Norristown High Speed Line

[admin]

http://www.phillytrolley.org/philwest.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norristown_High_Speed_Line



This is a trolley line that is a hybrid between light rail and regular train line. It has a third rail like a subway does but operates a single car at a time with fare collection on board like a bus or trolley. It connects 69th St. Terminal near Philadelphia with Norristown, the county seat of Montgomery County.

[Hail Columbia]

I have rode that line at least twice.  I like the leather seats, and the view of the Schuylkill River south of the Norristown station.

[Hail Columbia]

I rode it twice, once on 2003, and again on 2005, and in both cases, I took it for fun.  And yes, I do like most things Dutch.

[takebackourtemple]

   I've seen it from the Norristown transportation center, but never rode it. Every once in a while my friend(from NY) and I will meet at the Norristown transportation center to bicycle mostly down hill into center city and then take the R6 train back. The bicycle trail is real nice there. It's also nice that they let us bring our bikes on the train. The MTA makes us buy a permit which I've never actually bought but was not allowed on the train a few times because I didn't have one. From what I hear, PATCO requires a permit but they don't enforce it.

[takebackourtemple]

   Next week I'll start a discussion about why catanery is better than third rail. For now, I'm curious. What voltage does the trolley run off of. I know that the blue and orange lines run off of third rail but forgot. What do the green lines run off of. I haven't rode the green line in a long time.

[Hail Columbia]

The blue line, the Market-Frankford Elevated, runs on under-running third rail, just like the one used on the Metro-North system.  The orange line, the Broad Street Subway, runs on traditional over-running third rail, and the green line, being the streetcar lines, run on trolley wire.  It has yet to be upgraded to modern catenary wire.

[Hail Columbia]

What's the difference between under running and over running third rail? What kind of third rail does the Norristown trolley have?

Under-running third rail is supposed to be safer than over-running third rail, since the contact area of the under-running third rail is on the bottom, which is harder to accidentally step on than over-running third rail, but it has not really caught on.

Did you come to Philadelphia just to go on the trolley those times?

Oh yes.

[takebackourtemple]

   Almost all new rail systems in this country have catenary installed when they are electrified, with the exception of systems such as the JFK Airtrain that use linear induction motors. Catenary is better because there are no gaps which result in less arcing and better mechanically suited for high speed operation.
   Of course when an existing line is extended, the same system is usually used. Some places like Connecticut don't legally allow third rail, hence, the Metro North lines through Connecticut are third rail in Grand Central Station but switch to Catenary I think when they cross the east river bridge. Don't get over-running confused with overhead.
   Over or under running is which side of the rail the shoes of the train make contact with. There are several types of overhead power. Typically the overhead Catenary is AC with a high voltage that enables power to be transmitted a lot more efficiently than DC power. In cases such as some of the San Fran Trolleys(I'm not sure if the green line is the same) there are two overhead connections. I'm not sure why, but I guess the ground does not make a good enough ground.
   Most of the older subway systems which use third rail use a lower voltage DC because that was state of the art when the system was built.