SEPTA Commuter Train Catches Fire, 1st Car Burns at Overbrook This Morning

Trains Magazine Transit
1

Well, it was a Silverliner of some kind. No one hurt - it seems that an alert crew and the emergency evacuation windows all worked as they should. Some pretty spectacular photos on the KYW site of the Philly firemen hosing it down - under the catenary, no less ! The MSNBC site has the same report as the Philadelphia Inquirer, but a better photo of the burned-out hulk afterwards.

http://www.kyw1060.com/Septa-Train-Fire-Near-Overbrook-Station-Halts-Serv/5596507

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33618603/ns/us_news

Weird news these days, huh ?

  • Paul North.
2

Not an accusation, but it sure makes me nervous that it happened two days into a transit strike.

3

It was a Silverliner II or III, not a IV. They were built in the early 1960s, I think, and have never been rebuilt that I’m aware of. They are on their way out once the new Silverliner Vs arrive.

4

Not suspicious - supposedly started in a heater unit:

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=resources/traffic&id=7099560

Link to more photos - again, pretty spectacular:

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/gallery?section=news&id=7099606&photo=1