Silverliner is the name given to a series of electric multiple unit (EMU) railcars in commuter rail service in the Philadelphia area since 1958. As of the introduction of the Silverliner V in 2009–2010, there have been 5 generations of Silverliner cars, identified by the Roman numerals I through V placed after the name Silverliner. The Silverliner name came from the classes' shiny stainless steel body shell, which contrasted with the painted and frequently rusting carbon steel railcars used by the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads between 1915 and 1936. Applied to the first large production order in 1963, the cars made such an impression that the name has since been applied to all subsequent MU classes purchased by SEPTA for the Regional Rail services.
Silverliner I
What came to be known as the Silverliner Is were a set of 6 pilot EMUs making use of Budd's prototype Pioneer III railcar design. The six Pioneer III cars were purchased in response to the increasing age of the PRR's MP54 fleet, some of which had been in service since 1915. While 100 of the MP54s had been rebuilt in 1950 with increased power and air conditioning, the old cars still suffered from a small passenger capacity, high weight and poor acceleration among other things. As other railroads adopted new technology MUs like the New York Central ACMU and New Haven 4400 series "Washboards" the PRR felt increasing pressure to update its fleet. In 1958 the PRR placed an order with the Philadelphia-based Budd Company for six Pioneer III MU cars in two subclasses to test out various options. Numbered 150 to 155 the even-numbered cars had fabricated truck frames and disc brakes, while the odd-numbered cars had cast steel truck frames and tread brakes. The PRR initially had hopes to MU cars such as the Pioneer IIIs in intercity service along its electrified routes and the cars were split between long distance and suburban duties. However, as testing went on they were soon limited to suburban service in the Philadelphia area when a full-scale production order of 38 PRR "Silverliner" cars were delivered in 1963.
The Pioneer III cars suffered from a low capacity main transformer as well as gearbox issues and a complex propulsion system that coupled highly sensitive mercury arc ignitron rectifier tubes with an inefficient DC resistance motor controller. Always distinguishable by their older style diamond pantograph, the Pioneer III cars were rechristened the Silverliner Is when the second official order of Silverliners were delivered from Saint Louis Car Company in 1967, the SL-Is would also be renumbered 244 to 248 when the Silverliner IV fleet was delivered in 1974–1975. The 6th car, which would have been #249, had already been written off in an accident by that time. While the other Silverliner models all came with similar GE propulsion gear, they could not MU with the earlier Silverliner I cars, which soon became the odd ducks in the SEPTA Regional Rail fleet. In the late 1980s SEPTA purchased a number of push-pull trainsets to provide enough peak period capacity to retire its remaining Reading Blueliners and the Silverliner Is by the timetable that took effect April 1, 1990. Until 2000, the cars were kept in storage near Wayne Junction. Although there were plans to convert the cars into locomotive-hauled coaches, SEPTA finally decided to dispose of the fleet due to the expense it would have taken to deal with PCBs in the transformers and the lack of ADA compliance. Of the 5 surviving cars, three were sent to the AAR/FRA test site in Pueblo, Colorado for use in crash tests, while the remaining 2 Pioneer III/Silverliner I cars, 246 and 247, were donated to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, where they were ultimately scrapped in 2013.
Silverliner II
In 1963 the financial condition of the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads was such that neither was able to upgrade their money losing commuter operations on their own. As a result, state and local government stepped in to purchase new cars that would be in turn used by the private railroads to run the required commuter operations through an entity known as the Passenger Service Improvement Corporation. The new cars would be a production order based on 6 1958 Pioneer III type cars with improvements based on the lessons learned from the earlier design. A total of 38 cars were purchased for the PRR with the remaining 17 going to the Reading. While some referred to the new vehicles as "PSIC Cars", the modern stainless steel body shells quickly defined the fleet and the name "Silverliner" was soon adopted.
Differences from the earlier Pioneer IIIs included a single arm Faiveley pantograph, a state of the art propulsion system that made use of solid state phase angle controllers coupled to mercury arc ignitron rectifiers and higher powered motors. Like the Pioneer IIIs before them, the Silverliners offered their riders air cushion suspension, air conditioning, electric train heat and a nearly silent ride. With 150 hp more than the Pioneer III cars (550 hp total) the Silverliners could achieve a 1.7 mph/s acceleration rate which was quite higher than the older MP54s and multi-function couplers and disc brakes further improved performance. The 38 PRR cars were numbered in two series, 201-219 and 251-269 and given PRR classification MP85B, while the 17 Reading cars were numbered 9001-9017 and given Reading classification REB-13. There were also minor differences between the two sets of vehicles with the PRR units being fitted with only one overhead luggage rack, a bar pilot, a metal framed engineer's window and cab signals, with the Reading cars being fitted with a cowcatcher and twin overhead luggage racks. The first set of PRR cars, #201-216, were also equipped with bathrooms in place of a 3-person bench seat in the 'F' end of the car to enable the cars use on longer runs to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or New York City.
With the delivery of the second set of "Silverliners" in 1967, the original Budd Silverliners were renamed "Silverliner II" with the Pioneer III cars becoming Silverliner I. Although funding for the service was being provided by the newly formed SEPTA, from 1963 until the formation of Conrail in 1976, the Silverliners were operated by and wore the livery of their respective railroads, the PRR Keystone being replaced by the Penn Central "Worms" in 1968. After 1976 the service continued to be operated under Conrail, but was fully branded as SEPTA and would operate as such until the end of their careers.
In 1989 the entire fleet was sent to the Morrison-Knudsen plant in Hornell, New York for a mid-life overhaul. At some point the old mercury arc rectifiers were replaced by the more reliable silicon controlled variety, the HVAC was updated with ozone safe refrigerant, the PCBs were removed in the transformer coolant and the bathrooms were closed in those cars that had them. By the year 2000 SEPTA began to plan for the retirement of the Budd Silverliners, which had not only reached the end of their design life, but their lack of dynamic brakes and manually worked doors were presenting growing operational headaches. However a prolonged procurement process as well as delays in delivering the replacement Silverliner V cars resulted in the Budds lasting in service well into 2012, a run of nearly 50 years. The final run took place on June 29, 2012, with former Reading car #9010 running with Silverliner III #235 on the Cynwyd Line.
Experimental Silverliners As part of the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 the United States Department of Transportation placed an order for 4 additional Silverliners for use as test vehicles to explore the feasibility of a high-speed rail line in the United States. Numbered T-1 through T-4, the cars were modified for operation up to speeds of 150 mph and were outfitted with various instrumentation to document the effects of rail travel at such speeds. The most visible modification was a slightly streamlined slab end applied to the T-1 car to reduce drag during the high-speed runs. After the tests at least one of the cars was de-powered and used as a USDoT rail testing vehicle for some years afterward. The experimental Silverliners reached a maximum speed of 156 mph and were instrumental in the development of the Budd Metroliner.
T-1 was purchased by a private buyer in 2015 and moved to the South Carolina Railway Museum, to be converted into a lounge car. T-2 exists as an office for the AAFES warehouse in Lee Hall, VA. T-3 and T-4 are presumed scrapped, but T-4 is unaccounted for. Its whereabouts are unknown.
Silverliner III
In late 1967 SEPTA received an order of 20 additional stainless steel MU railcars from the St. Louis Car Company for use on its Pennsylvania Railroad operated suburban lines, soon to be a part of the merged Penn Central railroad. The cars were built on a similar propulsion platform and with many of the same specifications as the Silverliner IIs including a nearly identical interior and the ability to run in multiple with the IIs. One major difference was the placement of the engineer's control station on the left hand side of each vestibule which was to support single unit operations where the normal position of the engineer would block one of the two available entryways. The placement would also allow for one person train operation, although this was never actually carried out. Other differences included carbody sides without traditional railroad letterboards, wider stainless steel fluting, fiberglass cladding on portions of the car ends, full-length overhead luggage racks on both sides of the cars, and rectangular interior door windows in place of round portal windows seen on the Budds. Since a letterboard was omitted, railroad identification on the car sides was provided by PRR keystone decals (later covered by Penn Central decals) at each end of the window band.
Numbered 220 through 239, for their first eight years the Silverliner IIIs worked trains running into Suburban Station. In addition to suburban duties the Silverliner IIIs were used on longer distance runs to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, replacing PRR MP54E5 and E6 cars. This was branded as "Silverliner Service" in 1970s Amtrak timetables, and was operated by Conrail along with the rest of the state-supported SEPTA routes. In 1984/85 eight of the cars, numbers 232 through 239, were converted into a dedicated fleet for the SEPTA Airport Line. The Airport IIIs were wrapped in a bright yellow band (the color of the Airport Line on SEPTA signs and timetables at the time), and emblazoned with the logo of the Philadelphia International Airport on the fronts. Inside, larger luggage racks were provided along with a wider central aisle made possible by the use of plush 2+2 seating instead of the standard 3+2. The Airport IIIs were used in this service for a few years before being dispersed for general service to give SEPTA more flexibility in routing trains between routes. In the early 1990s the Silverliner III fleet was rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen in a similar fashion to the Silverliner IIs.