Silverliner IV

Last updated
PC MA-1E/MA-1F / RDG REG-13 / Silverliner (IV)
SEPTA GE Silverliner IV 308.jpg
Silverliner IV 308 at Fern Rock Transportation Center
In service1974present
Manufacturer General Electric, Avco
Built atErie, Pennsylvania
Family name Silverliner
Number built232
FormationSingle unit/ Married pair
Fleet numbersPC cars: Single Units: 274-303, Married Pairs: 304-399
Reading cars: Single Units: 9018-9031, Married Pairs: 101-188
Current: Single Units: 270-303, 400-416
Married Pairs: 101-188, 304-399, 417-460
Capacity155
Operators Reading Railroad
Penn Central Railroad
Conrail
SEPTA
Specifications
Car body construction Stainless steel
Car length85 ft (25.91 m)
Width9 ft 11+12 in (3.035 m)
Height14 ft 5 in (4.39 m)
Doors2 end doors w/ traps
Maximum speed100 mph (160 km/h)
Weight120,600 lb (54,700 kg)
Traction systemTransformed line current fed through a combination of silicon and mercury arc Ignitron rectifiers in conjunction with a phase angle motor controller. All commuter cars later converted entirely to silicon rectifier.
Power output550 hp (410 kW)
Electric system(s) 11-13.5 kV 25 Hz AC
Current collector(s) Pantograph
UIC classification Bo’Bo’
AAR wheel arrangement B-B
Braking system(s) Pneumatic, Dynamic
Coupling system WABCO Model N-2
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Silverliner IV is the fourth-generation electric multiple unit railcar in the Silverliner family. It was designed and built by General Electric and was delivered between 1973 and 1976. It operates on the SEPTA Regional Rail network throughout Greater Philadelphia.

Contents

The 232-car Silverliner IV order was the largest order of the Silverliner series to date. It allowed for the retirement of most of the Reading electric multiple units and PRR MP54 cars, which dated from at least the 1930s. Three times as numerous as the previous Silverliner trains put together, the Silverliner IV became SEPTA's most common passenger railcar from 1976 onward. Like the Silverliner II and III cars, the IV cars were owned by SEPTA and provided to the private railroads for use in their state-supported commuter rail operations until SEPTA assumed direct operation in 1983.

Features

The cars were ordered from General Electric and Avco. [1] Aside from the boxier look and smaller side windows, the main changes between the new IVs and earlier Silverliners included a dynamic brake system, for which the resistance grids were fitted in the car's signature roof hump, and, for the Penn Central cars, a trainline automatic door system which removed the need for train crew to manually open doors at high level platforms. The Silverliner IVs were also the first to be delivered in a married pair configuration, although a minority of cars were outfitted as single units. They were also the first to be equipped with a PA system. The delivery of the Silverliner IVs allowed SEPTA to replace most of its remaining PRR MP54s and Reading's pre-war MU fleet save for the 38 rebuilt "Blueliner" cars. While being fitted with an updated propulsion system from General Electric, the Silverliner IVs were nevertheless still delivered with Ignitron tube rectifiers, which were later replaced with silicon controlled rectifiers.

A readily apparent external feature of the Silverliner IV is a windowed body panel plug in the middle of the cars on each side, a provision for high-platform-only center doors which have never been installed, in contrast with New Jersey Transit's similar, contemporary Arrow II and III cars which were built with such doors. Internally, pairs of seats occupy this partitioned area which was intended for passenger flow. [2]

Delivery

The Reading got the first batch of Silverliner IVs in the form of 14 single unit cars produced during 1973. The first two (#9018 and #9019) were unveiled to the press on Thursday, February 21, 1974. [1] These were numbered in series with their existing Silverliner IIs, 9018 through 9031. In 1974-75 the Penn Central took delivery of 34 single units numbered 270 through 303. Delivery of the Silverliner IVs were briefly interrupted by the production of 70 Arrow II cars for the New Jersey Department of Transportation before the Penn Central received 96 pairs numbered 304 through 399. [1] Finally in 1976 the Reading took delivery of a final batch of 88 pairs numbered 101 through 188. [3] [ failed verification ] All the IVs were delivered with the circular SEPTA logo on the left, and the Penn Central or Reading logo on the right, of all car sides and ends, although the Reading black diamond logo was omitted (and the space left blank) on cars 129-188 which were delivered after the Reading Company was absorbed into Conrail on April 1, 1976. These logos remained mostly intact until 1983, when SEPTA took over commuter rail operations from Conrail and quickly began applying its current rectangular logo over all the others.

Modifications

SEPTA GE Silverliner IV at Bryn Mawr, PA, interlocking SEPTA GE Silverliner IV SPAX313.jpg
SEPTA GE Silverliner IV at Bryn Mawr, PA, interlocking

The Silverliner IVs have never been officially rebuilt, but there have been a number of modifications to the class. The propulsion system was initially upgraded from the original mercury arc–based Ignitron rectifiers to more reliable solid state silicon controlled rectifiers and later the main transformers had their coolant replaced with one that did not contain PCBs. As this change was carried out in the early 1990s, all of the 9000 series Reading cars and some of the Penn Central cars were renumbered into the series 400 through 460 to help keep track of which units had undergone the modification. [3] [ failed verification ] When the Center City Commuter Connection opened in 1984, the Reading cars were converted to full train automatic door operation to take advantage of the high level platforms at the new Market East Station (now Jefferson Station) and others on the former PRR "side" of the system. In the late 1990s the fleet received its most noticeable upgrade with the original "ketchup and mustard" colored interior replaced with a softer gray motif as well as softer seating. Around 2004 SEPTA began to replace the cowcatcher pilots equipped on the original Reading cars with a bar type pilot to match those on the PRR cars. Starting in 2009 SEPTA began to replace the original Faiveley pantographs with more modern Schunk type units.

Service history

The Silverliner IV fleet has provided service on all of SEPTA's Regional Rail routes, providing the backbone of SEPTA's service plan, with older equipment tending to be used on peak services only. Most SEPTA trains consist of a single pair of Silverliner IVs, with longer trains made up as needed. The single units are most frequently coupled to pairs to make 5 or 3 car trainsets, although single units are run alone on Cynwyd Line service.

In 2013, SEPTA announced it had begun the process of replacing the Silverliner IV fleet, [4] and in 2015, listed the replacement of the Silverliner IV with the as of yet built Silverliner VI as part of its ongoing renewal program, though no timeline was given for the retirement of the Silverliner IV fleet. [5] Only one car, #9020, has been retired as of 2023 after a severe rear-end collision in the vicinity of the North Wales station in 1980, which damaged the car beyond repair. [6]

On August 29, 2018, car 144 was heavily damaged in an electrical fire at Glenside station. [7] Its mate, car 143, was repaired. Single car 278 was renumbered to 144 and mated to 143. The burnt 144 was renumbered to 278, with the possibility of being converted to a control car for work trains. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SEPTA</span> Public transportation authority

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people in five counties in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It also manages projects that maintain, replace and expand its infrastructure, facilities and vehicles.

<i>Keystone Service</i> Amtrak service in Pennsylvania

The Keystone Service is a 195 mile regional passenger train service from Amtrak between the Harrisburg Transportation Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, running along the Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line. Most trains continue along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) to Penn Station in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budd Company</span> United States historic place

The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SEPTA Regional Rail</span> Commuter rail service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US

The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by SEPTA and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its suburbs and satellite towns and cities. It is the sixth-busiest commuter railroad in the United States, and the busiest outside of the New York, Chicago, and Boston metropolitan areas. In 2016, the Regional Rail system had an average of 132,000 daily riders and 118,800 daily riders as of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suburban Station</span> Station on the SEPTA Regional Rail

Suburban Station is an art deco office building and underground commuter rail station in Penn Center in Philadelphia. Its official SEPTA address is 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. The station is owned and operated by SEPTA and is one of the three core Center City stations on the SEPTA Regional Rail and one of the busiest stations in the Regional Rail System.

Push–pull is a configuration for locomotive-hauled trains, allowing them to be driven from either end of the train, whether having a locomotive at each end or not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Railroad class E44</span>

The PRR E44 was an electric, rectifier-equipped locomotive built by General Electric for the Pennsylvania Railroad between 1960 and 1963. The PRR used them for freight service on the Northeast Corridor. They continued in service under Penn Central and Conrail until Conrail abandoned its electric operations in the early 1980s. They were then acquired by Amtrak and NJ Transit, where they lived short lives; all were retired by the mid-1980s. One is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet (railcar)</span> Class of locomotive-hauled railcars

The Comet railcar is a class of locomotive-hauled railcars that was first designed in the late 1960s by Pullman-Standard as a modern commuter car for North American rail lines. Later, the Comet moniker was adopted by NJ Transit for all of its non-powered single level commuter coaches. Additional series of cars bearing the Comet name, based on the original design, have since been built by Bombardier Transportation and Alstom. The successful design was adopted by numerous commuter agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M1/M3 (railcar)</span> Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North car

The M1 and M3 are two similar series of electric multiple unit rail cars built by the Budd Company for the Long Island Rail Road, the Metro-North Railroad and Metro-North's predecessors, Penn Central and Conrail. Originally branded by Budd as Metropolitans, the cars are more popularly known under their model names, M1 and M3. The Metro-North cars were branded under the M1A and M3A series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer III</span>

The Pioneer III railcar was a short/medium-distance coach designed and built by the Budd Company in 1956 with an emphasis on weight savings. A single prototype was built, but declines in rail passenger traffic resulted in a lack of orders so Budd re-designed the concept as an electric multiple unit (m.u.). Six of the EMU coach design were purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad with the intention of using them as a high-speed self-contained coach that could be used for long-distance commuter or short-distance intercity travel in the Northeast U.S. The 6 production Pioneer III units were the first all-stainless-steel-bodied EMU railcar built in North America and, at 90,000 pounds (41,000 kg), the lightest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn Line</span> MARC commuter rail service from Washington, D.C., to Perryville, Maryland

The Penn Line is a MARC passenger rail service operating between Union Station in Washington, D.C., and Perryville, Maryland, along the far southern leg of the Northeast Corridor; most trains terminate at Baltimore's Penn Station. It is MARC's only electrified line. With trains operating at speeds of up to 125 miles per hour (201 km/h), it is the fastest commuter rail line in the United States. The service is operated by Amtrak under contract to the Maryland Transit Administration. MARC sets the schedules, owns most of the stations, and controls fares, while Amtrak owns and maintains the right-of-way, supplies employees to operate trains, and maintains the rolling stock. It is the busiest of MARC's three lines, with twice as many trains and ridership as the Brunswick and Camden lines combined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PRR MP54</span>

The Pennsylvania Railroad's MP54 was a class of electric multiple unit railcars. The class was initially constructed as an unpowered, locomotive hauled coach for suburban operations, but were designed to be rebuilt into self-propelled units as electrification plans were realized. The first of these self-propelled cars were placed in service with the PRR subsidiary Long Island Rail Road with DC propulsion in 1908 and soon spread to the Philadelphia-based network of low frequency AC electrified suburban lines in 1915. Eventually the cars came to be used throughout the railroad's electrified network from Washington, D.C. to New York City and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budd Metroliner</span> Retired high-speed train

The Budd Metroliner was a class of American electric multiple unit (EMU) railcar designed for first-class, high-speed service between New York City and Washington, D.C., on the Northeast Corridor. They were designed for operation up to 150 miles per hour (240 km/h): what would have been the first high speed rail service in the Western Hemisphere. Although 164 mph (264 km/h) was reached during test runs, track conditions and electrical issues limited top speeds to 120 mph (190 km/h) in revenue service. The single-ended units were designed to be arranged in two-car sets, which were in turn coupled into four to eight-car trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arrow (railcar)</span>

The Jersey Arrow is a type of electric multiple unit (EMU) railcar developed for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and used through successive commuter operators in New Jersey, through to NJ Transit. Three models were built, but only the third model is in use today. The series is similar to SEPTA's Silverliner series, but include center doors among other differences in details.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media/Wawa Line</span> SEPTA Regional Rail line between Center City Philadelphia and Wawa, Delaware County

The Media/Wawa Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail service that runs from Center City Philadelphia west to Wawa in Delaware County. It uses the West Chester Branch, which connects with the SEPTA Main Line at 30th Street Station. Under the Pennsylvania Railroad, service continued to West Chester, Pennsylvania. On September 19, 1986, however, service was truncated to Elwyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paoli/Thorndale Line</span> SEPTA Regional Rail service from Philadelphia to Thorndale

The Paoli/Thorndale Line, commonly known as the Main Line, is a SEPTA Regional Rail service running from Center City Philadelphia through Montgomery County and Delaware County to Thorndale in Chester County. It operates along the far eastern leg of Amtrak's Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line, which in turn was once the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad and is now part of the Keystone Corridor, a federally-designated high-speed rail corridor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silverliner V</span> Electric multiple unit railcar

The Silverliner V is an electric multiple unit railcar designed and built by Hyundai Rotem. It is used by Philadelphia's SEPTA Regional Rail and Denver, Colorado's Regional Transportation District. This is the fifth generation railcar in the Silverliner family of single level EMUs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ACMU</span> Class of American electric multiple unit

The ACMUs were a series of electric multiple unit railcars built for the New York Central Railroad in three orders between 1950 and 1965. The ACMUs were intended to replace/supplement the original fleet of heavyweight MU cars, some of which dated to the start of electric operations on the New York Central. These were the first New York Central units to offer air conditioning, with sealed windows replacing the drop sash and clerestory types found on earlier cars. The initial set of 100 cars was retired in 1970, upon completion of the M1 railcar delivery, while the second and third orders, totaling 87 cars, remained in service until 2004, when they were replaced by the new M7 fleet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silverliner</span> Series of American electric commuter railcars

Silverliner is the name given to a series of electric multiple unit (EMU) railcars in commuter rail service in the Philadelphia area since 1958. As of the introduction of the Silverliner V in 2009–2010, there have been 5 generations of Silverliner cars, identified by the Roman numerals I through V placed after the name Silverliner. The Silverliner name came from the classes' shiny stainless steel body shell, which contrasted with the painted and frequently rusting carbon steel railcars used by the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads between 1915 and 1936. Applied to the first large production order in 1963, the cars made such an impression that the name has since been applied to all subsequent MU classes purchased by SEPTA for the Regional Rail services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budd Silverliner</span> American electric multiple unit railcar

The Budd Silverliner was a model of electric multiple unit railcar designed and built by the Budd Company with 59 examples being delivered starting in 1963. Fifty-five of the cars were purchased for the Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads with public funds for use in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area commuter rail service with the remaining 4 cars being purchased by USDOT for use in high-speed rail experiments in 1965. Based on a series of 6 prototype Pioneer III cars built in 1958, the Silverliners represented the first production order of "modern" commuter MU equipment purchased by either railroad and earned their name from their unpainted stainless steel construction which contrasted with the painted carbon steel bodies of the pre-war MU fleets. The cars became a fixture of SEPTA Regional Rail service providing the name to their entire series of EMU railcars before finally being retired in 2012 after 49 years in service.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Silverliner IV: New Commuter Cars for Philadelphians". Headlights. 36 (4): 14–15. April 1974.
  2. Pawson, John R. (1978). Delaware Valley Rails. Willow Grove, PA, USA: Self-published. pp. 56, 66. ISBN   0-9602080-0-3.
  3. 1 2 Williams, Gerry (1998). Trains, Trolleys & Transit: A Guide to Philadelphia Area Rail Transit. Piscataway, New Jersey: Railpace Company. pp. 46–98. ISBN   978-0-9621541-7-1.
  4. http://articles.philly.com/2013-01-26/news/36550367_1_new-silverliner-v-cars-silverliner-iv-vehicles-and-big-construction [ bare URL ]
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2016-10-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ICC North Wales Accident Report Archived March 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  7. "VIDEO: SEPTA train catches fire at Glenside, Pa. station - 6abc Philadelphia". 30 August 2018.
  8. "Interesting consists - Page 38". RAILROAD.NET. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 2022-04-04.