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  • Trolley Wire Maintenance Vehicle

  • Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.
Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.

Moderator: AlexC

 #1479152  by phillyrube
 
Ok, being an old Philly firefighter, and retired from firefighting, I have a decent eye for detail. Looking at the Hidden City Philly site, I found this photo:
4th-and-morris-1968.jpg
4th-and-morris-1968.jpg (558.17 KiB) Viewed 3888 times
This is the second photo I have seen of a maintenance vehicle with a siren. Any ideas why? Being a red light geek, I'm pretty sure it's a Federal Model 78 dual tone, since Philly Fire was big on those in the 50s-60s.
 #1479686  by nmueller
 
At one time PTC (and I assume its predecessor PRT) had "emergency car houses" around the city where overhead wire crews were stationed. Think of a fire house without hoses. I know there was one near Front and Erie and another one on 13th Street at Ridge Avenue. At some point, as trolleys became less important, the sirens were removed.

As a sidebar, I once saw an article (from the 1920's?) where PRT had special "bridges" that allowed trolleys to pass over fire hoses laid across the street.

Norman