Historical Discussion

[redarrow5591]

The names for the original Broad Street cars was the B-I "NORTH BROAD" numbered 1-150, the Delaware River Joint Bridge Commission owned B-II "BRIDGE" cars numbered 1001-1025 (those cars was the only one to have four motors per car and Dynamic Braking to tackle the steep Ben Franklin Bridge grades) and the B-III "SOUTH BROAD" cars numbered 151-200. All three car types was able to operate together in full trainline, and towards the end of the bad old days in the late 70's the BRIDGE cars with their four motors was primarily the only cars actually running; alot of the two motor B-I and B-III cars was being hauled dead because of lack of parts and destroyed truck journals.

[BuddCar711]

The names for the original Broad Street cars was the B-I "NORTH BROAD" numbered 1-150, the Delaware River Joint Bridge Commission owned B-II "BRIDGE" cars numbered 1001-1025 (those cars was the only one to have four motors per car and Dynamic Braking to tackle the steep Ben Franklin Bridge grades) and the B-III "SOUTH BROAD" cars numbered 151-200. All three car types was able to operate together in full trainline, and towards the end of the bad old days in the late 70's the BRIDGE cars with their four motors was primarily the only cars actually running; alot of the two motor B-I and B-III cars was being hauled dead because of lack of parts and destroyed truck journals.

I thought the B-II were the South Broad cars and the B-III the Bridge cars (since the Bridge cars were acquired last).

[MACTRAXX]

711: The Bridge cars were built in 1936 and the BSL B3 cars date from 1938...
You may be thinking about SEPTA acquiring the Bridge cars from PATCO when
the Lindenwold Line opened in 1969...

MACTRAXX

[jonnhrr]

Seashore Trolley Museum has "bridge" cars 1018 and 1023:

http://www.trolleymuseum.org/collection ... d=01018RPA
http://www.trolleymuseum.org/collection ... d=01018RPA

I don't know if they are operable.

Jon

[octr202]

No, STM's bridge cars are not operable. However, one of them is on display at the front entrance (unless it's moved in the last two weeks). Because always expects to see a Philly bridge car when you come around a bend on a backwoods Maine road.

[HGN2001]

New to the board.

I grew up in the Highland Park section of Upper Darby. Two blocks to our south was West Chester Pike and the trolley lines to West Chester (until 1954) and Ardmore. I clearly remember those familiar "faces" of the St. Louis cars, the Brill Master and Brill Liner units, and the occasional center-door cars.

Two blocks to our north ran the P&W (Norristown High Speed Line). We were close to the Parkview Station, the first one out of 69th Street. It was usually a whistle stop and most express trains would bypass it. On summer evening with the windows open I could hear the electric whine of the bullets and the older Strafford cars as they zipped through the Karakung Golf Course on their way to either Norristown or 69th Street.

Lately I've been scouring the Internet for pictures of these old familiar trolleys. I have some of my own, but not nearly as many as I'd like. They make great rotating Windows wallpapers and screensavers. Now that I'm living in Florida, I guess I'm nostalgic for the olden days...

Harry

[JeffK]

New to the board.

Hi and welcome aboard!

I grew up in the Highland Park section of Upper Darby. Two blocks to our south was West Chester Pike and the trolley lines to West Chester (until 1954) and Ardmore. I clearly remember those familiar "faces" of the St. Louis cars, the Brill Master and Brill Liner units, and the occasional center-door cars.

And I grew up in Drexel Park with the combined Media/Sharon Hill lines at the end of our street. The junction was a few blocks west. My mother tells the story that around age 5 I wandered down the street and (gahh!!) onto the tracks to see the "smiling face" on a St. Louie.

Lately I've been scouring the Internet for pictures of these old familiar trolleys. I have some of my own, but not nearly as many as I'd like. They make great rotating Windows wallpapers and screensavers. Now that I'm living in Florida, I guess I'm nostalgic for the olden days...

One place to start is http://www.phillytrolley.org/. It also has a lot of links to other sites where you can find loads of good pix.

[HGN2001]

Thanks. I'm sure I covered those pages and grabbed some of the great pictures.

My avatar is one of my own pictures - it's Brill Bullet 203 just past the Beechwood-Brookline station in early 1977.

Harry

[jonnhrr]

A good place for Philly pictures, mostly contemporary but some historical, is nycsubway,.org.
(Not where you would expectto find Philly stuff, but there are picture galleries, and system descriptions in some cases, of several US/world transit systems on that site)

for example NHSL pix can be found here: http://world.nycsubway.org/us/phila/norristown.html

Jon

[HGN2001]

A good place for Philly pictures, mostly contemporary but some historical, is nycsubway,.org.
(Not where you would expectto find Philly stuff, but there are picture galleries, and system descriptions in some cases, of several US/world transit systems on that site)

for example NHSL pix can be found here: http://world.nycsubway.org/us/phila/norristown.html

Jon

Yep. Found those too. There's also a neat Delaware County Historical site ( http://delawarecountyhistory.com/Delawa ... tation.htm ) with some incredible old pictures of the West Chester line and the Ardmore line, along with others.

Harry

[radioboy]

Philaphilia has a post up today looking for some info on a forgotten Reading station http://philaphilia.blogspot.com/2012/09 ... mment-form

[Matthew Mitchell]

Philaphilia has a post up today looking for some info on a forgotten Reading station http://philaphilia.blogspot.com/2012/09 ... mment-form

Warning on the language at that link...

[Volanova]

Philaphilia has a post up today looking for some info on a forgotten Reading station http://philaphilia.blogspot.com/2012/09 ... mment-form

Warning on the language at that link...

Philaphilia is in fact quite obscene. However it is also hilarious.

(And very well researched to boot.)

[Volanova]

Does anyone know anything at all about the former Upton Station? It's mentioned on a couple of maps as being located between Villanova and Radnor stations on the PRR Main Line, however there is very little, if any, information out there for it. From what I can see, it appears as though its location is near where the tracks cross I-476. A (probably) apocryphal story says that it was originally located on the estate of one of the local oligarchs, and when a train failed to stop for him, he complained directly to A. J. Cassatt, who promised to never have a train fail to make a scheduled stop there again. To ensure no scheduled stops would be missed, he promptly had the station demolished.

It can be seen on the following maps:

http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas ... /large.jpg
http://delawarecountyhistory.com/radnor ... 14full.jpg

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has any more information on this, or any corroboration to the story of its demise.

[JimBoylan]

The 1936 Bridge Line Cars operated exclusively on the Bridge Line ( 16th & Locust- Broadway-Camden) until that line was extended into the present PATCO Lindenwald Line. Prior to that extension, and the creation of PATCO to operate it, it was operated by the PRT-PTC as part of the Broad Street Subway system, and had a physical connection with the BSS at the 8th & Market Station of the Locust Street Subway via the Broad-Ridge Spur. At that time, Broad-Ridge Trains shared the 8th Street platform with the Bridge Line Trains. I don't believe that Camden trains ever used the connection in revenue service, but it was physically possible to run a train from Camden into the BSS. When PATCO took over the Locust Street Subway, and purchased the current passenger equipment, the Ridge Broad trains were removed from the lower level station, with a separate terminus being built in the concourse on the same level with the MFSE. I believe the track connection between the two lines was severed at that time after the 1936 cars had been moved to Fern Rock to be used in the BSS.

When Locust St. Subway wasn't running (before 1953, and later, many Sundays, some Saturdays, and late evenings, trains, usually with Bridge cars, ran through between Girard and Camden, changing ends at 8-Market. Since the 1st and last few of these trains served Fern Rock or Olney, they were a way to get Bridge cars to Fern Rock Shops for inspections and repairs.
The connection to P.A.T.Co. wasn't immediately removed, there was a derailment at Ferry Ave. early in the P.A.T.Co. era and the Broad St. tool car T-16 with 2 cars to pull it was borrowed.