20 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

WHYY-TV, Channel 12 in Philadelphia, PA, 1/21/20:

 

 

 

  SEPTA taking Girard Ave. trolley off the rails; 78 percent of fleet can’t pass inspection

 

 

 

 

The iconic trolley cars that have crisscrossed most of Girard Avenue for nearly 15 years are going away for upwards of 18 months.

 

 

Full story

[KevinKorell]

NBC Philadelphia, 1/22/20:

 

 

  The End of the Street Car? SEPTA to Replace Route 15 Trolleys With Buses  

 

 

Some of the icons of Philadelphia’s streets are going away – temporarily for now.

 

SEPTA plans on replacing its green, cream and maroon Route 15 trolley cars – which run mostly along Girard Avenue from Port Richmond to West Philadelphia – with buses over the weekend.

More

[KevinKorell]

Philadelphia magazine, 1/22/20:

 

 

SEPTA Says the Historic Route 15 Trolleys Will Return Late Next Year 

 

 

One thing’s for sure: The historic trolleys that currently serve SEPTA’s trolley Route 15, which runs between West Philadelphia and Port Richmond, are going to be temporarily replaced by buses starting on Sunday.

 

 

Still more

[KevinKorell]

The branch of the 15 line to Richmond/Westmoreland Loop has not run since 2012, but that same year the new branch to Frankford & Delaware in Northern Liberties (across from the former Sugarhouse Casino, now Rivers Casino). Thus the two branches have never operated at the same time.  The closed portion east of the Market-Frankford Line covered by buses has been victim to an endless construction project involving rebuild of I-95 and surrounding infrastructure, including streets and a Conrail Shared Assets freight line.

 

With the entire 15 line to be covered by buses, it will be interesting to see how they continue to serve the two branches.    It was a long time coming to get the trolley line back in service (finally back in 2005) with its retrofitted PCC cars, and now it would be a shame to lose them permanently.

[KevinKorell]

SEPTA's own announcement:

 

 

 

                                                          Route 15 Trolley Vehicle Change

Effective January 26, 2020 Through 2021

 

 

Effective Sunday, January 26, 2020, SEPTA Trolley Route 15 will operate as bus service through calendar year 2021. Upcoming PennDOT construction projects, scheduled for Girard Avenue, will require the line to be bused so we are taking the proactive step to substitute the service now to provide consistency for customers. This change out also provides the opportunity to overhaul the PCC Trolleys that run on the route to improve service reliability and extend the life of the vehicles. The current schedule will continue to be effective along with service detours, which can be found on system status - https://realtime.sep.../bus_trolley/15. For up to the minute service information delivered directly to you sign up for the Route 15 Twitter account - @SEPTA_TRL_15

[KevinKorell]

Railway Age, 1/27/20:

 

 

   SEPTA Shuts Down Route 15 Streetcar   

 

 

For the second time in less than four weeks, a streetcar line in the United States has bitten the dust. This one is Philadelphia’s Route 15, operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), and which ran for 8.4 miles along Girard Avenue, an east-west street about one mile north of Market Street.

 

 

Article

[KevinKorell]

Philadelphia, PA Inquirer,  7/13/22:

 

 

    When will the Route 15 trolleys be back?  

 

 

“Welcome to Route 15, service to Port Richmond via Girard Ave.,” sounds the intercom as the trolley approaches the stop. You go up three steps, pay the fare (exact change only), and sit in the classic green seat.

 

Article

[CNJRoss]

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/4/22

 

FROM RUST BUCKET TO RIDE

 

 

 

Resurrecting transportation history in a SEPTA trolley shop.

 

 

Workers tended to four ancient trolley cars in various stages of undress on Monday, their mallets banging on sheet metal inside SEPTA’s Woodland Shops in the Kingsessing section of Philadelphia.

 

Every workday for 30 months, SEPTA restorers have been taking apart and rebuilding, piece by piece, the city’s famous 1947 PCC II trolleys. When the cars were removed from service on the Route 15/Girard Avenue trolley line in January 2020, they arrived at the shops dented, rusty, and in need of complete rebuilding.

 

For the teams, that has meant working backward, figuring out how to design and build replacement parts for the 75-year-old streetcars by analyzing what’s left of the originals.

 

“We get there through trial and error; I feel that’s what a lot of engineering is,” said Sabrina Eisl, 35, a senior project engineer at SEPTA who leads the restoration’s design team.

 

Restoration work continues on the 1947 trolleys at the SEPTA Woodland Shop in Philadelphia, Pa. on Monday, August 29, 2022.

The 18 trolleys are being rebuilt before they are put back in service.

MONICA HERNDON / Staff Photographer

 

Continue here. 

[KevinKorell]

Philly Voice, 1/19/23:

 

 

   SEPTA continues restoration project on fleet of trolley cars from the 1940s  

 

SEPTA is working to refurbish its historic fleet of green-and-cream colored trolley cars that date back to the first year of the Cold War and Jackie Robinson's first MLB contract.

 

The multimillion dollar project aims to restore the 1947 PCC II trolleys that ran on SEPTA Route 15 along Girard Avenue through North and West Philadelphia. SEPTA expects to have the project largely completed by September.

 

 

Update

[KevinKorell]

The time has doubled.   We're at the third anniversary of the initial news item, so the estimate of 18 months became 36 months, and it looks like it will be 44 months or so when all is said and done.