Great Western Coffee Shop

No pics, but see if you can work this out...

I started out on a train with a gauge of 5' 2.5", and rode all the way to the terminus. There I transferred onto a second rail service, albeit a slightly unusual one. This one is standard gauge, and in common with the first is electrified with bottom-contact third rail. After about 20 minutes I alighted and transferred onto a bus service, and rode all the way to its terminus which was the site of a famous event in the winter of 1777-8.

For my return journey I used the same bus service, but broke my journey after about 15 minutes for a few hours. I then caught a different bus, whose service number is 1 lower than the previous buses I had used. I rode for about 15 minutes before alighting and re-tracing my original rail journey from the morning. This whole expedition set me back $7.00.

So, any idea where I went, where I changed services, where I broke my return journey and what bus and rail services I used...?!

My schoolboy history suggests the Battle of Saratoga for the event in 1777 - but I'm struggling with the rest of the question!  ::) ;D

Started out on the Market-Frankford Line to 69th Street Terminal thence onto the Norristown High Speed Line?

After that I'm lost!

Vally Forge?

Yes...


...and yes! I'm impressed. So armed with that information, can anyone fill in the gaps?

Edited to add...
Oh dear, how embarrassing. Turns out that the Norristown High Speed line is normal top contact third rail, but the MFL is definitely bottom-contact. Still, didn't put you off getting the right answer! The NHSL is really weird, part tram, part train. The track and stations look like a normal railway but you have to press a button at the station which illuminates a signal and tells the driver to stop. And if you're on the train you have to use the buzzer to get the driver to stop and let you off. Plus you pay your fare to the driver when you get on, much like a bus.

No idea on the rail bit but having done years in US unis its almost impossible to avoid US history hence the year link gave it away

You may be impressed, but on my part it was nothing more than 1 hours worth of trawling back and forth through various Wikipedia entries and SEPTA's website. I had to admit defeat when it came to the buses though - those timetables are bleddy hard to understand!