should make a line from the Philadelphia sports complex all the way to rivers casino and on both sides it would meet with route 15 and the broad street line
There's a possible corridor from that map I noticed right away. Rapid City to Sioux Falls, with seasonal extensions to Sturgis for the bike rally with stops in Wall, Chamberlain, and Mitchell. (Also yes I'm aware I posted a comment 4 months ago...I still hold by it.) And "Black Hills Limited"....it has such a ring to it...I miss the hills. Spent half of my childhood there.
18:20 Oh, God, NO, NOT THAT ONE!!!
The way Amtrak railway cars rock is disturbing
Not every long distance route needs to serve Chicago and NYC. Philly and STL are just fine.
Is there a way to petition for the Trolly on the 56 to re restored in the new construction?
You can try to write a petition but it probably won't work only because the tracks and wires have been removed.
Been following since the beggining, you're soon to be one the best transit oriented CZcams commentary channels out there!
Crikey! That irritating American accent all but ruins this otherwise informative video.
i'm glad your pronounced Osaka correctly! One thing at about 10:45 you said Rancho Cucamonga was west of LA when it's in fact East of LA. Overall nice video, I watch a lot of train and city videos!
15 was my trolley to high school for two years, then it was temporarily replaced with a bus for two more years.
And look in the winter time when it's real cold Amtrak trains is s*** tanks all freeze up and then the toilets overflow and people still use them and then they walk in all that water and then walk on the carpeting and track all that urine piss all the way down on the carpet and it makes the car smell sick and nauseous it's the truth next time you're on an Amtrak train remember if you read this take a good look you'll see what I'm talking about
Did you see the opening of this video what was it it was an Amtrak train while I worked for Amtrak in downtown Chicago and their trains are garbage they break down all the time the cars are getting bad they're bad ordered all the time and I don't know what goes on on the East Coast but I'll tell you one thing they most probably have a lot of problems too and as far as being clean the cars in Chicago they were filthy dirty they smell like urine piss feces and look at the corners on the floors where the stainless steel is at in the vestibules there's crud built up everywhere and look at the stainless panels inside they're dirty and filthy look at the windows they're dirty and filthy and everybody wants to ride Amtrak trains I'll tell they're filthy and they're full of garbage and they break down mechanical Lee
Love how you referred to this as "ramblings" twice in the beginning and continued to put out a well-informed, well-edited, well-produced movie-length video Great stuff looking forward to more!
Another pipe dream for usa.
At least in Europe, the standard length for a passenger rail carriage as well as locomotives has been around 25 m for more than half a century. This enables neat train lengths of pretty close to 100, 150, 200, 300 or 400 m, nowadays also achieved by combining multiple units (eg, two 6-car units with each being 150 m long for a combined length of 300 m). The maximum length for passenger trains has been standardised to a bit more than 400 m. Having such a standard ensures that train length and platform length are matched throughout Europe. There are of course many smaller towns with shorter platforms but a standardisation for 200 and 300 m platforms also ensures that the same multiple unit trains fit on all platforms along a line. Recently, train carriages have been lengthened a bit in some new projects, using 7 instead of 8 carriages to reach the standard 200 m length (or a combined 400 m with two such units). This allows for deleting one train coupling and thus length that cannot be used productively. The Velaro Novo follows that trend of reaching 200 m with seven carriages.
Great discussion. As with everyone else, I love seeing the PCC cars back. While I agree with preferring trolleys/streetcars generally, I am often surprised that trolleybuses don't get more support/airtime. And fully agreed on Delaware Ave. Every time I'm over there I wonder why we're not taking advantage of the rails that are just sitting there. I didn't know they would need to be re-gauged, which seems like a fairly big hurdle.... But I dunno, even a bespoke vehicle for just that road might be worth it.
Should have your channel called "Train Nerd" or make a spinoff channel by that name.
If the train between Sacramento and Tacoma only took half the time with better hours, I'd do that over driving. Taking literally hours longer than driving from my actual origin to destination is UNSAT!
Also I think it would make A LOT more sense if at this point the legal definition of High Speed Rail was about MINIMUM or average cruising speed instead of top speed, simply because average speed is what actually matters for travel of any kind really Why would this be important? To make sure newly built lines are held to actual standards of service instead of being a subpar vanity project with the shiny "High Speed" tag. Definitely not looking at you, german "high speed" network
My vote goes to Bombardier Comet V EMU's. Second choice: New Arrow III's, just like the updated Arrow III's
Retired Railfan Horn Guy, please call your office.
Unfortunately, in some places, grade-separation just isn't possible. Not just because of money, but because of land elevation and surrounding structures. And on a side note, if people don't like hearing loud train horns, TOUGH FUCKING SHIT!!! DON'T LIVE NEAR AN ACTIVE RAILROAD!!!
Truncating the existing service when the new high-speed line comes online is what JR West did to their Thunderbird Limited Express Service that used to run from Osaka all the way to Kanazawa. The extension of Hokuruku Shinkansen came online on 16 March 2024 and the Thunderbird service was truncated to Osaka to Tsuruga only. That's why Kyushu Shinkansen has a weird service map with unconnected lines. People who live between Shin-Tosu and Takao Onsen know they would lose the standard services if the Nishi-Shinkansen were extended to connect with the main line.
For high-speed rail to be rational in the USA, it should be assumed that high-speed rail will not be dedicated only to passenger transport, but also to freight transport. Second, rail routes must be nationalized and become federal property.
Excellent documentary! I’m currently subscribed to Northeast Maglev. Curious if you follow or know their status.
Finally high speed rail in America. Bullett trains can leave San Francisco and reach L.A. in under 3 hours at 200 mph maybe. The orange diapered creature Trump cut funds so that it caused a delay.
Very informative video. Loving to see SEPTA investing in more trolley connectivity while simultaneously updating its subway-surface rolling stock and resurrecting classic PCC's (15 line). How about restore the 23 trolley along 11th and 12th street down town and germantown ave in North Philly!
Can remember getting on the center door of trollies in the 1950's and they had a motorman collecting fares. Years latet you could see the round plate that covered the toll box that were removed and driver collected fates.
Rode the route 56 trolley to high school. Almost evety time it rained it was late. Great in smow storms. Worst thing when nogoodnics double park to go into a store or house for 5 or 10 minutes trolley was stuck snd never once saw them get a ticket.