Recently, there was a lot of controversy behind the cabs of the soon-to-be-built Silverliner V railcars.  Engineers were up in arms about the half-cab, citing comfort and safety issues for both them and the riders.  SEPTA listened, and now the cars will have full width cabs.  It's a disappointment for railfans, but certainly is necessary for the safe operations of our Regional Rail system.

Hopefully the partition will be transparent rather than an opaque wall.

Starting Sunday, December 7th, a specially decorated Holiday Trolley (likely a PCC II) will be running on route 15.  This trolley is likely similar to the decorated Kawasaki LRV that was running on the 10 trolley last year.  Callowhill Operator Gary Mason decorates a trolley car every year for the holiday season.

The good news is that this trolley will be operating on a specific schedule this year.  View the schedule below to see when you may be able to catch the Holiday Trolley:

Around 5 A.m. this morning.  A New Flyer D40LF (uncertain of the #) was operating on the route 37 around Sellers Avenue in Ridley Township was caught on fire.  By the time fire cruises rushed to the scene.  The bus was fully in engulfed into frames.  From looking at the photos provided by WPVI 6, the bus appeared to be unsalvageable.  This could very well be the first New Flyer scraped by SEPTA....

Photo-right: Courtasy of WPVI 6

Yesterday, the NJTransit board of directors has approved a purchase of 57 new buses.

The order will consist of following:

► 39 low floor buses purchased from NABI Industries. The interesting fact is these coaches will be 32 feet long and based off of the LFW platform. This is a new model for NABI, as previously NABI didn't make buses under 35 feet based off of the LFW platform. 28 of these new buses are set to go to Egg Harbor; the remaining will go to contracted routes in Morris County.

   Total contact cost is $12.5 Million.

► 18 MCI Cruisers to be operated on routes throughout North Jersey.

   Total contact cost is $9 Million.

This order will supplement the order of 1,145 NABIS which are set to start arriving early next year.

Photo-Right: 7407 at Atlantic City Bus Terminal; Photographer: Brandon Shaw

According to ED77KATR in the forums, the union has decided to take a 1 year extension on the contract.  This will eliminate the threat of a strike for 2005.  Hopefully, the economic situation will be better in 2010 and reasonable negotiations can start then.