Philly Railfan Pictures of the Week

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Railfan Pictures of the Week - 12/02/2018

SEPTA North Wales, Colmar and Overbrook Stations and Center City Philadelphia PA December 1 2018

In the early hours of December 1, SEPTA Wash 1 rolls through North Wales Station washing but not gelling the rails as they have reportedly run out of gel. As it has been for the past few weeks, AEM-7 SPAX 2306 leads the charge.

The crew takes a break at Colmar Station with AEM-7 SPAX 2307 trailing.

With those units on wash duty, it was assumed correctly that less than 12 hours later, they would not be on SEPTA's Farewell to the AEM-7 special scheduled to run from Paoli to Suburban Station and return.

That duty fell to the other two working electrics that had been spotted in service on the wash trains during the past month. Ironically, leading the Farewell to the AEM-7 train was ALP-44 SPAX 2308, passing Overbrook Tower to the delight of the dozen or so railfans in attendance.

On the nose of 2308 were signs that simply read "FAREWELL" and "1996-2018", the years in service for SEPTA's lone ALP-44.

On the rear of the push-pull train was the first SEPTA AEM-7, SPAX 2301, with the same "FAREWELL" and "1987-2018" denoting its years of service.

Just after noon, the special departed Center City with SPAX 2301 climbing up the grade out of Suburban Station.

From the strip park along JFK Boulevard, a bare tree branch reaches out for the special like the Grim Reaper as the train makes its way toward Thirtieth Street Station and oblivion. For the SEPTA motors, their watch has ended, at least regarding the duty of hauling people for SEPTA. The wash trains may run for a couple more weeks, and then there is the lease to NJT which may or may not involve actual operation. Of course, only time will tell.

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Website created January 1, 2017