The Philadelphia area used to offer the railfan a plethora of railroad signal types: Colorlights, Position Lights, Position Color Lights, and Color Position Lights.  Quickly: The B&O CPL's are now long gone in most places, maybe a dwarf or two might still exist somewhere, but I'm sure most of them were taken out for someone's personal collection! :-)  The Pennsy all yellow PL's are still around on former PRR SEPTA lines, but are otherwise gone.  The former Reading lines still use the "tri-light" Style colorlight signals.  And Amtrak uses a combination of their colorized PL signals, usually referred to as PCL's (position color light).

Amtrak uses modified signals of the former Pennsylvania RR, position light signals (PL's), on the North East Corridor, which is shared by SEPTA on the Southside of Philly, and NJT on the Northside.  In the terminal area's like 30th Street station, you can still find dwarf PL's and Pedestals (double dwarf PL's).

CPL signals proliferate on CSX's lines that once belonged to the B&O, up to the CP Gray area.  We have to be careful here tho, because CSX has started replacing them as they have in other areas, like Baltimore.  One place that is easy to see this is along I95 coming up from Wilmington where the tracks parallel the highway for a bit.  Also of note, is a set of pedestrian crossing gates using semaphore motors on the B&O in Darby, where a set of streetcar tracks also cross.... fun place for photos!

Of course, the real winners around Philadelphia are the Position Light signals of the former Pennsylvania RR, because this is where it all started for them.  ZOO still has quite a few of them, and they can be still found on a lot of the SEPTA lines coming in and out of 30th Street Station on former PRR lines.  Pedestal and dwarf versions can easily be found too.

In addition, there are numerous places where you can get colorlight and "tri-light" signals in your shots.  Signal purists like to call them colorlight signals.  Tri-light signals are where the lenses are arranged in a triangular fashion.... good spots for them is on the Norristown SEPTA line, and generally most of the northern routes that used to be Reading lines.

I know the Reading (and Lehigh Valley) used searchlight signals, and there are supposed be some on the ex RDG tracks between Philadelphia-Reading and Philadelphia-Allentown, but I'm not sure if there are any in the immediate area.  There may also be some where Penn Central re-signaled, for that's what they used in new projects.  Anyone want to help out here?

Resources - Don't leave home without them!.....

Here's a few things I recommend you take along and don't generally leave home without.....

-- Maps..... See the next section.

-- An Amtrak timetable, unless you're railfanning a line not serviced by them (I still bring em along anyway).

-- The American Shortline Railway Guide by Edward A. Lewis (Kalmbach).

-- If you carry along a scanner, try to find out the local railroad freqs ahead of time unless you have a scanner that scans really, really fast so you don't miss a call.  In these post 9/11 days, there is much pro and con discussion concerning the relative merits of being perceived as a terrorist threat if you have a scanner.  Add to that, that some states have laws preventing you from having portable scanners, such as Michigan and New Jersey.  If you are a ham, one option available to you is to buy a two-meter HT that also covers the Hi-VHF band.  I was lucky with two cops at the Plymouth Diamond in suburban Detroit.... they just threw my scanner into the trunk and let me off with a warning.

-- If you belong to AAA, they have pretty good guide books available with hotel info and other sights, altho the hotel information is limited to the ones they consider halfway worthwhile - rare is a listing for Motel 6.

-- Check Chamber of Commerce websites for hotel and motel info.

-- If you are going to be in Commuter Railroad or transit company territory, be sure to check their websites for information, photo policies, maps, and schedules.

-- Steam Productions has a series of regional map books.... While they are good railroad map books, as they contain a lot of railroad route and yard info, they don't have any road or highway info on the maps.  This makes them very difficult, if not impossible, to get around with them alone.  Careful coordination with a regular map is necessary.

Maps - Don't leave home without them either.....

-- If you do a lot of traveling, I definitely recommend joining the AAA.  They are an excellent source of "free" maps once you join (10 maps and you got your money back).  Almost every map I've obtained from them (so far) has had the railroads on ‘em, and some of them even have yard names (Portland OR and Indianapolis IN for instance).  With all the traveling I do, I find the $35 a year well worth the investment, if for nothing more than their maps.  A large number of the local offices usually have the more obscure local maps available at no cost -- some are AAA maps, some are locally printed maps.....  Even with the AAA, you still have to be careful, because they do distribute a few bummers as maps for the metro Boston, New York City and Philadelphia areas - they don't contain enough detail and they don't have any railroads on them. 

-- For the Philadelphia area, I recommend the series of county map books put out by ADC (Alexandria Drafting Co). They can be found everywhere: 7-11s, Giant food stores, drug stores, etc.  While I DO endorse their series of county map books, I DO NOT endorse their series of state map books - they lack railroad info.

-- Franklin puts out an excellent Metro Philadelphia street map book....  They're about $10-15 at most bookstores and some gas station/convenience stores in the area.

-- APB (Alfred B Patten) puts out a decent series of maps for the eastern PA area.

-- Geographica does the same for NJ and lower NY.

-- I haven't been too impressed with the maps from DeLorme, so far.

-- IF you make it to a SEPTA store, they offer two maps.  One is a city map, the other map covers their suburban routes.  Other places also carry these maps.  THEY ARE an invaluable aide if railfanning in Philadelphia.  They do not however, have the railroads on them if they don't carry commuter trains, darn it.

-- Be careful with other maps.  One I purchased recently for a city in Iowa, had the Wabash and all of the other 60's era railroad names on it.  While this is nice for historical purposes, the other data on the map may not be current, either.   Some maps don't have railroads on them at all, so check em out before you buy em.

In Defense Of Myself.....

It's my website, it's that simple, so I won't bore you with the details, I'm sure ya'll have a hankerin for what I'm going to say.

So OK, What about the other things to see around Philadelphia besides railroad stuff.....

Links for non-railroad attractions in the immediate Philadelphia area:

Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell

The Benjamin Franklin Institute:

The Philadelphia Zoo:
www.philadelphiazoo.org

The Philadelphia Museum of Art:
www.philamuseum.org

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology - 3260 South St, Philadelphia, PA‎ - (215) 898-4000‎
www.museum.upenn.edu 

Franklin Square:
www.historicphiladelphia.org 

The United States Mint - 151 North Independence Mall E, Philadelphia, PA‎ - (215) 408-0114‎
http://www.usmint.gov/index.cfm?flash=yes

Penn's Landing - 121 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA‎ - (215) 629-3200‎
Washington Square - 210 W Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA‎ - (215) 592-7787
No website available‎

The Mummers Museum - 1100 S 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA‎ - (215) 336-3050‎
mummersmuseum.com

For a boat load of sites, check out the A View On Cities website at: http://www.aviewoncities.com/philadelphia/philadelphiaattractions.htm