trackseventeen

Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh? Okay, I'll go tit for tat. Philadelphia, once the the third largest city in America, 2.5 million at it's peak (1960) Current pop 1.5 million, 5th largest city in America. Pittsburgh's population has never been over 1/2 million. Philadelphia, despite all it's problems is going through a major revival. People are moving back into Center City and other neighborhoods in droves. 500ft residential towers are springing up everywhere. The 900+ft Bridgeman's Tower will break ground soon. I am at a loss here, is this type of thing going on in Pittsburgh? I don't think so. Transportation.... Philadelphia has a REAL subway system consisting of four lines...(The MFL, The BSS, PATCO, and The Subway Surface Lines). Plus there is talk(that's all it is, is talk) of building a BSS branch up the Roosevelt Blvd, and extending the Subway Surface Lines to the Delware River for the much to long overdue REAL development of Penn's Landing. Philadelphia also has an extensive Regional railroad system that enters Downtown in a Subway like tunnel. There is only one other city in America that has it's commuter trains enter the city in a tunnel and that is New York. Philadelphia's western suburbs has three light rail lines that funnel traffic to the subway system. Pittsburgh has busses. Philadelphia is World Class, Pittsburgh is second class. Some examples... Fairmount Park, the largest city park in the WORLD, and arguably the most beautiful. The main section of Fairmount Park is twenty times larger than NYC's Central Park and two times bigger than The Bronx River park. Fairmount Park is home to The Philadelphia Zoo, America's first and one of the most respected in the world. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, a world renowned facility also calls Fairmount Park home. Fairmount Park has hosted two World's Fairs. Philadelphia has also hosted two worldwide benefit concert's... 1985's Live Aid and 2007's Live Eight... Um, I think the Stones have played in Pittsburgh, right? The Pennsylvania Ballet is in Philly, not Pittsburgh, wonder why? The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the nation's oldest and most respected, having played for the World's most elite for over a century now. Philadelphia has lot's of higher education. University Of Pennsylvania, founded by Franklin himself is a school that attracts the brightest minds from all over the world. Drexel and Temple, don't have the prestige of Penn, but still you must have some brains to get accepted there. Especially Drexel, which is a well respected school in the technology sector, even if it is voted most ugly campus year after year. Out in the suburbs is where you will find yet more of the world's most elite colleges. Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr Colleges are all small elite Liberal Arts schools that only accept the world's most brightest and richest. Villanova, with it's ranking year after year in the top five of having the hottest co-eds is a party school deluxe, while Saint Joe's quietly takes second stage to Villanova in everything. If I were to talk about every 4 year school in the Philly Metro I'd never finish, there are to many. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure CMU and UPMC are fine schools. Industry? Ok, well Pittsburgh was known to be the steel and glass capital of the World. Very impressive. Although I do think it's funny that Billy Joel choose to sing about the declining steel industry using Allentown as the example and not Pittsburgh. Now let's talk about Philadelphia indusrty. First off, industry is declining all over America, so most of what I am going to write here is historical in nature, but not all of it. Philadelphia was America's first truly industrial city. Sure Pittsburgh has steel, Detroit has cars, and Texas has oil. But Philadelphia has these plus a whole lot more. Philly did at one time have a few steel mills, they have since closed, but the old Bethlehem Steel mills in Coatesville and Conshohocken are still open, however under different ownership and scaled down production. Auto Production was alive in Philly via Packard Automobiles and Autocar Trucks. OIL? No there is none of the black stuff bubbling under the surface in Philly, but it is brought here from around the world to be refined. Sunoco, Atlantic Richfield, Gulf, MOBIL, BP, Conoco Phillips, CITGO, TEXACO, Getty and HESS have all had a refinery on the Delware River at one time. Sunoco has bought out the Texaco, Atlantic Richfield, and Gulf refineries and Sun still keeps them running today. Citgo, BP nad Hess have closed down while Valero now operates the Mobil and Getty refinery. The Delaware River, from Delware City DE to Philadelphia is the Nations 2nd largest crude refiner after only the Gulf of Mexico coast in the Southeast. After Katrina, the country turned to Philadelphia to pick up the slack in production. Good thing the refineries are hooked to the national pipeline system. In addition to crude refining, Philly is the Nations leader in petro-chemical research and production. Does the name Rohm and Haas ring any bells? Historically, Philadelphia has made a little of everything. She was never number one in any one product. Philly was bound to have a big industrial base, with her deep water ports and cheaper rates that made her competitive with New York and Baltimore. Actually, I could go on but it's 3:45 in the morning and I got to work soon... I did'nt mean to beat on Pittsburgh, hey shes in PA so she's gotta be alright.... But there is no comparison... Different leagues... Philadelphia is the leagues with New York, Chicago, Houston. Pittsburgh is in the minors with the St. Louises and the Clevelands... (Hey you Baseball nuts, I'm not talking about baseball here.... just using leagues to make a point... So I don't want to hear that The Indians are in the Majors)

I have a major request, I need Philadelphia's City Hall. In a future post I will scan a picture and post it here. If I knew how to bat, believe me I would gladly make the building and share it with everyone; but since I wouldnt know where to begin I keep dreaming. For any one living outside the Delaware Valley (Philly), You are probually asking why- whats so special about Philly's City Hall. Well where do I begin? Let me count the ways. Here I go. First, Its the largest City Hall in the USA. Its Colossal. It took thirty years to build, thats longer than it took to build the Great Pyramids! From 1870 to 1901 the intersection of Market and Broad was a major contruction zone. Its the tallest functioning masonary structure in the world.. Yes the Washington Monument is taller but its a monument, not a functioning building. Its height is 540 feet to the top of William Penn's hat. Speaking of the statue of Penn, It also is the largest and highest statue on top of a building in the entire world. Second, Its visually breathtaking. Whether you think its beautiful, or as some have called it a decaying mass of stone the building is definetly worth a lot in SC4. Im surprised really that the people at Maxis didnt consider using it as the default city hall in the game. It is designed in the French Second Empire style, which means it is decked out with arches, peaks, gargoyles and tons of other little eye catching details. Sadly most of these details are to high up for the street level observer to notice but they are there. Some other things that would look great in the game are the clocks that adorn the tower about 3/4 of the way up. At night they shine a brilliant yellow that can be seen for miles. Also, just installed this year are flood lights that illuminate the entire tower in brilliant white light, its awesome to see. Theres an inner courtyard that would be visible from all angles in the game, plus there are plazas on the outside of the building on its western front. If any of you talented BATters out there are interested in the most challenging BAT you will ever create, let me know. I will gladly send you all the information needed to make this project a reality. Trully, to the person who undertakes this project, this will will be your masterpiece. I cant wait to read the replies to this thread. Until later, everyone have a blessed day!

width=1899> In response to abyrd23's post, I never knew Cincinatti's skyline was that impressive since its a relatively small city. Dont forget next time abyrd to tell Us about Cincys best kept secret... The Cincinatti subway! Yes is does excist.

So what, so its an old thread, who gives a s**t? Its still up isnt it? Because its old means that you cant reply to it? Tell me why. I know you will not have a good answer other than something lame.

Waiting with baited breath for this to be released. In the mean time I have one comment, if these roads are placed in so called rural locations, chances are very little automata will use them, which is a shame. The reason is they will have low volume. If you zone AG near them you might get some trucks, but very little cars. Plus one question, Will they be able to connect to neighboring cities?

The closest so-called LRT line to me is SEPTAs (Southeast Penna Trans Authority) Rt 100, The Norristown High Speed Line. This line was privately built in 1905-07 by The Philadelphia & Western Co. from the western border of Phila. to the small hamlet of Strafford in Delaware County Pa. In 1912 a branch (which quickly became the main line) was built to Norristown because ridership on the Strafford line was to low. I can walk to this line in about 5 minutes, where I can then go either to Norristown, or to The 69th Street Terminal (This Terminal would make a great addition to the BAT line up) where you then transfer to the Market-Frankford El/Subway for a ride to Center City Philadelphia. I say so called because Light Rail is a relatively new term in the transit world. To be quite honest there is nothing light about this line, as we know light rail to be. It is referred to as light rail just to keep it current with transit trends. The first thing that sets it apart from modern light rail is the fact that it collects its current from a third rail, like subways and elevated trains do. Second,it is totally grade seperated from any other form of traffic (this was unheard of in the days when it was built for a suburaban trolley line). And also all the stations have raised platforms and pedestrian bridges over the tracks to keep people away from the 3rd rail. Very few if any modern light rail systems incorporate these features. The ROW was graded so the trains could reach speeds of over 80 miles an hour, which the old BULLET cars regulary did. See picture of BULLET cars below. Also something that seperated from a LRT is the fact that the old Norristown Terminal of the line was on an elevated structure over Swede Street, with an elevated station that you had to access by walking through a drug store. This station has since been closed, and a new station two blocks eastwas built. This new station is also elevated. In 1956 the Strafford branch closed and was replaced by bus service. The line is now over a hundred years old and it still carries close to 15,000 passengers a day. It was taken over by SEPTA in 1970. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//img_16766.jpg align=baseline> This is a 160 car otherwise known as A Strafford Car. They were built in the mid 1920's by the JG Brill Co. in Philly. After renovations done in the 1930's these cars could reach 70 miles per hour. Notice the high superelevations on the curves to accomodat these speeds. These cars were finally retired in 1990-91 when the new N5's arrived on the scene. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//wimg_16763.jpg width=159 align=baseline>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//wimg_22429.jpg width=150 align=baseline> Heres three views of the Bullet Cars, that went into service during the mid 1930s. These cars reached speeds of 90 miles an hour and for a while held the surface speed record of any type of vehicle. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//img_16824.jpg align=baseline> These type of cars, Ex CTA Elevated cars (CHICAGO) ran briefly on the P&W in the late eighties and early nineties. Due to the Bullet and 160 series age they starting to have brake failures on a regular basis so SEPTA decided they better supplement the cars quickly. Although some of the older stock did survive until the arrival of the N5s these cars became the backbone of the line. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//img_22427.jpg align=baseline> This is a view of a LibertyLiner. These were purchased by the Phila. Suburban Trans. Co. also known as the Red Arrow in 1963. The Red Arrow, Which was another Suburban Co. that also had lines terminating at 69th street; took control of the financially strapped P&W in the late fifties. Red Arrow bought two of these three car articulated train sets from the recently defunct Chicago&North Shore Lines.. These trains had plush interiors. The C&NSL served hamburgers on the cars, while Red Arrow served Coffee and donuts in the morning and stiff drinks in the afternoon. These cars were finally retired in 1979. They were purchased in a n attempt to increase ridership, but frequent breakdowns soon gave them a bad reputation. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//wimg_24830.jpg align=baseline>This here is picture of the current equipment that now runs on the line. You can see why it is now referred to as light rail since it resembles other light rail units out there. These cars starting arriving in 1990 and by 1992 the whole line was being serviced by these cars. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//title-philanor.jpg align=baseline> This is an N5 car crossing the Schuylkill River Viaduct between Bridgeport and Norristown. This bridge is well over a mile long and is about 100 feet above the water. The before mentioned elevated into Norristown is an extension of this structure. All Photos are property of www.nycsubway.org . Check them out, thier site is awesome.

The whole city of Philadelphia was once a great place to live, now only about a handful of nieghborhoods are worth straying into. And this nothing to do with putting a bunch of people in a so called ghetto and having riots break out. Before 1960, Phillys poorest nieghborhoods were clean, safe, good places to raise a family no matter what color you were or your nationality. Up until this time Philly had the highest standard of living for ALL economic groups of any American city. This was due largely to the fact that Philly, unlike most cities didnt have tenement districts. Instead EVERYONE lived in thier own house.. A row house that is, yes some were in better nieghbirhoods than others. But chances are even the poorest people in Philly had thier own bathroom and thats saying alot. Its a shame waht happened to Philly in the past 25 years. Mostly people are becoming upwardly mobile and moving to suburbs in Pa and Jersey. This is eveidence bythe fact that even while the city is losing pop. the outlying 7 counties are bursting at the seems

I have a major request, I need Philadelphia's City Hall. In a future post I will scan a picture and post it here. If I knew how to bat, believe me I would gladly make the building and share it with everyone; but since I wouldnt know where to begin I keep dreaming. For any one living outside the Delaware Valley (Philly), You are probually asking why- whats so special about Philly's City Hall. Well where do I begin? Let me count the ways. Here I go. First, Its the largest City Hall in the USA. Its Colossal. It took thirty years to build, thats longer than it took to build the Great Pyramids! From 1870 to 1901 the intersection of Market and Broad was a major contruction zone. Its the tallest functioning masonary structure in the world.. Yes the Washington Monument is taller but its a monument, not a functioning building. Its height is 540 feet to the top of William Penn's hat. Speaking of the statue of Penn, It also is the largest and highest statue on top of a building in the entire world. Second, Its visually breathtaking. Whether you think its beautiful, or as some have called it a decaying mass of stone the building is definetly worth a lot in SC4. Im surprised really that the people at Maxis didnt consider using it as the default city hall in the game. It is designed in the French Second Empire style, which means it is decked out with arches, peaks, gargoyles and tons of other little eye catching details. Sadly most of these details are to high up for the street level observer to notice but they are there. Some other things that would look great in the game are the clocks that adorn the tower about 3/4 of the way up. At night they shine a brilliant yellow that can be seen for miles. Also, just installed this year are flood lights that illuminate the entire tower in brilliant white light, its awesome to see. Theres an inner courtyard that would be visible from all angles in the game, plus there are plazas on the outside of the building on its western front. If any of you talented BATters out there are interested in the most challenging BAT you will ever create, let me know. I will gladly send you all the information needed to make this project a reality. Trully, to the person who undertakes this project, this will will be your masterpiece. I cant wait to read the replies to this thread. Until later, everyone have a blessed day! https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//IMG0031.jpg align=baseline>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//OTH400-PhiladlephiaPA.jpg align=baseline>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//OTH150-PhiladelphiaPAnew.jpg align=baseline>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//p114th.jpg align=baseline>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//parkway48.jpg align=baseline>

Very strange... As I was driving to work today I was, as usual thinking about my regional masterpiece. I kept thinking wouldnt it be cool to make directional highways with customized interchanges? As I asked myself this question, my conscience told me to shut up, thats impossible. So I come home from work and check out ST, and waht do I see? The RHP, I say whats this... I open up the thread and By Golly, would you believe there it is!!!!! NO KIDDING!!! Im telling the absolute truth.... Let me take this oppurtunity just to thank all you very smart and talented people out there who have made this game more interesting, realistic, and just plain funner(is that a word?). Without all the available stuff on this and other related sites, I would have quit on SC4 a long time ago!!! I cant wait for this mod to be released. It is trully remarkable what Ive seen so far. My only regret is that I basically have no computer skills to do this kind of work, because I have so many ideas that for buildings and such that I feel would be of great interest. I wouldnt know where to start though, so again I'll give shout outs to all the contributers out there who make this game worth playing. Thanks guys and girls. See ya!