Title Panel from 1953 PTC map
1953 Philadelphia Transit Map

1953 Phila Transit map

This is the Center City map of the Philadelphia Transportation Company, printed in January 1953. This detailed map is printed on the back of the main map.

Legend:

Blue Lines represent streetcar (trolley) lines, except for Route 61, which at that time was an electric trolleybus line.

Red Lines represent diesel (or gasoline) bus lines.

Black Lines represent rapid transit lines (e.g., Broad St. Subway, Market St. Subway). Dashed lines signify lines running in subway; solid black lines are elevated transit lines.

The white numbers in black boxes represent points of interest, not transit route numbers.

Note the high density of service, with streetcars on nearly every north-south street. The former portal of the Market St. Subway and the surface car subway is visible at 24th and Market Streets. Subway cars and trolleys crossed the Schuylkill River on a separate steel truss bridge, located north of the Market St. bridge. The trolley network in 1953 was pretty much intact: takeover by National City lines with their huge fleet of General Motors diesel buses was still a couple of years in the future.


Philadelphia Transportation Company Streetcar Routes as of January 1953


Route                                      Rail         Current
Number                                     Abandoned    Status
------                                     ---------    --------

2   15th and 16th Streets                  1956
3   Frankford - Columbia Avenue            1956
5   Frankford - 2nd and 3rd Streets        1955
6   Glenside                               1958
6   City Line - Ogontz Avenue                    1986
7   Strawberry Mansion - 22nd & 23rd Sts.  1955
8   Dauphin and Susquehanna Avenue         1956
9   Strawberry Mansion - 4th and 5th Sts.  1956
10  Lancaster Avenue - Subway                          in service
11  Woodland Avenue - Subway                           in service
12  Grays Ferry                            1956
13  Chester Avenue - Subway                            in service
15  Girard Avenue                                1992  in service (restored in 2005)
17  South 19th & 20th Streets              1957
18  South 22nd and 23rd Streets            1953
20  12th and 13th Streets                  1957
21  North 17th and 18th Streets            1956
23  Germantown Avenue - 11th & 12th Sts.         1992
26  Olney Avenue                           1956
31  Market and 63rd Streets                1956
32  South 17th & 18th Streets              1957
33  North 22nd Street                      1955
34  Baltimore Avenue - Subway                          in service
36  Elmwood Avenue - Subway                            in service
37  Westinghouse - Subway                  1955
38  Baring Street - Subway                 1955
39  Dauphin and Susquehanna Avenue         1956
40  Lombard and South Streets              1956
41  63rd Street                            1957
42  West Spruce Street                     1956
43  Spring Garden Street                   1956
46  58th and 60th Streets                  1957
47  Godfrey - 8th & 9th Streets                  1969
48  Fairmount - Arch Street                1956
50  Lawndale - 4th & 5th Streets                 1980
52  Chelten - Midvale                      1956
53  Wayne Avenue - Erie Avenue                   1985
54  Lehigh Avenue                          1955
56  Erie Avenue - Torresdale Avenue              1992
57  Jefferson and Master Streets           1955
60  Allegheny Avenue                             1978
62  Chester Avenue Extension                     1971 added to Rt.13
63  Catherine and Bainbridge Streets       1955
64  Federal and Wharton Streets            1956
65  York Road - 6th & 7th Streets          1953
66  Holmesburg (Frankford Avenue)          1955       trolleybus*
70  52nd Street - Bala                     1955
79  Snyder Avenue                          1956       trolleybus*
81  Passyunk Avenue                        1955

*Routes 29, 59, 61 and 75 were converted from trolley to electric trolleybus before 1953.
Route 79 was converted from diesel bus to electric trolleybus in 1961.
Route 61 was converted from electric trolleybus to diesel bus in 1961.

Routes 29 and 79 trolleybus service was abandoned in 2003.

based on _Surface Cars of Philadelphia 1911-1965_ by Harold E. Cox


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