Monthly Archives: August 2025

Rail Photo of the Month: August 2025

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Silverliner V 703

Location: Temple University Station, Philadelphia, PA
Operator of Vehicle: SEPTA
Date of Photo: April 19, 2012

SEPTA, the Philadelphia area transit agency, has been in the news quite a bit lately, and it isn’t for the best reason.  Due to an expected budget shortfall of over $200 million and seemingly no state funding coming through, the agency is prepared to cut service by 45 percent in the coming months.  A 20 percent service cut is planned for August 24, 2025, with an additional 25 percent service cut planned for January of 2026.  Among the proposed cuts for January is the discontinuation of five regional rail lines (Cynwyd Line, Chestnut Hill West Line, Paoli/Thorndale Line, Trenton Line, and Wilmington/Newark Line), served by Silverliner rolling stock such as the train pictured here.

SEPTA isn’t the only agency in the Commonwealth of Pennyslvania facing financial challenges right now.  Each of the state’s 67 counties has public transit service of some kind.  I don’t typically wade into politics here but should this funding gap not be addressed, it will drastically change the amount of public transit available across the entirety of the state in ways that frankly, I find unimaginable.  

For more photos of SEPTA Regional Rail, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: August 2025

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New Flyer XD40 17070

Location: Paca Street at Lombard Streetת Baltimore, MD
Operator of Vehicle: MDOT MTA
Date of Photo: November 23, 2018

I’ve lived most of my life in Maryland and don’t entirely understand the fascination that some people have with its state flag.  However, I find it very appropriate that the Maryland Transit Administration has opted for the past eight years or so to lean in heavily to the colors of the state flag in designing its current bus liveries.  Considering the literally “vanilla” liveries that preceded this one (the vehicles were white with a single blue stripe or a relatively small Maryland flag image depending on the livery), this is certainly an improvement from an aesthetic standpoint, in my opinion.  What do you think of it?

For more photos of MDOT MTA Core Bus services, please click here.