Philadelphia Traction 50's and 60's 

It's amazing how much of this still exists.

So wonderful and so sad. My grandmother didn't drive that was fine with me. She lived across the street from the 69th street terminal, I can still hear the El. We'd get on the P&W and ride it back and forth all day. We used to walk the tracks for miles. I can still remember the 1st time I saw a GG1 fly by. I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Thank for posting this

Thank you so much for this! I grew up on the Main Line in the 60s and recognize many of these scenes.

thank you to the folks who perserved these memories on film and digitezed them

Great stuff fmnut. Thanks for posting. Locations by scene: 1:05 Greenwich Yard, most likely an Army/Navy Game day. 1:15-3:14 Overbrook on the Main Line 3:15-4:00 probably Wynnewood on the Main Line 4:01-4:26 Woodbourne on the RDG New York Branch (Fairless Jct. to some) 4:27-4:39 Link Belt on the Doylestown Branch, Wood Siding is in view as is the road crossing at County Line Road 4:40-4:45 Crossing the Neshaminy Creek on the Doylestown Branch 4:46-4:52 Roslyn on the New Hope Branch, beginning of double track (spring switch visible) to Glenside 4:53-5:35 Mermaid Lane and Germantown Avenue on PTC Rt. 23. Note overhead bridge carrying PRR Fort Washington Branch 5:35-5:51 believed to be same location, shot from the PRR bridge 5:52-6:03 Germantown Avenue shot from RDG Wayne Jct. station platform 6:04-6:16 Climbing out of the subway at 46th & Market 6:17-6:34 Milbourne station and area leading to 69th Street Terminal on MFSE 6:35-6:43 69th Street Terminal Red Arrow/PSTC area 6:44-7:21 West Chester line of Red Arrow, various scenes along West Chester Pike 7:22-7:41 69th Street Terminal Red Arrow/PSTC area 7:42-8:19 probably along the Ardmore line (lighting and surroundings seem correct) 8:20-8:24 Drexel Hill Jct. 9:00-9:24 Ardmore 9:25-9:41 Paper Mill Road/Crum Creek bridge, Media line 9:42-10-08 Drexel Hill Jct, heading for Sharon Hill 10:09-10:21 original "temporary" P&W terminal at 69th Street 10:22-10:33 outbound on P&W with view of both MFSE and P&W yards and shops 10:34 possibly Penfield 10:46 possibly Beechwood-Brookline 10:47-10:50 Garrett Hill 10:51-10:56 Villanova Jct. with Strafford line still in place 10:57-11:33 crossing the Schuylkill River into Norristown 12:04-12:22 possibly Couter Siding near Belfry 12:23-12:27 Gehman Trestle near Hatfield 12:34-12:45 probably 8th & Hamilton in Allentown 12:54-13:23 Squirrel Siding in Lansdale. Substation at Main Street visible as well as the back side of Oak Park. Believed to be Charlie Houser standing by car. 13:24-13:33 rounding the curve at the Lansdale substation and entering Main Street heading towards Norristown 13:50-14:05 leaving Norristown, crossing the Schuylkill River, passing Bridgeport station and entering double track 14:06-14:08 King Manor area 14:09-14:12 crossing of P&W by PRR Trenton Cutoff with PRR wire train visible 14:14-14:20 Villanova Stadium area 14:21-14:30 Villanova Jct, different scenes 14:31-14:44 Wynnewood Road 14:44-14:48 Rosemont station 14:49-15:05 self explanatory 15:06 to end Gulph Mills with the Sure-Kill Crawlway in background.

Downtown Traffic + Roadside Speeders + Philadelphia = Great Traction Video. More. More. Thanks.

Oh now this is extreme! Electric traction in the Philadelphia Region. Thank you!

A good collection you have here. Tons of great vintage equipment, including the ex-Cincinnati and Lake Erie "Red Devil" trolleys engaged in service with LVT, once offering through service from Allentown to 69th Street via the Philadelphia and Western. Where did we as a society go wrong? Once plenty of transit, now most of it's gone, not likely to return due to a car obsessed culture.

This is incredible stuff and you have done an astonishing job of the audio.

Wow, that was a terrific ride in the Traction Time Machine! Thanks for sharing your high quality videos!

Great video. Never got to ride to Allentown on the LVT, but rode most everything else. Thanks for the look back in time.

Great to watch videos like this with real audio not music.

Even on a hot humid day with the windows open there was always a good breeze through the cars, especially the P&W 'bullet' trains to Norristown. The then new MFSE cars (circa. 1960) had fans in the ceilings of the cars and were scornfully dubbed 'rolling ovens' by one local newspaper. The current iteration on the MF line is, thankfully, air conditioned. Pleasant memories, indeed.

Enjoyed this film very much, thanks so much for sharing this.

I just drove down West Chester Pike during rush hour the other day (horrible), what a mistake it was to get rid of that line back in the 50's, at least The P & W Norristown, Media, and Sharon Hills lines survive, which is amazing in itself. Thanks for posting this, my first train ride was on the Brill Bullets around 1969 as a toddler, I still remember it!

Thanks for the interesting video. The LIRR operated the MP54's but with 3rd rail pickup instead of pantographs. I often rode them in and out of Manhattan for school in the late 1960's and photographed them as well. Port Jefferson Station took one of the MP54 combines with the celestory roof and turned it into a tourist office and community center.

Wow this footage like all the other stuff you've posted is absolutely priceless! Thanks for sharing!

Wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks for sharing! Lots of great traction moments captured from the past!

Fantastic video of lots classic Philadelphia traction. Amazing in its variety. Keep the sound up.

This is post Korea War homefilms that were taken by train fans. The Long Island Railroad and the Pennsylvania R.R electric commuter trains have the same car bodies and windows. Some of them both railroads had the same air whistles and owl eyed windows on the doors and windshields on the motorman cab. I am a New Yorker who grew up there during the Mad Men era! Bot companies shared the same yards in Midtown Manhattan and Sunnyside Yard. The Pennsylvania R.R owned the Long Island Railroad from 1900 til 1966. In the final year, Governor Rockefeller of New York State signed the bill to make the Long Island Railroad independent and under the control of the New York State government thru the MTA.

What a wonderful job on the video!! Great content!!

Traction!!! Great stuff. Loved those PCC cars. More? Thanks.

Nice shots of Philly traction and how 'bout that White Tower restaurant in the background at 7:35. Thanks for sharing!

1 third way through, I am S O blown away....what a marvelous place 🍸

Love the No graffiti on the cars!

I say, those must be the MP54s running local and express services on the Main Line. Trolley service on the 23, Budd M3s on the Market-Frankford Line, Red Arrows of the Suburban Trolley Lines, Lehigh Valley Red Devils of the Liberty Bell Limited Line, and J.G Brill Bullet and Strafford Cars of the Philadelphia and Western Railway.

Very interesting. From what my grandmother told me, there used to be a Red Arrow trolley line that went right down one of my hometown's main streets, and she would take it into the city. Sadly, those tracks are long gone, but one of the trolleys is on display at a local railroad museum.

69th Street Terminal, West Chester Pike... fantastic stuff.

Fascinatin that PIONEER III's, not Silverliners, are shown. Full pans are pioneers, half pans are Silverliners.

Fantastic!

This movie reminds me of the Cinncinatti intererbans I have on tape. well done fmnut.

I love the intro music 😊 My gosh, look at the length of that train at 1:10, a whole forest of pantographs as far as the eye can see

Awesome

wonderful stuff

Hi always nce trins électric GG1 good engine too, I like to watche thos who run in USA, friendly Jacques Canada

Cool, didnt know about this one!

So this is how Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Fabian, and Chubby Checker got to American Bandstand.

Awesome!

This is art

10:10 - 10:20 is the Pre-1962 original P & W turnback track, no trace of which exists today.

Philadelphia is a very fancy place,but I haven't went to Philadelphia before.

1:35 That's one fast MP54.

Beautiful color in these films. Must have been taken with a very good movie camera.

Fascinating and kind of sad. For railfans it was a better, vanished time.

That electric train at 2:45 seems to be issuing smoke

10:53 - 10:56 is the INTACT Villanova Junction.

It's really amazing that the Pennsylvania Railroad is still keeping their old MP54s.

Whats the music

@fmnut What PRR line is this, and that's this station called?

Great filming. Are any of these trams preserved?

60 feet rail pieces?

8:26 thru 8:37 is Drexelbrook.

10:55 villanova junction?

2:16 silverliner 2 and 3😭

The pre-herbicide era. Weeds around the tracks.

Before SEPTA ruined Philadelphia.