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Falling in love on the PATCO

Tracey Graeff and David Weiss met on the PATCO Hi-Speedline. This spring, Weiss proposed to Graeff while they were again riding the train. / Photo provided

Written by
Column by Jim Walsh
Courier-Post Staff

A South Jersey couple hopes to journey through life together — on a trip that began when one of them hopped on the wrong train.

That train was the PATCO car that Tracey Graeff and two friends boarded late one night in August 2010. The women intended to head home to South Jersey after a night of dancing in Center City. Instead, they were carried west to the end of the line in Philadelphia.

That’s where they waited in their seats for the train to reverse direction.

And that’s where David Weiss and two of his friends, who’d been at a Phillies game, entered the same car.

Your hunch is correct: These PATCO passengers were about to ride the Love Train.

“I saw this great smile,” recalled Graeff, 32. “Just a really warm smile.”

And when Weiss, 33, took the seat in front of Graeff, she basically punched his ticket.

“He was wearing a Phillies hat, so I knew he’d been at the game,” said Graeff, who works in client services for a financial firm. “I tapped him on the shoulder and I asked, ‘Who won?’ ”

Weiss acknowledges he’s not usually accosted by fellow PATCO riders.

“Fortunately for me, this was a good tap,” said Weiss, who chatted with Graeff all the way back to South Jersey.

By the end of the ride, Weiss had Graeff’s phone number — and a sense of wonder.

“I was like, ‘Did that really happen?’ he said of meeting a stranger on a train. “It definitely was a surreal moment.”

Their first date came a week later, and the relationship quickly blossomed. The couple now share a Cherry Hill home and, by early this year, they had agreed to share a future.

All Weiss had to do was surprise his girlfriend with a deeply meaningful marriage proposal.

Is that a train whistle I hear?

Weiss, who works in health insurance sales, returned to the couple’s roots for the big moment.

He told Graeff he’d arranged a night out for the couple — dinner with his boss in Philadelphia, then an overnight stay at a friend’s home in the city.

For convenience, they’d take PATCO.

Of course, only the PATCO part was true.

So, one night this spring, they boarded a train at the Woodcrest stop and, as the cars rumbled toward Westmont, Weiss left his seat to rummage through an overnight bag on the floor.

Graeff, so quick to notice his smile on their first encounter, paid no attention.

“I was putting my makeup on,” she explained. “All of a sudden, I realize he’s gone from two knees to one knee.

“Then he had the (ring) box open and he said, ‘I have to ask you something.’ He said, ‘Will you spend the rest of your life with me?’ “

The wedding’s set for August 2013.

In an interview Sunday, Graeff gave her fiance credit for a job well done.

“I really wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “He was cool, calm and collected.”

Weiss, noting he gets anxiously easily, grades himself more severely.

“I had a good poker face (before the proposal),” he allowed. “But when I put the ring on her finger, my hand started shaking.”

That doesn’t sound like nerves to me. Just a little bit of rough track.

Jim Walsh’s column runs Mondays. Reach him at (856) 486-2646 or jwalsh@gannett.com

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