SEPTA Trolley Line 56 Spring 1992

@brushcreek42 11 years ago

It's amazing how they got away with abandoning a line like this at a relatively late date, while other cities were building light rail lines. What gross stupidity. The trolleys and road bed looked in great shape. GM won out again.

@FWC38H 10 years ago

A good film of those lovely PCC's. I have driven these myself and loved to do it.

@Jzs20 11 years ago

I was only 10years old when this was filmed however I can remember going into that McDonald's on torresdale ave (torn down years ago) I also remember the yellw trash trucks and the old sepa buses that were shown... They had their exhaust pipes at ground level and smoked you out every time lol. Face full of smoke or car full of smoke if stuck behind one. Thx for posting this, it brought back memories

@eyestoenvy 12 years ago

LOVED it. These things should be running on all major avenue's, connecting to Center City, the airport, and the major transit hubs & subways... Dependable, reliable.. and spurring economic growth along their secured routes (unlike buses). Philadelphia is sitting on a gold mine and doesn't even know it..

@westphiladelphia 11 years ago

I seen that the 23 and 56 tracks have been chopped up in certain areas. I noticed majority of the tracks for the 56 are just about removed. I like the subway surface routes, but the at least adding back the 23 just gives you that trolley feeling. We would have two routes that operate outside the tunnel. The 15 runs buses a lot of times. SEPTA needs to put the 23 back in service and let kawasaki build the trolleys. because that company did an amazing job with our current 30 plus years old cars.

@jvohanian 7 years ago

I hope you realize this is absolute GOLD.

@trainfan1143 12 years ago

Wow! First time I ever saw a PCC car go in reverse! Great video! Brings back memories. If anyone has any footage of the old Route 6 trolley (Cheltenham and Ogontz to Broad and Olney); please post. Thanks!

@Coastercarl 11 years ago

Great Video, and nice shot of 2168, now preserved at The Baltimore Streetcar Museum. Some of those PCCs are now out in San Francisco, working the F Line.

@YourGrandmom75 6 years ago

Growing up in Philadelphia, I'm from a area without trolley cars so when we used to the Zoo, I would be so ,excited to catch the trolley cause Route 15 at the time used to run these cars...

@yolandajohnson8685 5 years ago

spring of 1992. I was working at the IRS as a seasonal employee

@6fthondaboi 12 years ago

Damn this takes me back. My dad used to run these trolleys out of luzurne depot.

@Wingnutcaseman 11 years ago

In 1992 the 15, 23, and 56 were cancelled for budgetary reasons. The city "forced" SEPTA to resume the 15 by threatening to withhold their share of operating subsidy. There are no plans to return streetcars to the 23 or 56. Consequently, the 56 has been paved over and had its wires removed except between Broad Street and Kensington Avenues.

@sctransit 12 years ago

Very enjoyable and comprehensive video of the line. Thank you.

@donsande2 12 years ago

I hated when septa cancelled all the north philly trolley routes

@lamont1512 3 years ago

I miss those days. But it's gone now.

@geneking7320 12 years ago

Extra bonus of the "Almond Joy" Budd cars on the MFSE in the background at the end. Great video! When I last visited Philly it was in 1999. I was speaking with a MFSE motorman at 69th and told him the last time I rode a Philadelphia trolley on Market St was 1996 in San Francisco :-).