SEPTA Announces Trolley Tunnel Blitz For 9 Days In July

Philadelphia, Pa, July 2, 2018 – Due to power, track and station improvement projects, SEPTA Trolley Routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 are not operable in Philadelphia’s Center City tunnel from 10 p.m. on Friday, July 13, through 4 a.m. on Monday, July 23. Trolley service begins/terminates at 40^th and Market Streets as trolleys are redirected to their alternate diversion service routing allowing for connections to SEPTA’s Market-Frankford Line at 40^th and Market Streets. Trolley passengers can change for the Market-Frankford Line at the 40^th Street Station for travel to-and-from Center City, as the work efforts don’t affect that service.

This is the fifth consecutive summer SEPTA has conducted the Trolley Tunnel Blitz. During this year’s nine-day tunnel closure, members of SEPTA’s in-house Engineering, Maintenance and Construction Division crews work around-the-clock on key maintenance and construction tasks throughout the five-mile, single loop Center City tunnel. 

                 Photo and story by Joseph M. Calisi (c)2018 All Rights Reserved

SEPTAs Trolleys Halted During Their Trolley Tunnel Blitz

Philadelphia, Pa, Wednesday, July 16, 2014 – SEPTA is following a trend other transit agencies around the country are practicing, an intensive 24/7 period of maintenance that requires a service outage for a period of time and is being nicknamed the ‘Trolley Tunnel Blitz’ for the Center City Trolley Tunnel. Beginning August 1, 2014, a 17-day period of no trolleys operating on Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36 which will be repaired for the over 5-mile tunnel route. These routes be diverted to 40th and Market streets and riders may transfer at 40th Street to the Market-Frankford Line for service to and from Center City.

New welded trolley rail, track switches, emergency lighting cables, and overhead wire are part of the maintenance program.

In a press release, SEPTA said, “Given that the Trolley Tunnel is a 5+ mile long, single track line, the length of our regular service day, and the number of Trolley routes operating through the tunnel it would take many months of night and weekend outages, spread out over the year, to complete the amount of work we have planned during this Blitz. An extended work window, during a traditionally low ridership period, makes it possible for our Track, Power, Communications and Signals, and Bridges and Buildings Maintenance Departments to efficiently complete important construction and maintenance projects that will benefit our customers."

The project is funded the Act 89 dedicated funding bill that provides the resources needed for SEPTA to begin Rebuilding for the Future. The Trolley Tunnel Blitz is part of a comprehensive infrastructure and revitalization program that tackles a $5 billion backlog of projects, including bridge replacements, substation, overhauls, and station improvements.

Joseph M. Calisi To Deliver Rousing Presentation On Transportation In Italy For The North Jersey Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society

Wednesday, March 26, 2014, Bloomfield, NJ – The North Jersey Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society will host the renowned International Transportation Photojournalist Joseph M. Calisi for a two-hour presentation about mass transportation in northern and central Italy at 7:25 pm. The focus of his Powerpoint presentation are images that were taken during the fifteen-day Electric Railroader’s Association (ERA) ‘European Extravaganza’ this past May, 2012. 

The photography shown is spectacular in that the images are totally iconic of the places where they were taken as everyday tourist locales were included to show that transportation is in the fabric of everyone’s daily lives – in effect, the images themselves told a story that supplemented the discussion at hand.

The official ERA trip began in Torino on May 10^th, 2012 with a welcoming dinner and was ‘bookended’ with a farewell dinner in Rome on May 25^th. The group of 34 men and women chased after high-speed Frecciarossas, trams, ropeways and other forms of Italian mass transportation. The presentation could not only be summed up as ‘a snapshot’ of the trip but as a thorough discussion that included history, economics, artwork and design.

The photographic essay had a special surprise – the public debut of his unique website, JosephMCalisi.com which features iconic images taken in Italy at that time.

The North Jersey Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society is located at:

84 Broad St (Bloomfield Civic Center)

Bloomfield, NJ

(parking is free after 6 pm)

Media editors: Mr. Calisi can be reached for interviews via e-mail at JMCalisi@verizon.net.

Review: Mass Transit & Trolley Modelers Convention at Rutgers University

Autumn is almost here which means it is time for the The New York City Model Transit Association annual model train show. The next day-long  rendition of this event is held at 9:30 am on Saturday, October 5, 2013 at:
Rutgers Student Center (next door to the previous gym location)
126 College Ave
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

During my previous visits to this show, different models of transit-type transportation were exhibited including subway cars that no longer exist such as BMT 'Bluebirds' on an operating layout. Vendors had all kinds of collectible items for sale ranging from photographs to books to videos to rail equipment (trolley cars, interurbans, subways, buses and their associated detail parts) in various scales mostly in O, HO and N gauges. The show isn't limited to models but vintage full-sized buses that can be described as a fleet from yesteryear will be in the parking lot.

For the serious scale modeler, model contests (scratch-built mostly) and lectures/clinics from prominent 
transit historians and modelers help give you those 'inside tips' that can make you models enterable in the aforementioned contests - heck, it will give you something to do over the winter months.

Admission is $20 (cash) with spouses and children are free. This isn't a show that generates personal wealth to the organizers but the net proceeds go to the Shore Line Trolley Museum which is still recovering from Hurricanes Irene and Sandy as that important historic venue suffered much damage in both storms.

I encourage you to come out and support this show as you can have a great time while learning about transportation history and how you can recreate it in your home.

For additional information, visit the organizer's website at:

nycmodeltransit.org/2013details.htm or by e-mail at: transitmeet@yahoo.com

NY Botanical Garden’s 2010 Holiday Train Show Opens

The Bronx, NY (November 16, 2010) – Today is media preview day for The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show which opens to the public on November 20th. This annual extravaganza showcases more than one dozen Garden-scale model trains weaving their way around various replicas of New York landmarks on nearly a quarter-mile of track. The Garden’s collection contains more than 140 structures—all created from plant materials such as leaves, twigs, bark, berries, seeds, pine cones, nuts, and pods.

This year’s notable addition is the new re-creation of Eero Saarinen’s icon of modern design, the Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight Center at JFK International Airport that opened in 1962 (right).

NYBG fan favorites such as the original Penn Station [(1910–1964) left)], Yankee Stadium (1923-2008), the Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall all return to the three Botanical Garden’s “crystal palace,” galleries in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

The New York Botanical Garden is located off the Bronx River Parkway’s 7W exit at Fordham Road and Metro-North Railroad’s Botanical Gardens stop of the Harlem line in The Bronx.


Note: Editors - for the whole story and to vew additional images for publication, contact me directly via e-mail at: transprailien@gmail.com.