Nostalgia & History > Philadelphia Broad Street Subway '78

A few photos from 4-20-78 of some Philadelphia Broad Street Line subway cars. After a quick search, this must be Fern Rock as I noted that it was at the end of the line and I believe the only portion that is above ground. I don't remember much about the cars, but they sure look old.

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Oh, those are old.  The first car appears to be one originally used on the line over the Ben Franklin bridge to Camden, NJ.  When that line was modernized with new cars and extended, they were transferred to the Broad Street line.  I think the cars in the other two pictures were original from the 1920s.  I was told they had cement floors.  I rode many miles in them in the '40s and '50s.  They were replaced by the Almond Joy cars in the early 1980s.  Gerry

If Jules Verne designed mass transit vehicles, they would look like the subway car seen in the first photo!

Hey Gerry, The Almond Joy cars were only on the Frankford-Market EL-Subway line. These Broad Street cars were just ancient and I'm guessing these newer ones replaced those 1920 cars. I don't recall them at all? Did some come from the Ben Franklin Bridge Line when they built the Lindenwald high speed Line? The ancient red cars were eventually replaced with stainless steel and Orange trimmed cars that are still in service today. I haven't ridden the Broad Street Subway in five years but I know Septa hasn't had a budget to replace them.
Those pictured are really Jules Verne candidates! I don't recall ever seeing them.
Gonut



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/23 20:25 by Gonut1.

GPutz Wrote:
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> I was told [these cars] had cement floors.

I think concrete/cement floors were pretty common on passenger equipment.

In that 2nd photo, it looks like someone pitched a tent next to the tracks by the train....

I believe this was a Broad Street Subway fan trip that I rode in 1978.  One of the cars is a bridge car that used to run to Camden, NJ via the Ben Franklin bridge.  On the fan trip we covered rare trackage including the upper level turn back at Erie Avenue and the lower level station at Pattison Ave. Today the three cars are rusting away next to the open air Fern Rock station where these photos were taken.

Gonut1 is correct about the Almond Joy cars being used only on the Frankford-69th Street line.  Gerry