Philadelphia Trolleys

PCC cars on Route 23 taken in May 1981 on Super 8 silent film.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• philadelphia
• trolley
• streetcar
• PCC
• septa

[johnq48]

I believe PCC cars still run in the city but not on this route, which is now a bus route (see comments below).

[nanlisa]

Was this filmed in either early, mid, or late May. I was in California the first two weeks of that May.

[johnq48]

It was filmed on Wednesday 6 May - I checked the notebook I kept.

[BOOGE64]

@krizvasa The tram network only consists of the five subway-surface routes 10,11,13,34,36 and the all surface route 15 which was reactivated with rebuilt PCC's a few years ago.

[donsande2]

I liked that red, white, and blue trolley with the stars.

[blackmale78]

Good ol red white and blue!!! Its great how people shot this footage and how we are looking at it many years later enjoying it!

[Worldsofwonder2007]

Thanks! I remember those Bicentennial Cars! LOL at the Channel 10 news billboard with Larry Kane!

[adelgado75]

How did SEPTA manage to keep it's trolley system when other cities scrapped theirs?

[drigin1234]

Wonderful film

Do these cars still run in the city?

[largefrog19036]

It was a sin to see the way SEPTA painted the trolleys back then. They looked like clowns. Anyhow, the problem with the 23 trolley is morons parking on the tracks and blocking the trolley. In 1985, I was repairing a payphone on Germantown ave when the trolleys began backing up and ringing their bells. About 10 minutes later, a supervisor showed up in a blg ol Chevy Blazer with a push bumper. He pushed the offending car into the curb so hard, it blew the car's right front tire. It was beautiful!

[mickthemacdaddy]

SEPTA has never, and will never, give into the demands of neither the public nor honest lawmakers. You will never see the 23 nor 56 as trolley lines again, nor will you see the 29 and 79 as trackless trolley lines again.

[mickthemacdaddy]

SEPTA has never, and will never, give into the demands of neither the public nor honest lawmakers. You will never see the 23 nor 56 as trolley lines again, nor will you see the 29 and 79 as trackless trolleys again. The only reason why they brought the 15 trolley line back was because of Federal funding.