John's Railfan Guide to Fairmount Park

The North End: Falls Yard, Falls Bridge, and CP River

The north end of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park is a great place to watch trains. The tracks of the former Reading company occupy on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, wedged between I-76 (Schuylkill Expressway) and the river. Falls Yard is on Conrail's Harrisburg line. It lies under the traffic mayhem of the City Avenue bridge over the Schuylkill, and strecthes to the picturesque Falls Bridge in the park. Falls Yard serves what is left of industrial North Philadelphia, mostly Hi-Cube box cars filled with automotive stampings from the soon to be closed Budd Plant in Hunting Park.

At the south (railroad east), end of Falls Yard directly under the soaring Route 1 bridge is CP Falls. CP Falls controls one leg of the wye formed by the ex-Reading Falls Bridges. The west leg of the wye is a stone arch bridge built in 1855. The east leg is a steel deck girder bridge built in the late 18th century. The east leg bridge carries Conrail's Trenton Line over the river. Conrail's Harrisburg and Trenton Lines converge at CP River within the park's boundaries just a few feet from the bridge. In addition to being the junction of two mainlines, CP River is a frequently used crew change point.

With the break up of Conrail in the summer of 1999, CP River is now the junction of two competing railroads. Norfolk Southern (NS) now owns the Harrisburg Line. CSX Transportation now owns the Trenton line. The Trenton Line is CSX's link from the South to New York/New Jersey and New England.

Getting There:

Getting there can be tricky. Access to CP River is from the West River Drive. Use the Montgomery Drive Exit of I-76 to get to West River Drive, at the exit go downhill and then turn left on to West River Drive. There is a parking lot, pavillion, and picnic tables just to the south of the underpass under the Falls Railroad Bridges. A dirt road used by the crew van leads to a steel stairway up to the tracks. Don't even think about driving on it. Park your car in the lot at the pavilion and walk up the dirt road to the tracks.

However, West River Drive is closed on weekends during the summer so the uppy Center City rollerblade and bike crowd has somewhere to go (and no one else can get to the west side of the park.) The only alternative is to park at Falls Yard and walk down the tracks (not the safest thing to do) or the West River Drive to CP River.

Access to Falls Yard is best from Kelly Drive. Use the City Ave exit of I-76, follow the (lousy) signs to Kelly Drive. At the first light, Turn right on to Falls Bridge (a beautiful 1895 structure) at the other end of the bridge is West River Drive. Turn right and immediately turn right again into a nasty looking gravel parking lot. A few hundred feet back, a steep gravel road leads up to the yard, don't drive up, walk.

Radio Frequencies:

News Page

Images:

	Conrail C36-7's 6620 and 6621 pause at Falls Yard with train WPPG-76 the Harrisburg line local. This is a large heavy train with traffic from Lukens Steel. January 25, 1998
	A CSX lashup, C40-8W 7901, GP40-2 6204, and ex-RF&P GP40-2 6859, pass CP Falls in the process of turning on the wye formed by the Schuylkill bridges. The ex-RF&P GP40-2's were the only CSX units equipped with cab signals and therefore lead all CSX trains using the Northeast Corridor, see below. As I was taking this picture on September 9, 1995, the last run of the Broadway Limited was passing through Philadelphia two miles away.
	GP38-2 8104 and GP38 7931 cross the west leg of the Falls Bridge wye heading toward CP Laurel Hill on the east bank. This photo was taken from ground level on the west bank of the Schuylkill, March 8, 1992
	On home rails, former Reading SW-1001 9414 switches Hi-Cube boxcars of automotive parts (fenders, hoods, doors, etc) for the Budd Hunting Park plant. This picture was taken from Kelly (East River) Drive in November, 1991.
	An all GE lashup, C30-7a 6598, C39-8 6007, and C36-7 6641, lead train CSSE (CSX Phila. - SElkirk Yard in Albany, NewYork) on to the Trenton line at Falls on April 10, 1992. This photo was taken from the bridge on the west leg of the wye.
	In the early 1990's, Philadelphia's transit agency, SEPTA, repaired decades of neglect on the former Reading commuter rail viaducts across North Philadelphia with a project called Railworks. All trains terminated at the new Fern Rock Transportation Ctr., and passengers transferred to the Broad Street Subway to reach Center City. However, Septa ran two round trips daily to 30th Street station via Conrail's Trenton Line and the Belmont Branch. Septa SW-1200 51 and RL15 61 pull GE Silverliner IV MU cars over the Falls Bridge during the 1st year of Railworks on April 10, 1992.
	For the second year of Railworks Septa leased two New Jersey Transit U34CH's. These tired units were built in 1974 for the Erie-Lackawanna. They were scrapped soon after the Railworks project was complete. NJT U34CH 4158 pulls the last R3 Railworks train into the Fern Rock Transportation Center on the afternoon of September 3, 1993.
	Conrail SD40-2 6412 and C39-8 6016 lead a ballast train east on the Trenton Line on the east leg of Falls Bridge. April, 1993.
	The going away view of the same ballast train. Conrail SD40-2 6412 and C39-8 6016 lead a ballast train east into CP River, April, 1993.
	After being turned on the wye at Falls (see above), ex-RF&P GP40-2 6859 leads a train east through CP River on September 9, 1995
	Train CSAL (CSX, Phila. - ALlentown, Pa.) waits for a crew at CP River. This Conrail train has all CSX power led by GP40-2 6152. Note the crew van behind the signal tower. January 25, 1998
	An empty coal train waits for a crew at CP River. The trains power is C40-8W 6119, SD50 6802, and B36-7 5030. Note the new signal and track arrangement. There are now 4 tracks in service between CP River and CP Belmont. March 28, 1999

Fairmount Park South

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