Help with some BSS pics?

I happened to come across an online tour of the Broad Street Subway over at that World NYC Subway site, and they had some trains operating on the BSS back in 1975 that I'd never seen before.

Specifically this one, identified as an "SOAC" car:
pic
pic

and this one, a "CTA 2200 Series 2211":
pic

I'm guessing these were cars SEPTA (or whomever ran the BSS back in the '70s) was testing when they were looking to replace the old B-3 cars. Anyone have any more info on those?

Also came across this one from 1971, which shows an old DRPA Bridge Line car operating at the City Hall stop. What's the deal with that?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

I could be wrong, but in the second SOAC picture, it looks like the word "exchange" is painted on the second line. "German _____ exchange" perhaps? Was there ever any transit exchange program that SEPTA was involved with? Also, the people on the platform look a little too interested in the car on the tracks.

The SOAC cars are the "State of the Art Cars." They were a two car married pair developed by the US DOT as a prototype for new mass transit equipment in the 1970's. Only two were built, but they circulated among several US transit systems. They are still in existance, preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine.

http://home.gwi.net/trolley/collection/ ... ansit.html

More about them is available here:

http://www.nycsubway.org/cars/soac.html

As for the CTA car, well, it looks pretty new. They were built by Budd in Philadelphia:

http://www.chicago-l.org/trains/roster/2200.html

Most likely the car was being tested on the BSL prior to delivery. The BSL and the P&W of course would be the only place in Philly where a standard gauge car could run on an active line.

Hope this helps!

This it way WAY off topic, but that CTA car... is featured in SPIDERMAN 2. I know they are supposed to be running on the EL in NYC, but this is most definatly the car that they used in the film.

I'm pretty sure those were the same cars in Spider-Man 2, as well.

Interesting tid-bit -- that entire sequence couldn't have possibly taken place in real life. Found this out over at the Internet Movie Database:

For a scene featuring fighting on the exterior of a subway train amidst a crowd of skyscrapers, portions of this film were filmed in Chicago, Illinois on the famous elevated "Loop" standing in for New York City's 9th St. El in Manhattan, torn down in 1940, with routes transferred to underground subway lines. Chicago 'el' trains were made up to appear as 'R'-train cars complete with MTA New York City Subway decals and 'Forest Hills' on their destination board.

Pretty cool, huh?

edit: A history of the 9th Street El, which was indeed dismantled in 1940.

(Sorry to have dragged it so far off-topic. We now return you to your regularly scheduled SEPTA forum. )

Thanks for the info about the SOAC's, octr202.

It is true that it was filmed in Chicago, but not because its an el. The train clearly reads: "Bay Ridge", a line in Queens which I do believe is an el. The dead giveaway, however is the surrounding skyscrapers, as none exist in Queens.

This is slightly divergent as well.

When I visited the Seashore Trolley Musuem in August 1996, the SOACs were in a sorry state of disrepair. It looked as though the cars had been canibalized for a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdrome scene. Mechanicals exposed and hanging out all over the place in the interior. Yikes!

SCB2525 wrote:It is true that it was filmed in Chicago, but not because its an el. The train clearly reads: "Bay Ridge", a line in Queens which I do believe is an el. The dead giveaway, however is the surrounding skyscrapers, as none exist in Queens.

Actually, Bay Ridge is in Brooklyn, and the Bay Ridge station is underground, as is the entire Bay Ridge Line.



As far as those cars, they are still very much in use in the CTA system; I have been on many trains with the cars with the blinker doors. However, I'm not sure what it was doing in Philadelphia, and why they elected to use those cars over more generic looking cars for Spiderman, which was obviously filmed in Chicago.

I stand corrected. Thank you for the correct info.