as you know the lower level tracks are for Amtrak trains.

I cannot tell you if the number of tracks have been reduced from the original configuration. there is facility for mail to load & unload at the post office that is across Market St.

perhaps a couple club members who are from Philly will chime in with better info.

Amtrak seeks firm to develop property near Philadelphia's 30th Street Station

http://www.progressiverailroad...treet-Station--50072

I don't like it.  The proposed buildings will cover the rail yard and hide the station, a beautiful piece of architecture from an era when architecture followed traditional practices.  That big monstrosity that was built next to the station a few years ago, already detracts from the station complex appearance.  

Development of the air rights over the RR has been a target for eons in Philly.  Fire up your drones and get your photos while you can.   Great yard shots available from high over the dam and slightly upstream in the a.m.

Prior to the 1976 Bicentennial celebration there was a move afoot to create a huge development over the same space mentioned above, preempted only by the infighting of those desiring other locations.

Sooner or later construction will cover the entire complex and make it a concrete jungle like the Madison Square concourses.

"Downtown" Philly has been edging west over the Schuylkill river for a while now joining the exploding medical complexes and will eventually eat up the unpretty housing there a bouts.

To most folks the RR holds no attraction.  My so called elite neighbor refers to RRs as an industrial eyesore.   And  to think folks like that drive and vote!

PRR Man posted:

as you know the lower level tracks are for Amtrak trains.

I cannot tell you if the number of tracks have been reduced from the original configuration. there is facility for mail to load & unload at the post office that is across Market St.

perhaps a couple club members who are from Philly will chime in with better info.

When I was there about 2 months ago there were some freight cars(hoppers) parked on another track about 6 tracks away from the Amtrak platform. Also SEPTA comes through there as well. What I have seen is that it is all electrified.

Lee Fritz

645 posted:

Well, if you ride Amtrak's Northeast Corridor thru Philly a lot of the properties look run down. I know of a few people who call it a "war zone" as it resembles the aftermath of a battle in quite a few spots. So your neighbor is being kind in a way calling it an industrial eyesore. ...

Back in the 1990's, I travelled Amtrak 3 or 4 days a week out of Philly to NYC and Baltimore/Washington.  The areas in North Philly were particularly bad back in those days, which are now over 20 years ago.  Even "war zone" is being kind.  Complete dilapidation was the norm in some neighborhoods, and folks actually lived there despite those horrible conditions.    Some of them looked like old, abandoned movie lots if you didn't know better.  Really sad.

David

I rode SEPTA from Lansdale to Penn Center in 1989 and some other year on leisure trips to visit Philly. One was a day trip to see Franklin Institute, the other we stayed in a hotel downtown for two nights. I still wish we had service to Allentown like we had in the late 70's. Going through North Philly on the train back then was like going through a war zone. Rows of houses along the tracks with no glass on the windows and looked like they were in a fire or something, all decayed and dilapidated. Why are a lot of US cities especially the ones on Amtrak's electrified NEC run down in areas and have a heavy ethnic and poor population? I've been to almost every one from Boston to Washington.

To answer the OP's question, I believe there were twelve platform tracks originally and at least the two outermost tracks have been removed from service.  It is easy to see where the track was that has been removed on the east side of the station when you are driving south on the Schuylkill Expressway (and if you exit to 30th Street, the ramp is often backed up so you can get a really good look).  I am not sure those two tracks were passenger loading tracks, they might have been for Railway Express or other non-passenger functions. 

I am sure there are people who can give you a more authoritative answer but this is my less than expert observation.  Lacking that, the earth view in Google maps may provide some clues.

Since there is an interest in this station, if anyone was not aware Chris/PRR Man had a great related thread:

https://ogrforum.com/t...reet-station-project

Tom 

Robert K posted:

I rode SEPTA from Lansdale to Penn Center in 1989 and some other year on leisure trips to visit Philly. One was a day trip to see Franklin Institute, the other we stayed in a hotel downtown for two nights. I still wish we had service to Allentown like we had in the late 70's. Going through North Philly on the train back then was like going through a war zone. Rows of houses along the tracks with no glass on the windows and looked like they were in a fire or something, all decayed and dilapidated. Why are a lot of US cities especially the ones on Amtrak's electrified NEC run down in areas and have a heavy ethnic and poor population? I've been to almost every one from Boston to Washington.

For some reason, or reasons, much too complicated to get into here, we in this country have a throw away mentality.  We build for the present only.  It hasn't always been this way.  The 30 year expected life span of buildings is a relatively new phenomenon.  It seems that building a structure for a particular purpose, then tearing it down or worse yet abandoning it after it's purpose has run it's course is the mindset of present day developers.  

The elementary and junior high schools I attended in Philly are still going strong.  One was built during or just after the war and the other was built in the '20s.  The township I live in has already torn down and rebuilt an elementary school and high school.  One was built in 1970 the other in the '60s !!!!!  Now consideration is being given to tear down and rebuild another one of the elementary schools.  

I've been to Europe.  Buildings there, including homes, are older than we can get our heads around.  They have been re-purposed many times over but still stand the test of time.  From my observation the people over there seem to have more respect for their history than we do here.  

As for the reason you may see a heavy ethnic population in the more run down areas, I believe we are still not as advanced as most of the rest of the civilized world when it comes to civil rights.  

Could it be this thirty year thing has to do with taxes?  Sounds like that is the time the building is paid off?

Plus if a building is worn out at 30, there is $$$$$ to be made in a new one.

At least 30TH Street was not built to the 30 year rule!

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Could it be this thirty year thing has to do with taxes?  Sounds like that is the time the building is paid off?

Plus if a building is worn out at 30, there is $$$$$ to be made in a new one.

At least 30TH Street was not built to the 30 year rule!

You may be correct about the tax thing.  All of that depreciation, taxes and the like is a bit above my head.

The thirty year thing is good for construction jobs.  A plus for my trade.

The period that 30th Street Station was built has to be one of the highs in American architecture.  Just look around at the buildings put up during the twenties and thirties.  Not just in Philly, but throughout the country.  To me they suggest an idealism that we haven't been able to meet in a long time.  

Dan Padova posted:

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Could it be this thirty year thing has to do with taxes?  Sounds like that is the time the building is paid off?

Plus if a building is worn out at 30, there is $$$$$ to be made in a new one.

At least 30TH Street was not built to the 30 year rule!

You may be correct about the tax thing.  All of that depreciation, taxes and the like is a bit above my head.

The thirty year thing is good for construction jobs.  A plus for my trade.

The period that 30th Street Station was built has to be one of the highs in American architecture.  Just look around at the buildings put up during the twenties and thirties.  Not just in Philly, but throughout the country.  To me they suggest an idealism that we haven't been able to meet in a long time.  

30TH was built at a time when you built it right the first time.

New York Penn Station was engineered to last 600 years. Where did it go?

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

New York Penn Station was engineered to last 600 years. Where did it go?

Penn Station's demolishing was an unfortunate event, but one that may have helped to kick start the preservation movement.  Apparently the land was worth more as Madison Square Garden than as a train station.   That's unfortunate as M.S.G. does nothing to improve the area.  And Penn Station was only fifty years old !!!!! 

In Upper Dublin Township, where we live, the school board and township commisioners made a decision to tear down Three Tuns Elementary School in the early '80s, because of declining enrollment and the fact that asbestos was in the ceiling tiles.  Really ?   That would have been an easy fix.  High end townhouses put up on the land.  Fast forward to the early '90s.  Enrollment is up and we need a new elementary school.  Surprise, surprise.  And that was less than a decade later.  So what was the real reason for this charade.   The land was worth more to someone as a high end townhouse community.  

Dan Padova posted:

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

New York Penn Station was engineered to last 600 years. Where did it go?

Penn Station's demolishing was an unfortunate event, but one that may have helped to kick start the preservation movement.  Apparently the land was worth more as Madison Square Garden than as a train station.   That's unfortunate as M.S.G. does nothing to improve the area.  And Penn Station was only fifty years old !!!!! 

In Upper Dublin Township, where we live, the school board and township commisioners made a decision to tear down Three Tuns Elementary School in the early '80s, because of declining enrollment and the fact that asbestos was in the ceiling tiles.  Really ?   That would have been an easy fix.  High end townhouses put up on the land.  Fast forward to the early '90s.  Enrollment is up and we need a new elementary school.  Surprise, surprise.  And that was less than a decade later.  So what was the real reason for this charade.   The land was worth more to someone as a high end townhouse community.  

Things might be different if there was an upfront flat tax.

Now the PRR was short of money that it had to do some drastic things.  NYP was one of these.

But NYP had a very interesting situation.  Before MSG, there was no place to sit down in the Public areas while waiting for trains.  And GCT had ramps to get to the train platforms, NYP had stairs.

I am hoping to make it up to 30th Street before the Solari Board is replaced.  I want to catch video and the sounds of the board and the echo in the main hall of the announcements and board flipping.  Its amazing that no one has yet to capture that feel with a proper clear and lengthy video.  Its like stepping back into time in 30th Street.  Clearly no expense was spared with the PRR logo cast into every brass railing in the building.  

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Dan Padova posted:

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

New York Penn Station was engineered to last 600 years. Where did it go?

Penn Station's demolishing was an unfortunate event, but one that may have helped to kick start the preservation movement.  Apparently the land was worth more as Madison Square Garden than as a train station.   That's unfortunate as M.S.G. does nothing to improve the area.  And Penn Station was only fifty years old !!!!! 

In Upper Dublin Township, where we live, the school board and township commisioners made a decision to tear down Three Tuns Elementary School in the early '80s, because of declining enrollment and the fact that asbestos was in the ceiling tiles.  Really ?   That would have been an easy fix.  High end townhouses put up on the land.  Fast forward to the early '90s.  Enrollment is up and we need a new elementary school.  Surprise, surprise.  And that was less than a decade later.  So what was the real reason for this charade.   The land was worth more to someone as a high end townhouse community.  

Things might be different if there was an upfront flat tax.

Now the PRR was short of money that it had to do some drastic things.  NYP was one of these.

But NYP had a very interesting situation.  Before MSG, there was no place to sit down in the Public areas while waiting for trains.  And GCT had ramps to get to the train platforms, NYP had stairs.

So they built a sports arena just so people could sit ?   That makes no sense.  Benches were available in 1963 and as far as ramps go,  the ADA didn't become law until many years later.   As I may have mentioned before, it's a pity that our preservation movement didn't start sooner.