Train Car

Animal tracks - moose, wolf, fox - pitted the snow and to the west, above the frigid forest vastness, rose the massive white peak of Mount McKinley, wearing a wreath of clouds. Then, out of the woods stepped four people, waving. At Milepost 275.4 between Fairbanks and Anchorage, deep in the roadless bush, the Alaska Railroad was about to make its first of several "flag stops" of the day - in this case, a mother with a sick child who needed to see a doctor. At the next clearing, a rifle-toting trapper wearing bulky, insulated "bunny boots," and clutching beaver pelts clambered on board.

An 11-year-old boy who was electrocuted Saturday while climbing on a SEPTA commuter train had apparently walked into a North Philadelphia rail yard after leaving a neighborhood block party. Jewel Angelo of the 300 block of West Albanus Street was killed around 7 p.m. after he climbed atop a train car and touched a rooftop pantograph, which carries 11,000 volts of electricity from overhead lines to power the train, SEPTA assistant general manager James B. Jordan said Monday. Jordan said the boy and several other youths had been seen along nearby rail tracks after leaving a block party on Elwood Street.

Ed Rendell may only be running for mayor, but he'll climax his campaign by whistle-stopping through the city in presidential style. Rendell's campaign has gotten hold of the train car used by President Harry Truman in 1948. More recently, the car was used by President Ronald Reagan, whose Republican urban policies have been sharply criticized by Rendell. On Nov. 3, the Sunday before the election, Rendell will ride the rails on the R8 commuter line starting at the Chestnut Hill station at 12:30 p.m. He'll hit the Market Street East, Wayne Junction and Fox Chase stations, with rallies at each stop.

PATCO rail commuters will soon have their own "quiet car. " Following the lead of Amtrak, SEPTA, and other transit agencies that have prohibited cell-phone use or loud conversation in one train car, PATCO will designate the last car in each of its trains as a quiet car on weekdays, starting March 1. The quiet-car experiment will last three months, and if it is well-received, the designation will be made permanent, PATCO general manager John...

Aiming for a Monday morning deadline, SEPTA maintenance workers labored through last night to carve and clear away a train car left in ruins by Wednesday's derailment and to begin the work of restoring the track. Officials said they hoped to bring back service on the Market-Frankford Line in time for rush hour Monday morning. They said that Subway-Surface trolleys, which run alongside the Market- Frankford Line on separate tracks, would return to full service by 5 a.m. today.

They were working under a train car on a 75-foot-high trestle late at night, trying to free a 15-year-old boy whose shoulder was pinned under the train's wheel. By one firefighter's assessment, it was "one of the most dangerous rescues" in his memory. About 75 members of the South Media, Swarthmore and Springfield Fire and Rescue Companies worked as a team Monday night to successfully free Brian Harrison of Swarthmore, who was struck by a SEPTA train while walking on the trestle.

Ralph Taussig, 84, of Huntingdon Valley, an international investment banker, died of cancer last Thursday at home. For 30 years, Mr. Taussig commuted to New York to work for investment companies specializing in international finance. He took the train for so long, other passengers called him mayor of his train car, his son Andrew said. Since the late 1980s, Mr. Taussig had worked from his home office. He often traveled abroad, advising governments on financial matters. He spoke French, German and Arabic.

SEPTA railcar 284 radioed for help at 1:03 p.m. Trapped inside the car by the rising waters of the Schuylkill, swamped just 100 yards short of the Conshohocken station, were 10 people. Racing to the scene in her Camaro, firefighter Jean Lukens was one of the first at the riverbank yesterday. Through the driving rain, Lukens glimpsed the headlight of the white train car and the faces of passengers and crew behind a rain-streaked window. "I felt helpless," Lukens said. "They were yelling for help.

Last year I embarked on an incredible journey to China to teach English in a Chinese school. I was able to experience the rich culture, people, language and history of a country that has always been of great beauty and interest to me. The educational program I participated in is the Council for International Education Exchange, and I couldn't pass up this opportunity to fulfill a dream to live in China. I was able to work and travel all over the country for five months. I left in January 2005 to teach at a school in Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, a city about 1 1/2 hours by train northwest of Shanghai.

PATCO rail commuters will soon have their own "quiet car. " Following the lead of Amtrak, SEPTA, and other transit agencies that have prohibited cell-phone use or loud conversation in one train car, PATCO will designate the last car in each of its trains as a quiet car on weekdays, starting March 1. The quiet-car experiment will last three months, and if it is well-received, the designation will be made permanent, PATCO general manager John...

PATCO rail commuters will soon have their own "quiet car. " Following the lead of Amtrak, SEPTA and other transit agencies that have prohibited cellphone use or loud conversation in one train car, PATCO will designate the last car in each of its train as a quiet car on weekdays, starting March 1. The quiet-car experiment will last three months, and if it is well received, the designation will be made permanent, PATCO general manager John...

A Norristown High Speed Line train struck a car left on the tracks in Haverford Township this morning, injuring 24 passengers, officials said. None of the injuries were life threatening. Police said the car's driver apparently was drunk and made a wrong turn onto the railroad right-of-way. Brian Manning, 29, a township resident, was arrested and faces charges of driving under the influence and related offenses, officials said. Manning was not in the 2007 Toyota when the train - the first of the day - hit it about 4:25 a.m. near the Beechwood-Brookline station, said SEPTA spokeswoman Heather Redfern.

Hello there Miriam met Morton at her family's vacation home in Canada's Laurentian Mountains in the summer of 1933. Several years before, while visiting her Aunt Bea in Philadelphia, Miriam's oldest sister, Dorothy, had met Morton's older brother, Harry. They had been writing letters, and Harry had traveled to the mountains of Quebec to see Dorothy again. Morton came with him. "Right away, I knew he was meant for me," Miriam said of Morton. Morton did not know this.

Police have identified Christopher Benner, 37, of Haddon Heights, as the motorist who was killed Friday when a freight train hit his car at a crossing on the borough's main street. He died at the scene on Station Avenue when a southbound freight train hit his driver's side close to 3 a.m., Haddon Heights Police Chief Richard Kinkler said Monday. Benner was heading east on Station Avenue across the tracks. Witnesses said Benner, a Haddon Heights native, didn't react to the train's horn or the bells or lights at the intersection, Kinkler said.

Humming along at 90 miles an hour as it approached Norwood on Tuesday, SEPTA's newest train was quiet and steady. And it still had that new-car smell. On a test run from Market East Station to Marcus Hook, the first of the new Silverliner V cars was bright and spacious, with big windows and fewer of the reviled three-across seat arrangements. Video screens and digital display panels announced each stop in advance, in tandem with a computer-generated female voice. "I love it," said SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey, taking his first ride on the long-awaited, long-delayed Silverliner cars that are supposed to be put in service next month.

An 11-year-old boy who was electrocuted Saturday while climbing on a SEPTA commuter train had apparently walked into a North Philadelphia rail yard after leaving a neighborhood block party. Jewel Angelo of the 300 block of West Albanus Street was killed around 7 p.m. after he climbed atop a train car and touched a rooftop pantograph, which carries 11,000 volts of electricity from overhead lines to power the train, SEPTA assistant general manager James B. Jordan said Monday. Jordan said the boy and several other youths had been seen along nearby rail tracks after leaving a block party on Elwood Street.

An 11-year-old boy who was electrocuted Saturday while climbing on a SEPTA commuter train had apparently walked into a North Philadelphia rail yard after leaving a neighborhood block party. Jewel Angelo of the 300 block of West Albanus Street was killed around 7 p.m. after he climbed atop a train car and touched a rooftop pantograph, which carries 11,000 volts of electricity from overhead lines to power the train, SEPTA assistant general manager James B. Jordan said Monday. Jordan said the boy and several other youths had been seen along nearby rail tracks after leaving a block party on Elwood Street.

A 61-year-old woman was injured and taken to Temple University Hospital on Thursday evening after her car was hit by a SEPTA train on the R6 Norristown line. The injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, according to police. The crash occurred at the crossing on Indian Queen Lane in East Falls about 7:15 p.m., SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said. Rail service was suspended for almost two hours, and passengers were transferred to shuttle buses. The car entered the crossing as the warning lights and bells went off, Busch said.