Can I Go From Philadelphia to Harrisburg Using Only Local Transit?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ค. 2023
- In the early 1900s, trolley touring was all the rage, as people would jump from car to car to cover vast distances at slow speeds. Over a hundred years later, I'm setting off to see if such a journey can still work today. Featuring dinosaurs.
sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEPTA_R... by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Discord: / discord
Help make my next trips happen on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/classywhale
Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/classywhale?f...
Classy Whale - at-least-weekly misadventures with trains and transit!
no snyders factory 0/10
True, but Downingtown IS the origin of Auntie Anne's, so I guess that counts as far as pretzel history goes. Sadly they don't have a museum there for it
@@AverytheCubanAmerican Oh wow really? I'm from Downingtown and I didn't know that!! That's really neat
Hey miles, I was wondering if any fare evasion challenges are in the works?
local public transport between Lancaster and York is perfectly possible- you just need to be in the UK and not the Northeast US
Do You mean no Calder Valley Line York Lancaster Leeds via Bradford Interchange Halifax or the Northern Transpennine Route via Huddersfield
@@EpicThe112 either route works
W comment.
@@EpicThe112does that count as local transit...
@@shreychaudhary4477 it will if you have buses on both ends some of them have to use the motorway M62
This video is an excellent testament as to why trolleys need to make a comeback in the US!... or at least, why local public transit operators need to make an effort to offer fast, frequent and convenient bus service.
There is no reason trolleys when 99% of people want to go to Harrisburg take the turnpike.
as someone who just moved to York I am also baffled as to why there isn't a direct bus between here and Lancaster.
11:59 That's Barney Ewell! He was born in Harrisburg in 1918 but passed in Lancaster in 1996. He won three medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Silver medals for the 100m and 200m, and a gold for the 4x100m relay. He thought he won a gold for the 100m, but the victory was given to fellow American Harrison Dillard, who got a world record as a result. That was actually the first time a photo finish was used at the Olympic Games! Harrison is still the only man in Olympic history to win gold in both the 100m sprint and 110m hurdles. But the fact Barney nearly won and was able to keep up the pace is still a feat. On top of all that, Barney also served in WWII!
The WW Griest Building was designed by C. Emlen Urban who worked on the Hager Building, Farmer's Southern Market, and Stevens High School also in Lancaster, as well as the Hershey Community Center Building in Hershey! He actually knew Milton Hershey personally, and he designed many of its buildings as Hershey developed like the original Hershey factory from 1903 and the Hershey Theatre!
Hey Whale! The Regional Connector is opening in Los Angeles on June 16th. Huge game changer for the city! And you can ride the Longest Light Rail Line In The World! You know you want to!
I feel like a larger SEPTA Regional Rail network would make this easier.
At least the Paoli/Thorndale line is being extended to Coatesville in 2 years. It's something, but I do agree, it's a shadow of what it used to be still. Those quasi-intercity lines they used to run are talked about at least, but far from being restored as of yet.
The bus route that is missing, Lancaster to Harrisburg via Hershey weekends in September and October via rt.72
With all the stuff that SEPTA has to do counter I don't think there's enough market traffic to run lines out that far?
@@WALTERBROADDUS I'd argue it can be if the service runs at a speed and a frequency (more the latter) that can match it. I can see services from Philly to Allentown, Reading (which is likely to be an Amtrak route in the present with the SVPRA), and Pottstown among others. If run with good restoration of infrastructure and good trains, it's possible to create what I've come to call "The InterCity 125 Effect", which would see far reaching towns like those become proper commuter towns for Philly, the same way that the real InterCity 125 in Britain turned towns like Swindon, and Bristol (almost on the other side of the country) into commuter towns for London. Is that optimistic? Sure, but people said the same about a revival of rail travel in Britain and elsewhere, and a good service with good frequency, equipment and speed (through both rolling stock and infrastructure) can win them back. The demographics are there, with a lot of sizable towns and cities (a lot of them with a classic town arrangement with a central station) connected by current or former rail rights of way, and some of the lost ones can be restored. It's ultimately down to a good plan being presented and public momentum behind it, like what I hope the Roosevelt Boulevard subway becomes, and what current developments are suggesting can come true.
@@stephenlaarkamp7344 I would contend that covid has shown that people can do without long commutes to cities to work or shop. SEPTA is not getting funding from those outer counties. The core city division infrastructure needs work first. The whole Northeast Philadelphia subway project is just a pipe dream. Now if the green energy folks get their way? And car travel no longer is practical; man perhaps a long-range Rail Project may have some Merit? But you're already doubling down on what Amtrak provides.
8:02 Funnily enough, where I work, an evaluator was trying to get on a bus, so he could grade the driver, but the driver just waved back and kept driving.😂
Also 14:52 We also have those where I work, but no one ever remembers to take them.😂
This was awesome. I do wish there was actually commuter rail that could get you from Philly to Harrisburg and Lancaster, but this was fun to watch!
There was actually a plan for a Harrisburg to Lancaster commuter train, but it never materialized
@@ClassyWhale the more I learn about rail in PA, the more that seems to be the story 😂
My dad is a transit planning consultant, and he’s currently working on a project in Lancaster county
Seriously, SEPTA should have regional rail trains to York, Lancaster and Harrisburg, Reading, Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton PA / Parkersburg NJ to link up to NJ Transit, and maybe to Havre de Grace MD where it can hook up with MARC.
THAT would be cool!
They used to go to Allentown as recently as the 1980s.
Now you're talkin about going outside of the five-county area that makes up SEPTA. I don't think the demand is there. And they have enough trouble keeping the service that they already have going.
Amtrak wants to restore light rail to the Lehigh Valley but Conrail owns all of the rail lines locally and block access. Lanta has to resort to a septa halfway bus connection
Lanta and NJ Transit have a bus connection in Bethlehem
What a journey 👍🏿🚎🚍
I suddenly need to see a transit challenge from Lancaster PA to Lancaster CA
I'm considering it
Wow. Caleb did ALOT of research for this. Great job 👍
Super interesting. Thanks for sharing. Getting rid of trolleys and interurbans is one the more terrible things, at least transport policy wise, the U.S. ever did. And it seems with all the traffic and pollution, isolation, particulary for those who can't drive a car for myriad reasons, and ever increasing traffic deaths we've sadly reaped the seeds we've sown with car dependency. I hope we can change.
18:00 The Paleo Nerd in me is screaming internally at this bit. Dinosaurs can have wings, they are called birds!
Interestingly, there's another possible trolley holiday from Philly to Harrisburg. You can go via Baltimore and ride Rabbit Transit's 83S.
You can also take Lebanon Transit from Lancaster Park City Mall to Hershey, and then CAT Rt 322 to Harrisburg.
It's cool that there are multiple options.
The one glitch right now is no good way to get from Joppatowne to White Marsh MD. otherwise I can go Greenfield, MA ( western Mass off 91) to Quantico, VA without needing an Amtrak, Dog, or friends of Dog (e g , Peter Pan, Megabus, etc ).
Been toying with the idea of doing this, but from Scranton to Philly!
That was a very impressive journey you made there. That was a nice bus station that you took the express bus service from. I hope that it is not that quiet all the time as it might be taken off. You certainly had a good couple of days for the journey, the weather looked great
We were riding York to Harrisburg in the afternoon...there were a lot of people getting on to head the other way from downtown!
I wish America had never gotten rid of it's trolleys/streetcars/interurbans. So cool how you used to be able to go almost anywhere in a frequently stopping, people transporting and trolley pole using vehicle!
In Europe this challeng is not a challeng. Just normal transportion from A to B.
A bus system is more flexible.
@@WALTERBROADDUS Trams and trains are better. Bus can help tram system. I often go by tram to an line end and then by bus outside the city.
@@amadeosendiulo2137 not when you have to build dedicated infrastructure and acquire right-of-way land.
This is a really cool concept Caleb!
So many transfers, 😂😂 my boy repping Cali all the way tho.. saludos..
Overbrook IS NOT a suburb of Philadelphia. It is an area named Overbrook within the city limits. It is on the border of Montgomery County which is separated by city line ave.
They had these in SoCal too!!! LA to Huntington Beach! When grandma was a kid-!
I have a quibble here. Back in the day when long distance trolley touring was possible, I think the idea was not just to avoid "intercity" rail (or, for that matter, intercity bus where it existed). The aim was to use only electric trolley and interurban lines... and avoid using the "steam" railroads. Nowadays, Class 1 railroads are out of the local commuter rail business, so it's all now provided by "local transit authorities." That allowed you to get away with using SEPTA Regional Rail part of the way, a service formerly provided by a steam railroad. This, I think, would've been against the rules of pre-WW2 trolley touring. It seems part of the plan was to travel routes that followed former trolley lines that paralleled the old Pennsy Main Line as closely as possible. To avoid the commuter train, one would have had a more complex journey. From 63rd & Malvern, you would take bus routes 105, 106 and 92 to get to the 135 at West Chester rather than Downingtown. A slightly quicker alternative would be the 105 to 69th St and then the 104 to West Chester.
4:02 This is not a pavement, this is a kerb.
(Transllation to US English: This is not a sidewalk, this is a curb.)
Those position light signals at the Lancaster station look awesome! I love the approaching indications
PSA: If you attempt this again and actually do the bus through Middletown, be advised that it has kind of a cute heritage railroad with some random SEPTA/T rolling stock, cats, and some other somewhat common but nice stuff apparently, as well as a (frankly not very good) brewery and an absolutely *fantastic* Indian restaurant.
In the early 1990s there was an effort to establish light rail service from Harrisburg west to Carlisle and east to Lancaster. (Look up the Modern Transit Partnership)They got as far as completing a feasibility study that concluded this was indeed needed, but there was too much opposition from local political officials. I can only imagine 30 years on what that system would be like today.
In England when you reach state pension age, which at the moment is 66, you can get a Freedom Pass which allows free travel after 09:30 on weekdays and at any time on weekends and public holidays on local buses throughout the country. I don’t think it extends into Scotland or Wales, but I’m not sure. Some years ago a woman wrote a book about travelling the whole length of the country using only this and since this several other people have also done it, including somebody that I know
I got mine in May, and since it is a London issued one it is also valid on most local rail services within the London area.
Awesome video
Ah, the 10. The reason I thought trolleys weren't reliable when I was a kid.
It’s sad because there was a trolley line from Coatesville through Parkesburg, and from Parkesburg to Gap and Paradise to Lancaster. It closed in the 30s or 40s. In Parkesburg and Paradise there are still identical buildings that once were rotary AC-DC electrical converter stations for the trolley line. There are catenary poles to be seen if you know where to look. In Kinzers there are a few random poles in the middle of a corn field that align with North Kinzers Rd.
“Oh it’s a trolly holiday with Mary”
little tidbit Overbrook Station was built somewhere around 1840.
So much research into this! Nice job, Caleb!
To be fair when you ride on buses for too long, you definitely go crazy. But the banter at the end was pretty funny! More of that, please!
“Caleb went down to New Haven just to have a trolley ride”
Finish the song
>no direct bus from Lancaster to York
A modern-day War of the Roses, for sure
E: That's actually not too terrible for sight-reading at the end. Was the sheet music you found written in Eb Major?
I cannot believe you forgot a "Caleb didn't do his research" when you went to the wrong stop...
Yesterday was a W stream
Sweet!!!!!!!
Rabbit transit! Thats my bus agency, hell ya!
Your storytelling gets better and better aided by an excellent amount of research!
What would have been the cost of all the local transit vs Amtrak?
16:31 LMAO
also at 16:40 did you bring a recorder just for that?
I liked the video for North American Street running light rail 😈😈😈😈
I am curious how the trip would be with a folding e bike to skip ten miles at a time if you need to
Damn if I knew you were going to be at the East york Walmart I would have stopped to say hi
Question;
What is the longest distance someone can travel ONLY by using public transportation in the lower 48 states not using Amtrak, rail, trolley, Greyhound, Uber, Lyft, taxi or walking for more than half a mile to a mile? How long will it take and how much will it cost?
More missing connections: SEPTA and LANTA, SEPTA and BARTA, BARTA and LANTA, and BARTA and RRTA. I wish PA had NJ level connectivity. Instead, we get individual local transit companies, all underfunded I might add, that don't connect to each other. It's just frustrating.
6:02 what an interesting fun fact, how do you have friends that will do thiis with you ?
Thanks for another interesting odd ball way to get around between cities without using Amtrak or inter city busses. I do find it odd that there is no good local bus service between Lancaster and Harrisburg. I guess they feel Amtrak does a good enough job to cover that route. However a limited stop local bus would be good to serve some of the towns that Amtrak does not stop at. One last note Overbrook is a neighborhood in the city of Philadelphia. You do not leave the city limits till you pass under the bridge on the train that carries City Line Avenue over the tracks. City Line Ave is the dividing line between Philadelphia and Montgomery County in that area. That is one reason if you drive or ride the bus on City Line Ave. you will notice more retail stores on the Montgomery County side of the street. The sales tax and other taxes are less there.
Coatesville is not the main line. It ends at Malvern.
I wonder whay the very first tram was so spectacularly empty? And the same thought about the last coach/bus. Is it the day of the week? Is there very little demand???
The first trolley was full of people until near the end of the route. I usually only take interior shots when there's hardly anybody on board. The last coach bus was a reverse peak trip at rush hour, lots of people got on when we got off at Harrisburg
@@ClassyWhale thanks! This is much clearer now. My last visit to Harrisburg was in 1991, so I recornized the dome. I spent a school year in Carlisle, PA as a foreign student.
Lebanon?It does rather remind me of Beirut!
If this was proper there would be more amusement parks as former stations
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_park
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorney_Park_%26_Wildwater_Kingdom
Dorney Park traces its history to 1860, when Solomon Dorney built a trout hatchery and summer resort on his estate outside of Allentown. In 1870, Dorney decided to convert the estate into a public attraction. Initially, the facility featured games, playground-style rides, refreshment stands, picnic groves, a hotel, and a restaurant. By the 1880s, Dorney had added a small zoo and garden.
When the Allentown-Kutztown Traction Company completed its trolley line from Allentown to Kutztown in 1899, the company added a stop at Dorney's park. Two years later, the traction company purchased the park, operating it until 1923, when the park was sold to Robert Plarr and two other partners. Plarr soon bought out his partners and ran Dorney Park independently until his death in 1966. Ownership then passed to Plarr's son, Stephen, who died within a year. Robert Ott, Plarr's son-in-law, took over as owner in 1967. In 1985, Ott sold Dorney Park to Harris Weinstein. Weinstein owned it until 1992, when he sold the park to Cedar Fair
Septa regional rail should go out to Parkesburg with a few trains going to Lancaster. Then there might be a bus to Harrisburg and it would be so much easier
Now you're talkin about adding counties to the system. A system that has enough trouble I would worry more about what it has already. City Riders take priority.
@@WALTERBROADDUS That’s why we should split into regional and regional express. Having to separate divisions can help.
@@collectivelyimprovingtrans2460 there's not a real Market for travel outside of Chester County? And most certainly not a market for going to Lancaster or York County. That may be some sort of a green energy dream? But with a existing Turnpike system, not practical.
isnt that what the keystone service does?
@@shreychaudhary4477 that provides intercity service while SEPTA should provide regional service
Can you please make a video about 9 Town trainst with miles in transit
What is that?
@@ClassyWhale it is a bus 🚌 in ct
@@ClassyWhale the buses between New London (SEAT) and New Haven division CTtransit.
You should have paid an Amish buggy lol 😂
Almost 5k for my northeastern boy ,,
Before watching I’d say no,....unless you count Amtrak as local transit.......
What's the cheapest way between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg?
Not this lol. Just take Amtrak.