Philadelphia's Abandoned Ghost Subway Lines: What Happened To Them? IT'S HISTORY 

As soon as I heard that I laughed and thought, okay this guy isn't from around here.

Skool - Kill River

Also "Passy - Yunk"

I'll just pile on and add that SEPTA is the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority 💀 SKOO kull 😎

Skully kill.

yeah, go eat one of your nasty cheese steaks

I’m from New York I say stuff differently

To be fair, some aren’t the easiest to pronounce

He did, but just appreciate the video. How’s he supposed to know?

@@nicksacco5041 olney and rising sun isn't so hard

I couldn't agree more

Are you sure about that, I thought they had CNG and other types of busses all around.

@@pgtmr2713 They do indeed exist, but most transit systems insist on diesel.

Public transit in the US is pathetic. It’s embarrassing.

@@JohnCap523 I'll never understand this. If YOU want buses GO where they have buses. Then we don't have to make more buses and build infrastructure no one will use. Be the change.

The names of the system kept changing due to bankruptcies; PRT (Phila Rapid Transit) became PTC (Phila Transportation Corp) became SEPTA (Southeast PA Transportation Authority) which, unlike the companies that ran the lines prior to the ...um...1960's (?) is a quasi-governmental agency. When SEPTA was formed it absorbed the PTC and the Red Arrow Lines (which ran public transit west of the city). When the Penn Central and Reading Railroads went bust the long distance lines were formed into Amtrak and the local lines were absorbed by SEPTA giving us the infamous "Paoli Local." This resulted in an agency which runs the Broad St Subway, the El, buses, trolleys, trackless trolleys, and trains. I hear they'll be adding roller skates soon!

@@joelressner9651 Wow, everything you mentioned gave me phila transit history simple & clear. Here's a thought I was scrolling thru the comments today & there was dialog about the "Ghost Tunnels".on Ben Franklin Bridge. Which you can clearly see it when you travel.on the PATCO. Well one person mentioned in the upcoming 2023, I read Philly planning to revitalizing the "Ghost Tunnels" that will link the Ben Franklin to the Frankford - Market EL. Also Philly planning to add another Transit company rivaling SEPTA. Which I find great...another transit company would make suburban & the city access more vast, cuts driving & gas cost, keep SEPTA on there toes opposing them to strike every 2 to 3 years over contract disputes. Ultimately better for the environment. If New Yourk City & Los Angeles can have multiple bus lines. So why can't we ? ❤♥️♠️♣️♦️🖤❤♥️♠️

@@khingofswordz43 Contracts are a legacy problem for SEPTA because former PTC-line employees have a separate contract from former Red Arrow line employees. (OK -- I'm not sure if this is still true. Anyone know?) The 2nd Ave subway in NYC demonstrates the enormous cost of drilling a new subway in an inhabited area, There used to be train lines along the river. An extension of the El from Bridge/Pratt to the river could be build and those lines could be incorporated into the system. Note: you cannot get to heaven on the Frankford El.

My dad grew up in Norristown and is in his 60s, when the NHSL was called the P and W to him.

@@Ranixo286 That's Awesome......your dad certainly is knowledgeable in our transit system....

As a New Yorker who grew up there during the Mad Men era, you are absolutely right. Of the 5 boroughs of NYC with Staten Island across the Lower New York Bay you can travel to all other boroughs by subway without traffic jams. In the 1960s the fastest way to Radio City Music Hall was by subway by the F Queens Boulevard express via the 6th Avenue subway to the 47th Street Radio City Music Hall station. The fare was 15 cents for subway and bus separately. In Old NYC in Old America.

@@luislaplume8261 Among the many places I've lived is Toronto, which has an excellent public transit system. Their advertising slogan was on the order of "we can get you there", And, they could! The subway, trolley, and bus routes enabled me to go anywhere in the city. SEPTA, on the other hand, seems to miss the mark on connectivity, especially with regional rail in the suburbs. If you got off the train at Exton, a major area in Chester County, you were stuck there even though a bus went right by it. The bus now stops at the train station increasing the connectivity of the system. It would benefit Philly greatly if SEPTA execs were assigned two neighborhoods at random and tried to get from A to B. If they can't get within walking distance on SEPTA only, then it's time for a re-think of the system.

@@joelressner9651 Most executives in Transit Agencies are political hacks who know next to nothing about moving people. For example the Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigeig aka Pete Butt Plug, who was the Mayor of South Bend and was good for nothing in that small city. The best services in my old hometown of NYC were done by private businesses that had their executives have a hands on policy of riding with the public and motorman an conductors of elevated trains, subway trains and trolleys. The private companies were the IRT, BMT, of NYC until 1940 when the NYC government bought them .

I believe there is a ghost station inside the BF bridge itself. It was supposed to connect with the Frankford El. When you ride the El when it passes under the bridge you can see the doors that are the entrance to the station.

The city has planned to revive the station they've already started on making a stairwell down to it

It’s spooky riding the PATCO lines through the ghost stations!

They should use it

It’s Franklin square and will reopen 2023

The station was in the basement of the Sears parking garage on the boulevard. It may still be down there, sealed by surface paving.

@@joelressner9651 I had no idea about the Passyunk Spur train that was proposed, as I frequently visit the Tasker-Morris area since I go to a gun range that's not too far from there.

Sounds awesome!

Some of those tunnels may access PECO's steam loop, which heats a lot of the buildings in Center City.

I'm learning something new here

Watch the movie 12 monkeys.

It would be neat to see more about these lines. They would extend as far as even doylestown and there is still a small section of rail at Edison ferlong and 611. It’s also interesting that those lines that headed up from the city to the willow grove park shaped some of the roads we use today like along jenkintown , Tyson and edge hill rds

Historical Preservation Commissioner here. Can you share your knowledge. Intrigued.

@@noxirs7059 Back when trolleys and interurban lines were the more prevalent in the U.S certain street car lines built parks in far flung communities to encourage ridership on the lines on the weekends especially. These parks often had a few rides, games and other amusements. Willow Grove Park was one such park. it's earliest signature feature was the fountain which was lit up with colored electric lights (the base of the fountain is still visible in the lake). Over the years more rides and attractions were added. There was a band shell that for years was visited by famous band leader John Phillip Sousa who performed at the park from 1901 to 1926. Their also was a bike track for brief time that held the national bike racing championship in either 1898 or 1899. One of the most distinguishing feature was The Matterhorn. A large rollercoaster that went in and around a plaster mountain that stood out like Cinderella's Castle in the Disney Park. My Great Uncle Arthur Scolari came to Willow Grove Park in 1940 to partake in the Horseshoe Pitching Championship of North America, which he won at the age of 15 . Sadly by the 1960s most people were going to corporate theme parks such as Disneyland and Six Flags, thanks in part to commercial airliners, the interstate system, and the popularity of the car, the park declined before closing for good after the 1975 season. It was left abandoned for a few years till it was cleared for the mall and shopping center that was built on the site in 1982. There was the largest bowling alley in the world. 116 lanes and four restaurants that outlasted the park but to was replaced by the shopping center, as it wasn't doing well, most likely due the lanes being warped due to the high water table. For a more in-depth history check out this link. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FIYtP-J-4ws.html

@@andrewscolari5724 Bill Cosby had a piece about going to Willow Grove Park, featuring the wooden roller coaster "eaten by termites" and his brother Roland getting sick on it. Absolutely brilliant stuff. I personally rode on that coaster. The whole structure shook, terrorizing the riders. I went later, when it was Six Gun Territory, and the place was really run down with many rides broken by that point. Willow Grove Park was one of many terminal parks built by trolley companies to get riders onto their trolleys on the weekends.

i remember going to Woodside Park on my 8th grade trip from St. Veronica's School in 1951. We took a trolley to a point where we boarded an open sided trolley. We crossed the Schuykill River via the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. I recall sitting on the end of the bench and noting there was only air between me and the river far below! If you drive over the bridge now you can see the support structure extending from the North (I think) side of the bridge.This is where the tracks were located. They are gone now. I was always amazed there were no accidents. Woodside Park was demolished and houses built there..............

They definitely slept on the potential here I'm in Germantown the regional helps but still missed opportunities

there are stations that should be shut down and stay shut down. Chester transportation center comes to mind. when you get off as bus/trolley and have to have full riot gear, military grade pepper spray a full automatic weapon to hold the panhandlers,junkies and drug dealers at bay yea its time to put that station down

As a Philly native, I can tell you that isn't really necessary. The Fern Rock transportation center has several buses at the station that will take you straight into the Northeast in no time. Especially since Fern Rock is already close to the Northeast. Not to mention, you also have the Frankford Line

Lets not forget strikes and high prices.

Ugh we gotta figure out our crime issue first, unfortunately it's gonna take a generation or two

Philadelphia mills mall now.

Philly is a democrat city, Id be surprised if you see your local government do anything useful on the forseeable future lmao

@@ryanparker4996 ahh that's dumb thinking, there's a lot of good projects in the works regardless of political stance

@@deluca9805 you wanna see your city improve then stop voting blue. Those people dont actually care about you.

Former mayor,Frank Rizzo, decided that he liked a 1.8 mile commuter tunnel OVER a 12mile Roosevelt Blvd subway extension 100% paid for by the U.S. government. Go figure. That is what you get when Philadelphia residents elected a high school educated ex-cop. This is ALL fact and VERY sad.

Glad someone already fixed that. It was driving me nuts and I had to stop the video to comment on it.

Came here to say this, too. Lol

would also probably cut down on the car accidents that happen around that section

😸😸😹😹 Socash slipped that one past most of us. I saw that clip and had to stop and rewind

😂

He forgot the purple flash too!

@@kateapple1 What's that?

I know there is a Trolley portal that goes underground at 36th street between Market and Ludlow but I thought the Trolley and Market-Franford line starts running side by side from 32nd street to the other side of City Hall (called 13th street station though technically it’s under Juniper Street)?

@@szwakyd The Shared Tunnel from 22nd St to 32nd Stwas part of the University City Extension of the Tunnel.

@@CaseysTrains Does it go under the Sckulkill river?

@@drippinglass Yes. Prior to the mid-1950s it came up at 24th St. and ran above ground, looping around 30th St. Station. The tunnel was extended under the river to about 40th St. where it now comes up. There are some cool videos available.

I drove the subway for almost 25 years recently retired in February those old openings was supposed to lead to other parts of the city like once the train left Erie and it veered to the left as you can see you have tracks going up towards hunting Park then it curves to the right to continue up to Roosevelt Boulevard also At olney station you had tracks that went up and towards the left that took you over to Grange that part of the line was supposed to go up Cheltenham Avenue towards Ogontz I forgot also at Erie they had tracks that was supposed to take you up to Chestnut Hill The subway was also supposed to go into the Navy Yard there’s a tunnel beyond Patterson station which is now covered up that goes all the way to the Navy Yard and the other tunnel was on the lower level of Patterson

@@larrymcneil8038 I’ve always wondered what that extra station under Patterson was used for I was always told it was for extra trains to pull into when there was a game at the Wells Fargo Center

@@dantelaws yes they used to store extra trains down on a lower level during the Eagles games we had about 13 trippers Then they also used to use the lower level for train service while the upper level was occupied with stored trains they don’t use the lower level anymore most of the time revenue will use the lower level while line trains use the upper level

@@larrymcneil8038 wow that’s so interesting my mother also worked at the Navy Yard so I used to go down there after school a lot. I never knew that the train originally went into the Navy Yard. I always found it weird that there was so much extra track at the end of Pattinson and wondered why the train never went down there

@@larrymcneil8038 I’m have trouble understanding your last sentence “most of the time revenue will use the lower level…”. Revenue?

Yeah probably didn't have delays for equipment issues every day 😂

Comment of the year!!! LOL

@@brenndenpodgorski3717 you have just said a mouth full there my friend! As I text you right now I am waiting over 20 minutes for the mfl that according to SEPTA's schedule, there should be a train every 5 minutes!

😂😂😂

That's always been one of my favorites too. It's super cool going from the lofty heights of the ben franklin then down into the darkness past franklin square!

It was opened and closed 4 times, and is apparently readying for another re-opening now. There's just nowhere to go from that station once you exit it, although the new proposal has a new exit at 7th and Race which might make it a little bit useful, but what it would really need is connecting rail service of some sort. Maybe they could build an underground walkway to BSL, although 8th & Market already provides that connection, and it's not that far away.

It’s reopening soon

Is this sarcasm?

you took the market frankfort line to CC, and regional rail to levittown

@@madelynmorgan2999 Yes. I can never understand how people think the two systems are somehow connected when they don't have the same cars or tracks. P.S. I'm sure you meant Frankford. I'm betting it's from -Autocorrect- Autocorrupt.

@Jeremy Preece I'm glad you see the real smoke that continues to exist as to why public transit gets a negative nod; I'm from New York City and opinions continue to swirl around shaming every tropical storms/ hurricanes/ typhoons/ tornadoes. . .I could go on, the poi t of the matter is that I support public transportation despite idiosyncrasies-every thing is not exactly 💯%, but it IS efficient; there was once a slogan for New Jersey's public transit: "Public Transportstion: use it or lose it", and another for Georgia's public transit (i.e. Savannah's bus system): "Be in the know before you go"; the folks who depend something on their cars for a 3•hour trip (traffic woes, construction, road closures, etc.) ALWAYS forget what it's like to "depend" on public transportation regardless of problems.

It's the US view of "free-dumb". We lost funding for a metro line near where I live because people voted down a 2% tax to pay for it. Instead they burn up that much and more petrol sitting on a clogged motorway.

I went to the US for the first time 5 years ago and had a chance to visit Philly ;-) it was awesome! I rowed on the Schuylkill and learned the correct pronounciation. This guy doesn’t do research into pronounciation - just the history. I have given him a tip how to pronounce ‘beaux arts’ (BOZAR from French) but he still says: BOW ARTS…. In several videos.😬 A creator who doesn’t interact with the audience who wants to help in a friendly manner must have an huge ego… or must be really ignorant. Unfortunately the content suffers as a result. Well… at least our ears are. It just comes off as unprofessional 🤷🏻‍♂️🤗

Thank you because he annihilated those pronunciations.

Don't forget Acaa Me for Acme Markets and Pavement for sidewalk. The front steps were the stoops. When I was a kid living in Philadelphia in the 1950's the Acme Market was the American Store, a little corner grocery store. Remember the Penn Fruit super markets?

I straight up didn't know what he was talking about 😭😫😂

I was born in All-nee. You got that right!

😂👏

Norm🍿e

agreed man!!!! and judging by the original 1913 plans drawn up by A. Merritt Taylor, the Philadelphia Subway lines was originally gonna be almost as large as the New York City Subway system, had everything gone according to plan

It also was nearly selected as HQ for the United Nations.

I knew. The white house was originally in Philly. In Germantown not too far from where I live

Amen! It’s so damn irritating! 🤯

He seems to butcher at least a few words in every one of his videos

Did he ever mention doing any work on the Passyunk Spur near between Tasker and Snyder?

LIRR and Metro North have so much history.

I'm just old enough to remember the PTC. I have fond memories of the green-and-cream paint scheme on their PCC trolleys. At least by the early 1960s the PTC was so messed up that today's SEPTA looks good by comparison. In fact SEPTA was created because the PTC was on the verge of collapse.