The SEPTA West Chester Line: Of Ambition and Reality | How We Get Around Philly Episode 1

If we’re serious, we should already be talking about how to get service to Chad’s Ford, Kenner Square, and Oxford.

A train to West Chester would have saved all of my college commuting friends from either being constantly late because the bus is stuck in traffic or driving some rundown hooptie and getting parking tickets because it's impossible to know where you can park on college campuses. For as big as West Chester University is, it blows my mind that there is no regional rail stop there. To me that's such a no-brainer for a state university town. Great video!

As a former WCRR volunteer, I say it’s a great experience to work with them for anyone interested in railroading. Now I work as an OCS (catenary) engineer and I am sure that all ocs poles will need to be replaced for electrification of the line.

Love this video! Watch it constantly to absorb the info. Love the WC Railroad is utilizing that stretch from West Chester to Glen Mills.

You could make a great horror movie with that creepy Easter Bunny terrorizing people on the old train: "Murder on the West Chester Express."

Incredibly well made documentary! You covered every planning and railway engineering aspect of this long discussed branch line proposal with great detail. This video answered many questions the people have held about this branch for years, and also clarified various proposals and news surrounding the branch and its status. I for one support the battery powered Pop Up Metro plan as some rail service is better than nothing, even if it's not a fancy overhead wire powered MU. I'm relieved to hear that RDC still has interest in Pop Up Metro (hosted by Carnegie Mellon University) as its concept of cheaply restoring passenger service on countless branch lines has tremendous unrealized potential and could bring countless more people in more remote suburbs back to the rails. Keep up the great work and I can't wait to see where this channel and the projects it covers go next, as it is because of videos like this that ultimately rally support for more public transit that the world desperately needs.

Great video - I rode this line from West Chester to Lansdown (I attended The Friends School there) from 1979 to 1982. As kid who loved trains this was paradise. Also my mom volunteered at a shelter for women in Wawa, some days I would get there. Spent many hours walking the old Octoraro branch. Have vivid memory of train going very slow at Glen Mills Quarry,across the switch there.

1. Awesome video, I learned a lot! 2. I'm by no means an expert in trains, transportation, planning, or even heritage rail lines but you can tell the history of these things based on investment and location. Money was put into Exton because SEPTA and Amtrak were able to predict the growth that region had over the next 20 years. What they didn't anticipate is West Chester bouncing back into being such an economic hub in Chester County again and renewed activity at West Chester University. Having a line that serves Exton, Downingtown, Thorndale is all well and good but there was an unprecedented return of people and activity to the West Chester Borough that SEPTA did not account for. That's why the line is in the shape that it is and further investment was halted. That's why this is such a difficult disscussion to be had because the infrastructure is lacking 3. Cheney University lies on this line and should be a major part of this discussion. It is a state system HBCU and has been in decline due to low enrollment. Student housing can only accommodate so many students while the rest have to come from commuting and historically, those students have come from Philadelphia. If the historical rail company had a different line, then maybe I could see something else happening, but they NEED this line. It sucks but that's a big reason the college was even established here in the first place (even though times have changed and demands waned). 4. I recognize the issues that the current track has but that shouldn't stop in the way of progress and innovation. I really appreciate the way you presented ideas, clearly showing your biases but gave open discussion to other options. Having a discussion with RDC would have been better to balance things out as they have updated their initial assessment to better reflect the needs of those older bridges you mentioned, but this video does a great job even without that. Thank you!!!

The bus ride from 69th street to West Chester is Absolutely brutal

This video is incredibly well put together. Definitely earned yourself a new subscriber 😃

Thanks for the video on the West Chester line. I live in Lansdowne, Pa and ocassionaly used the old service to West Chester. As you noted it’s main failure was SEPTA only running a few one seat ride trains through to Philadelphia. And that concept was not a new SEPTA decision. The old PRR and later Penn Central service had that pattern. I believe one reason for that was because it was a one track line west of Media. If SEPTA did decide to return to West Chester I don’t see why the West Chester Railroad would have to end service. Since all their engines and cars are standard railroad specification. They would only have to upgrade their engines and control cars to meet whatever signal system SEPTA uses. I am sure some accommodation could still be made to store their trains in West Chester. Other than that it would just come down to agreeing on sharing the route on days when the West Chester Railroad would want to run. In fact if the track repairs were made and station upgrades done I don’t see why the West Chester Railroad could not provide shuttle train service to WAWA just to get things going again. And with a high level cross platform change of trains it would not be that bad for the passengers. But again this only works if SEPTA and the West Chester Railroad can come to an agreement to operate together. One of the reasons it costs so much today to restore service to old rail lines is every operator wants to make it a new first class service with all the newest features. If instead they just looked at how to restore service including having to be ADA compliant it could be done at a far lower cost. Getting the service started should be the goal. Upgrades can come later especially if the service becomes used by more passengers and that helps justify spending more money.

I really enjoyed the video and interviews. I remember when the line was electrified and we ran training trains to West Chester. Certainly, with the growth of the suburban areas around Philadelphia, service on this line should be restored and the line upgraded to modern standards. As for the West Chester RR, a possible solution for them if service was restored would be to restore the connection from West Chester to Frazier. Pa. or reopen the Octorara, branch.

Great video! I grew up in Media until I was eight and remember riding the trolley frequently. I moved out to Downingtown at eight and was in West Chester frequently and remembered seeing the Septa trains on the West Chester line as a kid. We always drove to Paoli to take the train to Center City though on the Main Line. It was always a decent trip. Thanks for this, it was nice seeing the old area again as I've been stuck in NC for years now.

These videos give the impression that these trains are slow because most show them approaching stations. This line operates at up to 60 MPH--slower than some other SEPTA lines but fast when you consider the alternatives like congested Baltimore Pike.

Interesting video I’ve always found septa and their history very interesting. I always found the fox chase line sad because apparently it used to go up further north and connect lines. I think one of the biggest frustrations with east coast transit is how it doesn’t really connect suburbs to suburbs as much. It would be cool if different transit agencies would use rail lines to have crosstown suburb service but hopefully one day rail improve all over the country

If a person in the Philly area could just hop on a Septa regional rail train and get to some other destination in the Philadelphia area in a reasonable time, everyone would be doing it. The reality is that regional rail stations aren't generally by anywhere people go. The problem with Septa regional rail is that it's designed to take people into Center City and back, and, despite the size of the system, it isn't useful for other purposes.

Excellent Documentary! Unfortunately Passenger Rail is something that is taken for granted all too much in the U.S. I feel like we as Railfans all have to get involved and ask ourselves, what can we do to improve this situation, and how. The more Passenger Rail projects we start, the more communities we will be able to connect and link up with major cities.

Great research! Glad you made this interesting video and hope you do more.

Fascinating transportation story -- great video. I learned a lot and am looking forward to more installments!

great video! I love the level of detail. one tip might be to invest in some video stabilization but not a big deal. thanks for making this