Silverliner Preserved

When interurban fans think of Silverliners, they're picturing this beauty and its ilk. But the Silverliner that's the subject of today's post is a bit more homely, albeit also significantly higher capacity, at least when it comes to seating.

The Reading Company Technical & Historical Society has announced on Facebook that Reading 9001, a "Silverliner II" electric commuter coach, has been acquired for preservation from SEPTA. The car was built by Budd in 1963 using grant money and was in service until 2012. Apparently, SEPTA has been holding onto it for about a dozen years for the purpose of preservation, but finally put it up for sale - and the RCT&HS purchased it. Since 2019, the car has been stored at Frazer, as shown above, but the plan is to move it shortly to the society's site in Hamburg. It's now been added to the PNAERC list.

Car 9001 is a behemoth, at 85' long, roughly 101,000 lbs., and seating 124 people. It began life with mercury arc rectifiers but these were later changed to silicon diode rectifiers. It also has a late-1980s vintage transformer that replaced its original PCB model. While far from the newest heavy rail commuter EMU car preserved - the ex-IC Highliners and the handful of preserved "Metropolitan" type cars from the New York era date to the early 1970s - car 9001 does have the distinction of being the most modern car from the Philadelphia area currently on the PNAERC list. For now, it's still listed under SEPTA ownership, but it will be moved over to RCT&HS ownership as soon as it rolls into Hamburg. Many thanks to Jacob Wiczkowski for alerting me to this one!