GEC's roster thread

[Green_Elite_Cab]

9168 is a fantasy, never a Reading car. It was NYC M499, then PC99 and through a few other owners before landing on the RBMN and ending up 9168.

--Randy

Ah, I just got the book "Reading in the Conrail Era Book 2", and it claims 9168 was indeed an RDC-3, from they NYC/PC as you said, but it also went to SEPTA in the late 70s. Apparently, SEPTA had it rebuilt into a coach sometime in the late 70s, but i'm not sure how long they had it as an RDC-3. It may or may not have had "Reading" markings on it, i can't find any photos from that time.


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A new addition to the roster-

PATCO-1 EMU cars.

These cars are unique to the Port Authority Transit Company (part of the Delaware river port authority). The High Speed Line (as its known), started out in the later part of the 1930s, connecting Philadelphia with Camden, New Jersey by crossing along the sides of the Ben Franklin Bridge. It eventually followed the PRSL all the way down to Lindenwold, NJ and was electrified with 750 vold DC third rail. Until the mid 70s, trains actually ran at 75 MPH over the NJ sections (though speed was reduced when underground and on the Bridge), but were slowed to 65 when it was shown that this dramatically reduced wear on the equipment.

the PATCO-1 cars were built in 1968 by the Budd Company, and they were some of the first computer controlled automatic trains. This means that the train starts and stops largely by itself, with only the engineer supervising the train. It is policy on the PATCO for an engineer to manual drive the train once a day so to remain practiced in running the cars. If a station stop is to be passed while the train is in automatic mode, the engineer simply hits an override button, and the train keeps going. The railroad itself is controlled by 2 men (1 in off peak hours), still using the an old CTC machine to this day to control train movement. "Control Tower" as it is called, is located near the Broadway Station in Camden.

The PATCO-1 cars came in Married Pairs and Single types. the Married pairs are the bulk of the operation, and are preferred. Single cars typically only show up when there are no more married pairs available, and in the middle of the night when ridership is likely very low. The PATCO-1 cars themselves have not changed drastically since 1968 other than some modifications to increase reliability. In fact, the Interior design is EXACTLY the same today as it was back when they were delivered.

An additional set of nearly identical "PATCO-II" cars were built in 1979 to Budd blue prints by the Hawker Sidely corporation. These cars are nearly identical. The only external difference is that the new cars lacked skirting covering their under bodies.

One unusual feature of the PATCO-1 is that the engineer sits on the left hand side of the car. At the time, Philadelphia area commuter trains were looking into a "Pay as you go" method of ticket collection (in fact, the Silverliner IIIs, also built in 1968, had a left-handed engineer's position for the same reason. Neither cars ever used this method of payment). Another reason for the PATCO-1's left handed engineer position was to reduce the crew down to one man. Being on the left side, the engineer could observe the loading/unloading of passengers, open and close the doors, and take questions from passengers. Since all stations are high-level Islands, there is rarely a time the engineer is not on the correct side of the train. When a train does have to make a stop on the "wrong side", Mirrors are mounted on the stations for the engineer to see from his position.

Probably the most fun thing about riding PATCO trains are the "front" seats. The PATCO cars have no "cab", just a small curtain partition for the Engineer's privacy. The right hand row of seats go all the way to the front (I actually rode in those seats on the real PATCO when i went to buy these models ). Its a lot of fun, and if you're lucky, you'll spot a passing NJ Transit push pull. Its also cheap.

The models are made by Imperial Hobby Productions (IHP). They are very detailed and look great with full interiors. the kits are also pretty simple. Fortunately, decal sets are available for these unique cars. They were sold in Married pairs. I do not know if they made single-car version.