The Philadelphia Chapter of the

National Railway Historical Society

Established in 1936

I am sure that of those of us railfans that take pictures, inevitably the question comes up "Why?" A couple of the better answers may be "You might not be able to take pictures in a certain location again" and "You might not realize what you are seeing until the prints come back" . These pictures, taken in September 1991, cover both those. The vantage point is ground level at Race Street Yard, 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. A Conrail train is on the High Line heading toward South Philly, and a nice variety of passenger power is on display. The surprise was the appearance of Amtrak F40PH 202, the AC unit. I didn't notice until I looked at the prints a week later. You can distinguish it from standard units like NJT 4115 and AMT 406 by the lack of porch on the rear. The heavyweight passenger cars are used as offices, and Amtrak 16200 waits for the Amtrak steam engine of its dreams.

More than a decade later, the F40's are gone, as well the heavyweights, the tender, most of the GP9's and Conrail, the E60's numbers are dwindling, and you can't even take pictures from the public parking lot above. You just never know.