Philadelphia's PCC Streetcars

In the late 1970s, Philadelphia's fleet of PCC cars was the second largest in the western hemisphere, with 300 PCC trolleys remaining -- only Toronto Ontario had more trolleys. Philadelphia's fleet was comprised of two main classes: 102 prewar "air cars" built between 1940 and 1942, and 198 postwar "all-electrics" built in 1946 - 1948.

The streetcars operated from three depots over twelve routes, spread over most of the city. Five car lines ran on city streets and through a trolley subway under University City and Center City; the remaining seven ran entirely in city streets in traditional streetcar fashion.

(For more on where the cars ran, consult the Philadelphia Trolley Routes: By The Numbers page on this site.)


Much of the system has been paved over since then.

Today, the five routes that operate through the Subway Surface tunnel and in southwest Philadelphia are equipped with Japanese-built Light Rail Vehicles. Of the six North Philadelphia lines, only one, the Route 15 Girard Avenue, has been restored to streetcar service.

Until 1992, rebuilt postwar PCCs remained in revenue service on three lines, the 15, 23, and 56. PCC cars on these last three lines were "temporarily" replaced by diesel buses in September of that year, with most of the PCCs sold to transit operations and museums all over the country. The tracks and wires remain in place however, with both City Council and the mayor's office opposed to their removal (see City Council hearing article). SEPTA has restored service on Route 15, but has no plans to bring trolleys back to Routes 23 and 56. Portions of both Route 23 and Route 56 have been paved over.

While today, Philadelphia's streetcars are being sold to transit operations all over the country, there was a time when Philadelphia bought PCCs from other cities. In the 1950's, PTC bought forty ex-Kansas City Missouri PCCs, and another fleet from St. Louis, MO. The ex-St. Louis cars didn't last long, but the Kansas City cars were to remain in service here into the 1980's. For the U.S. Bicentennial, SEPTA repainted the surviving twenty-seven Kansas City cars red white and blue, and lettered them for the original colonies. They were the mainstays of route 50, which ran past Independence Hall.
PCC 2254, the Pennsylvania on Wyoming Avenue in Feltonville on June 15, 1977. photo © Mike Szilagyi

According to Howard Fritchman, Jr., quoted in Mervin E. Borgnis' An Inside Story of the PRT and PTC, the ex-Kansas City Cars were the fastest PCCs in the city: "...they had a unique 'overdrive' feature...once this (apparently) top speed was reached, an even greater speed could be attained by easing up on the power pedal to an almost off position, at which point the car seemed to attain a second wind...speed of as much as fifteen miles an hour faster could be attained."
PCC 2266 leads a line of cars blocked by fire at 5th and Allegheny on June 30, 1979. photo © Mike Szilagyi

Eleven more ex-Kansas City cars came to Philadelphia, by way of Toronto, in 1976. Though these cars were to replace some of the PCCs lost in the Woodland Carbarn fire, they were assigned to Luzerne Depot. The Kansas City cars are the only ones built with the postwar body shell, but without small standee windows. The president of the Kansas City Public Service Co., Powell Groner, disliked "those little apertures," and in fact the cars built to his specification had a less cluttered appearance than the standard postwar cars.
PCC 2246 shown at Luzerne Depot, in TTC red, on July 8, 1977. photo © Mike Szilagyi

All the Ex-Kansas City PCCs were out of service by the mid-1980s. The car shown here, no. 2289, rusts in a field outside Reading, Pennsylvania on October 5, 1996, still in PTC green. Another ex-KC car, 2255, was owned by the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association. 2255 has since been scuttled in a flooded quarry for the amusement of scuba divers.
October 5, 1996 photo © Mike Szilagyi

Of the 600 or so PCCs that have rolled over Philadelphia's streets, all but 19 were built by the "Quality Shops", the St. Louis Car Company in Missouri. Only the small fleet acquired from Toronto in 1976 were built by the other U.S. manufacturer of PCC cars, Pullman-Standard. These cars were originally built for Birmingham, Alabama in 1946. SEPTA never did repaint its Pullman PCCs in SEPTA colors.
PCC 2304 at Courtland Shops in Autumn 1980. photo © Mike Szilagyi

Some of the Pullman PCCs bought from Toronto had severe corrosion problems, i.e., they were real rusty. This car is coming apart where the plywood floor meets the dash panel above the anticlimber. Like the ex-Kansas City cars, they were assigned to Luzerne Depot. Here 2311 rolls northbound on Route 50, on Wyoming Avenue in front of the old SEPTA headquarters.
TTC PCC 2311 on October 26, 1979. Photo © Mike Szilagyi

Pullman built a simpler carbody for its PCCs, eliminating details like the curved visor and compound-curved body panels that were the hallmark of the St. Louis-built PCCs. Red rocket 2305 is seen at the southern end of Route 6, the Olney Station of the Broad Street Subway. The Route 6 had been cut back from suburban Willow Grove, to Cheltenham Avenue in 1958. Several miles of track along Old York Road continued to serve as the connection to Luzerne Depot. If you have photos of PCCs on Old York Road you'd like to share, please contact me at
ex-TTC PCC 2305 on July 5, 1978. Photo © Mike Szilagyi