SEPTA Trolleys after an ice storm

[TheStreetcarnut]

This was spectacular.........I have seen this once (believe it or not) in New Orleans. It had snowed one Friday afternoon during rush hour, made an awful mess of traffic, but once out on St. Charles Ave in the private right of way, streetcar were OK, except for ice on the wires. Neat video, thanks for sharing. BTW it snows here in New Orleans about once every 20 years. I have seen snow maybe 3 or 4 times in my lifetime and I am 60.

[SirezX]

I don't know why but I found this amusing...I wonder what the operator was thinking... :D

[donsande2]

There lots of huge sparks!

[TankDunnGamer]

I caych the 13 every day

[PHILLY2727]

Nice vid,but 43rd and Chester is Southwest Philly not West.

[ianjohn05]

That have snow removal trams here in Moscow. Maybe the North East could use some?

[schizzie345]

@ianjohn05 Это была бы хорошей идеей.

[schizzie345]

@ianjohn05 Это лед на рельсах, это трудно извлечь с трамом удаления снежка.

[ianjohn05]

@ianjohn05

I am an American, native English Speaker. I now live in Moscow. You can type in English to me. The transit network in Moscow in my opinion is the best on the planet. It is one area where the USA is grossly behind the rest of the world.

[Tubes12AX7k]

One of the advantages of trams and trolleys is that, in icy weather like this, the rail vehicles are often times the only things moving.

[Bastranz]

Geez, what a light show! Thanks for sharing this!

[Noooo245]

1:01 LOL

[DeltaPhi79]

That looks fun to be in...

[amtrc]

i have the pefect solution other city lrv street cars use a pantograph. can they need sand domes in front of the wheel trucks to drop

sand ahead of the front wheels

[nycres]

This is like the ending of Back to the Future. Please tell me service was suspended/busstituted that night.

[cjk247]

holy shit never seen anything like that before

[wildfire19861987]

DAMN! you'd think the're was some hi voltage wires shorting out!

[rob062388]

Wow I remember this last school year. The closed the trolleys down and a lot of the lunch staff at school couldn't go home so they had to sleep in the dining hall...

[adelgado75]

Here's a question for all: Why do you suppose people are fans of trolleys or trains? I can't explain it but I just think their cooler than buses.

[HowardFair]

Thanks for commenting adelgado. To my surprise I have found that there are bus fans too!

[randomforum]

@HowardFair I am a tram and trainfan!

[stevefromPA]

Its a city thing, for me I my love of buses and trollies came from my mom dragging me to john wanamakers dept store via the route 34, cant explain it but that going from riding on the street to going under in the subway was something special and amazing..

[dpjaexp]

That's because it is special and amazing. To think of all of the people who built these mighty systems, and all of the people that operate them on a daily basis, the myriad types of rolling stock - and the billions of stories that happen every day on streetcars and subways...it's mind-boggling, special and amazing! :-)

[BabiBoiJ21]

check 1:43, that was a crazy one. probably could light my black off of it lol

[DaFaceManXXX]

that just like 3rd rail being fozen on the tracks and trains are breify moving with spark with showers

[dekablueranger]

I wish I was on that trolley at that time!

[tkandme3]

I know! So cool! What do ou really expect the driver to do? He has to get moving, so he really has no choice...

I love SEPTA

[ItalianQue]

I don't even remember the old trolleys making those kind sparks.

[adelgado75]

Really cool. But why is the operator doing that? I would love to get a job operating a trolley or streetcar.

[HowardFair]

Thanks for watching Adelgado. I think that what was happening was that the trolley was not getting traction on the icy rails, and that ice on the wire was causing it to lose power. The operator can dispense sand on the rails, but only on rails they've already gone over. So I think that the driver was sanding the rails, backing up and then getting up as much speed as possible on the sanded rails in order to make it up the hill. That's my guess. Perhaps a trolley driver will comment for us.

[reeko14]

nice vid love the sparks

[bustitution]

well I'll be trolleys make the back up sound when backing up I did not even know that

[Jayayess1190]

That, is awesome. :)

[HowardFair]

Thanks for your comment, Jayayess! Those were some pretty huge sparks. Those trolleys have a lot of acceleration when they floor it like that.

[videonut33]

Feel The Power!!!