PTC in Northeast Philadelphia -1950's

A Short Video Clip of Philadelphia Trolley Films captured by Gerhard Salomon in the 1950's.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• 1950s
• ptc
• philly
• philadelphia
• pennsylvaina
• trolleys
• streetcars
• gerhard
• salomon

[DockmanGene]

Germantown, West Philadelphia, etc were Bouroughs at one time and not part of the city.

[italobambino43]

@Jeffbear1

My copies are good, I agree with you they are silver! Just at a glance they looked gold! However, in the late 70's Septa did sport gold and white on some of the PCC's, I do recall that, I took the 23 every day, some of the cars were still done up in the bicentennial motif with the "Gulf Oil" colors to.

[Jeffbear1]

@italobambino43 Rest assured they were not gold. I'd gladly E-Mail you color photos of the the cars from that era if I had your E-Mail address. Send me a private massage with your E-Mail address. I have both of those promotional films that you speak of. One is black and white and the other film is in in color. Both are transferred to video. Your copies must be bad if the cars look gold.

[italobambino43]

@Jeffbear1

I am a Philadelphia native, and I still reside in the city! I have some old letter head stationary and post cards that actually read German Town, Pa. And oddly, they do not even reference the area as being part of Philadelphia. These post cards are from around 1910. The same held true for Manayunk, Pa. and Fox Chase, Pa. All are part of Philadelphia county. I am also well aware of how it is spelled today, lol. I also have relatives who reside in Germantown and West Mt, Airy.

[italobambino43]

@Jeffbear1

I have two films that were produced, one in 1938 for the PRT, these were most likely made for the stock holders. The 1938 film shows the PCC's being introduced, they were coming over the Chestnut street bridge with police escort, and hey were done up in what looked like gold, maybe it looked gold because of the pictures age. The other film was1950, and that was color to, it shows a Rt. 53 car in what appeared to be a light Gold, once again maybe it was the films age.

[Jeffbear1]

@italobambino43  Oh by the way, Germantown is one word. It's a section {or neighborhood} in Philly. There is also a Germantown Avenue, on which the Rt. 23 trolley ran. Germantown is a very historic area, with buildings dating back to the 1700's and 1800's.

[Jeffbear1]

@italobambino43 The gold paint scheme was certainly "not" the original colors of those cars. SEPTA painted some in that scheme in the 1970's to match their new buses at the time.

The original PCC cars on Rt. 53 {Wayne Ave.} were silver and cream with royal blue pin striping and belt rail. I have actual color phptos from the time. They arrived in 1938. During WW II, PTC changed the paint scheme to green and cream with a gray roof and maroon pin striping and belt rail. I have color photos.

[italobambino43]

@boazrg

Many neighborhoods in big cities are now war zones!

[italobambino43]

@Jeffbear1

Some of the early pcc's still sported the original Gold body with white roof and maroon stripe paint scheme in the 70's, I used to always see a Rt.23 car that was gold, and of course it had the Septa emblem on the side. I heard this from a retired motorman once, he said the first shipment of PCC'served the Rt. 53 first in German Town! Some were painted either mint or gold metalic !

[boazrg]

These look like the "Hog Island" cars.  What a different way of life it was then before that part of Phully became a war zone.