You see sone highlights on the way out to Elwyn. I should point out that I don’t believe the line is automatic black signals on part of the ride. Seems like they can run either way on either track all the way 
I grew up in Springfield, about a mile North of the Morton depot. The crossing immediately East of Morton is PA 420, Woodland Avenue, and my home was just off that road. My brother was a PC/CR/NS employee, and was in commuter service during the early years of his career. I used to go to work with him on Saturdays when he had a regular job on the Media/West Chester Branch. That was where I first started learning railroading as a career myself. This video brings back some great memories, as I left Springfield in 1981 for the Air Force, and stayed on the West Coast. I am medically retired from Union Pacific as a locomotive engineer after nearly 30 years. Thanks for sharing!
It's very interesting again to watch the video and follow your comments on it. Best regards once again from Hamburg/Germany 😊👍...And thumbs up for the Crew ! 😊
The best times to do the Media/Elwyn lines are the weekends and the evenings. Those are chill times. Also, I love how you indicate the signals and their meanings when approaching them, which really assist future conductors!
@@3985uprr I really wish, however I do teach engineers mathematics and also ideas of rails connected to math with the signals and the track interlockings. I really enjoy your Norristown line one too!! Also, before the Yeadon station there was a line they existed that carried to west Chester, I believe it dissected through Upper Darby.
When I lived in the county in the '80s, I rode the entire line at times, but most often from Clifton-Aldan into the city (because I had a choice between commuter train and trolley!). But I've never seen a head-end video, so thanks. The main change since then is the rebuilding of some of the stations. In my day, the Primos station did not have high platforms, and the station building was a house trailer! Looks beautiful now, and 49th Street is also vastly improved. (If I had had to work in the city, I would have wanted to live at Gladstone. Imagine living in an apartment complex where you could walk to the train station!)
The extension to Wawa is why I am waiting for this line to open - as there are mow TWO Wawas near where I live now - which is NOT in Pennsylvania - which is rather amusing - at least to me - after spending two years in (technically) Wawa's front yard. (Naturally, I want to take my mom on a tour of all three lines I would normally use - Papli/Thorndale (my old home line) - Wawa/Media (the alternate to the south) and Wilmington/Newark/Marcus Hook (where we still have relatives).)
Loved this line! My first apartment was above Media Station and my first house was just below the old Glen Riddle Station west of Elwyn. That station is not in the new expansion unfortunately.
My first job back in law enforcement after retirement was in Delaware County as a Park Police officer. If you hop the 101 trolley, you can get off on Paper Mill Rd and be in Smedley Park. If you take the 102 trolley and get off at Creek Rd it puts you in Kent Park and a mile from one of the original Swedish settlements. The 111 bus ( express service from 69th St to Chadds Ford) will take you to the new Wawa Station on Baltimore Pike
The trestle from Elwyn to Media is Ridley Creek (about 5 miles from the State Park and 3 miles to the Penn State University campus). Ironically the Media station isn't in Media borough ( the borough border is about 2 blocks up) proper but Nether Providence Township
Honestly my friend, I would get in touch with SEPTA’s railroad division and see if they would be willing to give you a pass. You’re basically a volunteer for them taking trips like these and helping newer employees. You don’t ask for pay from them, so it would be in their interest to give you some type of rail pass. I’d sure as heck vouch for you. Only thing is I used to work there as an intern, so I may not have as much weight.
Love your videos. Note: the Secane station is brand new. The old station on the corner, wasn't long enough for the volume of commuters. They off to get off in the intersection or on the railbed. It would tie up traffic at the busy intersections. They built a new station further down the line, so people could get off safely. The station was designed like a Pennsylvania rail road station.
I never used this line - the Media/Elwyn Line is south of the Paoli/Thrndale Line - separated from it by PA 3 and US 30. PA 3 goes into West Chester itself - unlike US 30 (which goes north of West Chester- meeting PA 100 - which also goes into West Chester ).
Was curious to see this line recently. I like how it gets industrial right after Landsdowne especially. Wondering if the line served by any freight. Thanks for documenting!
This line like most old commuter lines did have local freight customers that were served generally at night after most passenger service was done. Up until recently there was an old Amarosos bakery that received carloads of grain used in the bakery. Our local Delaware County newspaper when it was printed in Primos also used to receive its newsprint by rail. Several years ago there also was a quary on the West Chester portion of the line had rail operations. One time years ago I even saw a GG-1 pulling a freight train with gravel cars from the quary heading east to Philadelphia. Also back in the earlier part of the century there were many coal dealers that received carloads of coal for delivery to homes in the area that had coal heaters. When I was growing up in southwest Philadelphia there was a large A&P distribution warehouse just outside the City in Yeadon that was served by the local freight train. Riding the train past the warehouse you could see box cars spotted on the sidings delivering products there. There sill may be a few freight customers on this line but I have not noticed any freight activity lately.
@@johnchambers8528 thanks for that interesting information! Scenes like that must’ve played out seemingly everywhere across these busy northeast railroads. Perhaps someone’s got some good photos of this line from that time. I especially would have liked to see a GG-1 on that local freight job.
Just a short follow up on your comment about the GG-1 pulling that freight train of cars from the quary. I do believe that was just a lucky catch I saw that night. I doubt there are any pictures of that move or if there were others using a GG-1. As I noted most freight moves were done at night so unless some rail fan with a camera with high speed film knew in advance about this move it would not be documented. By the way this sighting happened so long ago digital cameras and cell phones were not that common. I know when I saw this train I thought like you it would have been nice to have a camera capable to get a shot of the train. I first spotted the train while driving east on Rt. 1, Baltimore Pike where the West Chester line has a bridge over the road. Since the train was not moving fast I was able to see it a second time where Rt 452 has a bridge over the line and at that time had a station called Glen Riddle at that location. I was able to go down the driveway to the station and viewed the train go by again. The only other times I saw freight service on Media-West Chester line was when as a child I lived in a house less than a block from the tracks once it was a steam engine but later they usually used a GP-9 or other smaller engine used for local freight trains.
