[PRR-talk] A Philadelphia branch question

[BBReynolds at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/24/2008 12:48:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
ndbprr at att.net writes:

After the mainlines pass Zoo eastbound and cross the Schuylkill River  there 
is a branch that comes off the 0 track and passes under the  mainline.  It 
then paralells the East River Drive for some distance  before crossing the 
Schuylkill River and paralelling the Schuylkill  Expressway. Is this the Belmont 
ranch?  Thanks, Norm Bell






The line off of Track 0 is a fairly recent connector between the Corridor  
and the former
Reading line which runs from Falls Junction, across the Columbia Bridge,  
under
the Corridor, then thru Park Junction (near the Art Museum) where it  joins 
(going
south through a tunnel in front of the Musuem) the former B & O  line on the 
east bank
of the Schuykill and (going east under Pennslyvania Avenue) the "City  Subway"
which ran east past the Inquirer building, under Broad Street, past the  North
American Building (originally the Reading's equivalent of the Mechandise  
Mart in 
Chicago), to branch into a line up the level of the line into the old  
Reading Terminal,
and to a line which reached the belt line along the Delaware River.  The 
"City Subway"
has some track in place as far as Broad Street, but has had little or  no use 
since
the Inquirer moved its printing plant to the suburbs (but still adjacent  to 
the old
Reading main line). 
 
The Belmont branch connected Zoo Junction with that same  Reading line just
above the Columbia Bridge, at the foot of the site of the Belmont  planes,
which was the original path of the Pennsylvania Railroad from the west  into
the city. 
 
The new connector from the Reading to the Corridor facilitates freight  
traffic
from/to the west (which traffic now almost exclusively runs through  Abrams 
Yard
on the former Reading, rather than on the Amtrak-owned PRR Main Line  through
Overbrook) to Shore Junction, where it runs onto the line across the Delair  
Bridge to 
South Jersey. 
 
The connections through Zoo Tower to the Belmont Branch have mostly  been 
eliminated, and traffic from/to the south and to the South Philadelphia  
yards runs
directly onto the High Line to either another new connector to the  former B 
& O
(for southbound traffic) or to Arsenal Junction (for traffic to the  South
Philadelphia facilities). 
 
If you pull up the map function on Google and plug in 3600 Girard Avenue 
Philadelphia PA as target, the map will be centered adjacent to Zoo;  turn
on the satellite view and you can scan across the PRR bridge across  the
Schuykill and see the new connector on the old Reading line sweeping
up to the Corridor, and connecting to the Corridor just  before MLK Avenue.
 
Scanning generally north will follow the Reading across the Columbia 
Bridge, and just above that will be the Belmont branch coming in from  the
left. Scanning generally south will lead you down the Belmont branch
back to Zoo.
 
The new connector facilitating the new traffic patterns established by 
Conrail and following after the breakup of Conrail, by the jointly  operated
Conrail in this area, is related to the fact that most of the other  
intersections
of PRR and Reading lines where grade separated, and physically  constrained
for building a connector, or where lines where either an excessive  detour
was required, or which could not manage mainline traffic.
 
During the SEPTA "Railworks" project which closed the Reading line
into Reading Terminal for reconstruction of the elevated "Ninth  Street
Branch", SEPTA ran some service through Wayne Junction, down
the historic Royal Blue Route track onto the old Reading Main Line,
through Falls Junction, with its wye to the south, then connected to
the Belmont branch, wandered through the woods of Fairmount Park,
and then used the then-more-fully-functioning Zoo Tower to reach 30th
Street Station. It was an interesting trip, but it was much quicker
to hop on the Broad Street Subway at Fern Rock.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Bruce B. Reynolds, Trailing Edge Technologies, Glenside  PA



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