I am traveling to Philly tomorrow for a business meeting. I will have all of Thursday afternoon to do something rail-related. I have two options, I have enough time to do one, but wanted some input.

1. RRMPA/Strasburg. It's only about an hour from the airport (allegedly, according to Google). I visited the place about 15 years ago, but would like to go back.

2. Transit. The other option was to do some transit-fanning in town, riding the Norristown High Speed Line, the suburban trolley lines, and maybe the EL downtown.

Any other suggestions? The plus side is that I'll be back in about 2 weeks for a follow up meeting, so I can do whatever I don't do this trip, but also include any other suggestions you all may have.

Thanks in advance.

.

If it were me, no question. Option 1.

Lancaster is an hour by train (Amtrak), but then you need to rent a car or take a taxi. There's no car rental at the train station.

I did a day in Philly last year. It wasn't near enough time. An afternoon would probably be enough for a sizeable transit sampling. But to see any sights would take up all your time.

I think Strasburg is my best bet. I'm staying near Valley Forge (also near my meeting), so it's on the "right" side of town. I'll do some transit sampling on my next trip.

Thanks for the advice.

David

You answered my first question, where in the Phila. area are you going to be. Based on that information, you made a good choice. However, allow at least 3 hours to return to the airport. For future reference, the suburban trolley lines are supposed to be shut down until December for track reconstruction. Also, from your location, a good short trip is to start at Norristown and make a round trip to Central Phila., one way on the Market-Frankford line and the Norristown high speed line, and the other way on the former Reading electrified commuter rail line.

Definitely Strasburg if you have the time.

There's lot of other cool stuff around Philly to see too, but you usually benefit strongly from a guide.

Yes, I always forget about the traffic problem. Living in St. Louis, I often hear people complain about "traffic." They haven't seen real "traffic" until they've been to a larger city.

Two weeks ago, I had a business appointment in downtown Chicago. I flew to O'Hare and took the CTA Blue Line in. On the way back, I noticed traffic backups in BOTH directions. That's traffic.

When I approach a large city, it's in one of two modes: Either I have a car, or I'm footloose and fancy free. That 100% controls what I do.

If I were in urban Philly footloose, I would of course explore the transit. Rumor has it they've re-streetcar'ed one of their old streetcar lines.

If I were in suburban Philly carbound, then I would avoid the urban core like the plague, and look for carbound destinations.

Sure, you can switch. Carbound, you can take a commuter train into the city proper. Urban downtowns are covered with car rental offices and they are often cheaper than at the airport. However this transition takes a lot of time.

I live near Valley Forge and regularily travel to the city for work. I leave at 3:30pm every afternoon to make it to the airport area by 5pm. The route is the Schuylkill Expressway which is almost always jamed both directions in the afternoon and morning. Middle of the day is OK. Traffic is worse if there is a baseball game that evening.

"If I were in urban Philly footloose, I would of course explore the transit. Rumor has it they've re-streetcar'ed one of their old streetcar lines. "

This is the route 15 trolley which is Septa's only PCC car route. It runs on Girard Av. This is an exit off of the Schuylkill Expressway (at the Zoo). Well worth a half hour to see a couple of the PCC's in historic PTC paint since you go right past it when traveling between the airport and VF.

If you are back on a weekend you should hit Wilmington and Western as well. Fantastic shortline feel only 45 minutes from Philly. I could also arrange for you to visit a few model railroads in the area if you were into that too.

Depends on your tastes, I suppose.

The PRR Museum along with Strasburg is hard to top. If you get there in the afternoon you are going to be frustrated to the point of missing your flight in
order to see everything you encounter - a full day barely covers the Museum, the shop tour at Strasburg and the multiple excursions.

You can get to Strasburg in an hour - take 76 West to 202 South to Rt 30 and
you'll be there in no time. You can check Amtraks schedule and time a view while
in the area. If you have time at night you could do the transit stuff then - head over to 30th Street (accessable by train to and from the airport) and watch some late night action (SEPTA, AMTAK and subway).

Enjoy!

/Mitch

Please, Mitch and everyone else who keeps doing this: it's the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, not "The PRR Museum."

And some folks keep wondering why I lobby for them to "trade" or otherwise "lose" a couple PRR steamers in exchange for Reading, D&H, LV, B&LE, P&LE, B&O, or even NYC rolling stock..... (The ultimately perfect acquisition: the NYC/Monongahela/D&H "Sharks," of course......)

And then you have the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum with CNJ, WM and C&O displays, to name a few. Guilty as charged - maybe the PRR does need a more diverse collection! And the B&O RR Museum should be called the Baltimore Railroad Msueum. I usually find myself double checking before posting but it slipped by that time.

/Mitch

If you actually paid attention to the B&O Railroad Museum and B&O history, you'd find that, at various times, the B&O controlled (financially and corporately) the WM and CNJ, and that the C&O actually corporately owned the B&O long before the Chessie system merger. So C&O, WM, and CNJ (and even, for a while, Chicago South Shore & South Bend) equipment is ALL part of the "B&O story" and pertinent to the Museum's stated mission.

The PRR rolling stock at the RR Museum of Pa. are critical to that Museum's mission, too--but so are the Lehigh Valley RDC, the LO&S motorcar, the NKP 757, the Amtrak E60CH, the fireless steamers, the Climax, and the Reading MU car.