My Family moved to Ardmore in 1970, literally a few houses down Haverford Road from the Ardmore Junction PW station. While the trolley had been replaced by then these still bring back so many memories. Thank you for posting this!!!

A bit before my time. I was born in 1965. But, I used to work in Ardmore and have ridden Philadelphia and Delaware County public transportation a lot.

It’s crazy to see this in 2019. I’m 34 years old and to see West Chester like like this is mind blowing. The trolley tracks are now an island in the middle of the road.

Rode those as a child and dumb teen. I wish I had paid more attention. We often don't appreciate what we have until it's gone. Cliche but true.

The Red Arrow Trolley system served us well for many years. Never had a late trolley in the two years I took it from Ardmore to Bonner High School. The heater in those trolleys would burn your feet off! Now a private busway along the same route from Ardmore end of the line to Oakmont (near the Wawa).

Very well done and comprehensive. My mom would drive down from Broomall to go shopping at 69th St. and I couldn't wait to see all the trolleys lined up on the side like the images you provided. Thanks for these great memories that I cherished.

Thank you for sharing this. I rode the Ardmore line several times when I was young.

Rode this line quite a lot in the 50s and 60s and lived right next to the tracks at one time. Nice job with this video! Thank you for putting this together.

What's all this stuff about route numbers? We called it the Ardmore trolley. Living at Ardmore Junction, we had two trolley lines - the Ardmore line and the P&W. so you couldn't just say, "the trolley." Even if you were going to 69th St., is was still, "I'm taking the Ardmore trolley to 69th St." (Although the P&W was a much preferable way to go to 69th St.) As kids, we considered those trolleys our personal playthings. We had our favorite ones - the double digit numbers. And the ones we hated - the single digit ones - too plain looking. We'd put our ears on the tracks to hear them coming (it worked!) We'd put stones (those brown stones between the ties) or pennies (never a nickel or dime!) on the tracks and watch the trolley flattened them. Wintertime meant... Snowball Season! The drivers didn't like snowballs, and sometimes they'd stop and get out and say, "I'm calling the the cops. I know where you live!" At the creek in Merwood Park (Cobbs Creek), you could even stand under the trestle and watch them go by overhead. 0 One hot summer afternoon, the tracks across from Oakmont School caught on fire. It was the grease from the trolleys. The shout out, "here comes a trolley" was always exciting to hear. Sometimes we'd even TAKE the trolley to Ardmore. I'm talking summertime, age eleven. And not telling Mom. With all of .75 in your pocket, you could get there and back, get a coke and hamburger at Taylors, and walk around Ardmore for two hours. Maybe get a candy bar. A pretty good day, all in all. It was never the same after the buses.

thank you very much for the program, I use the 103 Septa bus and it has it's own road and I became curious about this trail. Nicely done

thanks, tassiebaz!

Wow! What a terrific video!

Many thanks for this video! I grew up along the Media-Sharon Hill lines and have fond memories of the old Brill and St. Louis cars. Converting the Ardmore line to buses was a major loss and, at least as I heard it, was pretty much avoidable. By 1964 the existing fleet had been reduced by wear, tear, and accidents and there were no longer enough cars to serve all three lines. Supposedly Red Arrow tried to buy some surplus trolleys from another system but couldn't scrape together enough cash. Ardmore was the shortest route and got the ax.

Thanks tassiebaz for sharing many great photos and films - especially the stills at 15:07 and 15:14. These brought back a flood of memories of my youth. I lived in Ardmore very close to the County Line station as a kid, rode these trolleys to 69th Street to roller skate at Chez Vous roller rink, and remember the transition to the limited access dedicated busway. Great memories of my youth with scenes near my elementary school (Chestnutwold), ball fields for pre-Little League play near Ardmore Junction, and Ardmore itself where my friends and I could go to a Saturday afternoon matinee for 50 cents and see two movies in the years these pictures were taken! The only business still operating, that I know of, is Yearsley's which can be seen at 4:32, on the far side of the tracks just over the top of the yellow truck cab. After the trolley line was gone I became a paperboy for the Philadelphia Bulletin and the shack where we picked up our papers is to the left at 6:37. Thanks for the effort to put this together - you made my day!

This is an excellent video! Im curious where I might be able to find a higher quality image of the map of the stops you showed early on in the video. Thanks!

1:04 - "...rrrRIGHT, Ardmore!!"

At 2:04: Look at the short lived P&W articulated consist. I remember those (used to go to Penfield and watch them come through). I think that they had been bought from a light rail line in Chicago.

I was only a newborn baby when the line was abandoned.

At least the 101 and 102 are still around.

Anyone notice the hearse waiting & crossing ? 2:55

Very good video. Can you clarify the caption at 16:19 ? Does it mean no cars reached Ardmore on the last day?

Could someone tell me the route the Ardmore trolley took once it was reaching Ardmore? Looking at a modern map, I can trace the old route using the SEPTA road. From what I can tell, it went Lippincott, then Sheldon, then Cricket to Rt. 30. Beyond that I can't trace it. Where was the end? Or did it loop around at retrace its route? If it looped, where did it do this? Be as detailed as you like, I'm very interested in that end of the line. Thanks for any information.

👍

They should bring this line back.

# 73 is now undergoing its 2nd restoration at PTM, Washington, PA. Donate if you can.