RailPictures.Net Photo: SPAX 4373 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) EMD FP7 at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania by Doug Lilly

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Since added on April 07, 2015

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» Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) (more..)
» EMD FP7 (more..)

» Unknown
» Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA (more..)
» November 26, 1977

Locomotive No./Train ID

Photographer

» SPAX 4373 (more..)
» Unknown

» Doug Lilly (more..)
» Contact Photographer · Photographer Profile

Remarks & Notes

The Reading operated a large network of commuter trains in the Philadelphia area. The majority of the equipment was electrified MU cars, both of ancient (1931) and of Silverliner vintage. For lines that outreached the Reading's electrified zones, the railroad had a fleet of RDC's and one push-pull set of conventional equipment. The push-pull train consisted of six coaches and two of three (a pair and a spare) FP7's still on the roster. When Conrail was formed, all of the Reading's passenger equipment was conveyed to SEPTA. The push-pull set had been used on a morning train from Reading to Philadelphia, returning on an evening rush-hour train on weekdays. In an attempt to optimize equipment utilization, SEPTA began sending the train to Bethlehem on a mid-day round trip, instead of letting it idle in Reading Terminal all day. As a weekday-only train, it conflicted with the work (and in my case, college class) schedules, of most railfans, so it was not heavily photographed. I finally got my chance on the day after Thanksgiving, 1977, and the train is seen here approaching the Lynn Street overpass, with Bethlehem Steel's coke works in the distant background. Only the locomotive renumbering belies the equipment's transition of ownership.

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EXIF Data for this photo: [What's this?]
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Make	Plustek
Model	OpticFilm 8200i