Friday, January 09, 2015

A New Year On the Streetcar

SEPTA; 40th Street Portal, Philadelphia, Pa.; December 31, 2014
On New Year's Eve I had the pleasure of once again riding the annual trip sponsored by the Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys on a SEPTA streetcar in the City of Brotherly Love. Getting to the Callowhill Depot, the base for SEPTA's Route 10 and Route 15 streetcars, there were both PCC-II and Kawasaki cars parked out front.
SEPTA; Callowhill Depot, Philadelphia, Pa.; December 31, 2014
A quick peek inside showed both types of cars undergoing some quick maintenance.
SEPTA; Callowhill Depot, Philadelphia, Pa.; December 31, 2014
Our streetcar for the night would be PCC-II No. 2325, decorated for the holidays by SEPTA operator Gary "G-Man" Mason. The main passenger pickup point was Malvern Loop at the end of Route 10.
SEPTA; Malvern Loop, Philadelphia, Pa.; December 31, 2014
Unfortunately, when it came time to leave Malvern Loop, No. 2325 didn't want to start. Gary Mason (who was operating this night) returned to Callowhill in a SEPTA truck and brought No. 2323 out to Malvern Loop where all the passengers switched streetcars. Once the transfer was complete, we were underway. Our first photo stop was on the diversion trackage at 40th Street to get the city skyline.
SEPTA; 40th & Pennsgrove, Philadelphia, Pa.; December 31, 2014
Here's another view of No. 2323 during the photo stop on 40th Street.
SEPTA; 40th & Pennsgrove, Philadelphia, Pa.; December 31, 2014
From here it was out Route 34 on Baltimore Avenue, with a photo stop at the Angora Loop at the end of the line.
SEPTA; Angora Loop, Philadelphia, Pa.; December 31, 2014
We pulled into the station at the 40th Street Portal to the Center City tunnel just before midnight (below and at the top of this post). PCC-II cars are not allowed in the tunnel, so from here we turned back onto the southwest Philly routes in the wee minutes of January 1, 2015.
SEPTA; 40th Street Portal, Philadelphia, Pa.; December 31, 2014
Heading out Route 13, we briefly left the Philadelphia city limits and entered Yeadon, with a photo stop at Yeadon Loop.
SEPTA; Yeadon Loop, Yeadon, Pa.; January 1, 2015
We then departed Yeadon Loop to continue into Darby before returning to within the limits of Philadelphia. The shot below is departing Yeadon.
SEPTA; Yeadon Loop, Yeadon, Pa.; January 1, 2015
Next we headed into the Elmwood Depot, the base of operations for the southwest Philadelphia routes. Both of the Kawasaki cars decorated for the Elmwood district were laying over in the yard.
SEPTA; Elmwood Depot, Philadelphia, Pa.; January 1, 2015
The final photo stop was made at the end of Route 36 at the Eastwick Loop.
SEPTA; Eastwick Loop, Philadelphia, Pa.; January 1, 2015
From here we headed back to Malvern Loop and then back to Callowhill Depot. Our last shot shows operator Gary Mason as he guides the streetcar off 63rd Street and onto Girard Avenue on the last portion of the trip. More photos from this trip can be found here. The story of last year's trip with a Kawasaki car can be found here. And you can go back to New Year's Eve 2013 by clicking here.
SEPTA; 63rd & Girard, Philadelphia, Pa.; January 1, 2015

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