The Philadelphia Chapter of the

National Railway Historical Society

Established in 1936

In Part One, our intrepid railroaders set out to deliver to the West Chester Railroad its newest acquisitions. In Part Two, they ran into a little engine trouble, but that was remedied and they continued on. The trek through Market East Station on the eastern end of the Center City coummuter tunnel went without incident, and SEPTA Dispatcher told them that the power had been cut to the overhead wires in Suburban Station for their trip through the west end to 30th Street. Technically they were correct......

However they developed another kind of engine trouble just after they emerged from the west portal of the tunnel. Approaching 22nd Street, SEPTA 52 and PC 28209 proceeded without incident, but the exhaust port of WCRL 4230 grounded on the overhead wire. Normally, with the power off, this would only result in a little scraping sound. BUT the power was ON. The resulting arc was brilliant and was followed by a thunderous explosion and a cloud of smoke. Seems the power BETWEEN Suburban Station and 30th Street was not shut off. The crew checked over the train and called the dispatcher, suggesting that they shut off the power so they could continue, as the crew remarked to a query about returning to Wayne with "we already got this far!"