If you look closely, not all of the ex-Kansas City postwar PCCs were painted with the bicentennial scheme. This is noticeable on the Route 53 (Broad and Erie). You can tell by the lack of standee windows, which the head of the Kansas City Public Service didn't want. The standee windows were a feature on the postwar PCCs, as you see. Also, footage is shown of the original track alignment at the 40th & Woodland/Baltimore subway portal before the realignment in the mid-80's.

8:55 "There goes that news van again."

Most of us just say "the pole came off". Some call it a dewire. Off the overhead sounds good too.

Beautyful film, beautyful music and beautyful era... sad that it is gone...

Great video...it’s like going thru a time capsule!!

I was there, I was there back in the late 70s when these trolley cars were still in service for SEPTA because I remember my mother used to walk through the University of Penn campus to get to the child guidance center which was underneath the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia , And before we even got there, we walked along 40th and Baltimore Avenue at the portal where the trolleys were coming in and out of and this is when I spotted the gulf liberty edition trolley cars that within there around that time back in southwest Philadelphia in the year 1978, this video brings back so many memories.

SEPTA and Mozart - unlikely combo, but it works. Thanks for posting.

Riding the Rt. 56 you truly saw a contrast, it ran almost the entire width of North Philly, then where Erie avenue becomes Torresdale at the El, the line then veers North East on Torresdale, and terminated at a loop near Torresdale and Cottman in Tacony. The line stretched from Nicetown in N. Philadelphia, crossed both Broad Street and Germantown avenue, it provided a connection to the subway. The Torresdale stretch of the line was removed in 2004, parts of the line still remain west of Broad.

Good Stuff Hotel Dennis brings back good memories

Excellent video. Even though I grew up in Boston, the similarities are amazing. Frankford Terminal in the 70s could have been Forest hills in Boston in the 70s, though not today!

I remember all of this equipment when I was a kid, living in South Philly then Fishtown. The old PTC trolleys and trackless trolleys were all in sorry shape by then. I crack up looking at the cigarette ads (and graffiti) on the equipment.

I was hired by Septa in August of 1978 until I took the early out in 2003 I drove out of The Big A and the Country club. All I can say is "What a long strange trip it was"

Damn Broad and Erie.. I might be in this as a kid I caught the 53 and 56

You don't need to apologize for the quality of the video. At least it still exists, unlike the cars and routes themselves. It is SEPTA who should have apologized for the disgraceful way these cars were maintained. They could have made sure the dents were removed, that they were painted and free of graffiti.

The red white and blue cars were painted for the 1976 bicentennial of the USA. Some where still running in the early 80s. The orange blue and white was the color that SEPTA used in the 70s untill the introduction of the all white with a red and blue stripe color scheme of the early eighties. Many cars were still in the old PTC green and cream untill the early eighties also.

56 rails are paved west of Broad too now.

Thankyou so much ...i like looking at vintage film !! .

Looks like Route 23 on Germantown, and Route 56 on Erie. I remember seeing the Route 23 trolley downtown by Market St. and down toward the theater district, ...and for that matter, I think I remember seeing Route 50 by Independence Hall.

they look like great home movies, in Toronto we called them the red rockets back in the day we still have streetcars rolling around they are a great ride to view the city

I lived in Philadelphia during this era, and I had forgotten how much it resembled Moscow, USSR.

Now AFTER THE 10:00 mark, THAT'S the style I remember from about 1980-85.

Good stuff, thanks Kevin.

Thankx Kevin.

This was great, thanks Dennis (Linsky?)

Is there anyone reading these comments on KZfaq because I just seen a golf liberty edition trolley riding past 58th and Elmwood Avenue, passing Bartram Field or something because I remember watching field because in the 80s they once had the Special Olympics hosted there around Friday back in the spring time of the 1980s because I used to participate in the Special Olympics as a young boy during the 80s back then when they had it at Bartram field because that Trolley car brings back memories because of the color of it because I remember seeing those trolley cars in service from the late 70s up until 1986 and this is during the time they were taken out of service and replaced with those Japanese model street cars.

Erie Route 56 was my favorite line I took a whole mess of color slides of it back in the day

Route 23,53 and 56(also the subway surface cars).

The irony when you could still advertise for cigarettes on the bus/trolley billboards.

Is there anyone reading these comments on KZfaq because at the portal at 40th and Baltimore Avenue, I’ve just seen a young woman coming off the trolley and putting the pole back on to the wire which supplies the power to the trolley.

As a kid I used to want to help them put it back on track. I had seen them do it enough that I figured I knew what to do.

Liberty, some of those were air cars which didn't have standee windows either and were in their last days.

Was that one shot Center City where the trolley went by the Woolworths???

I've seen these on the 10 n 13 line until the Kawasaki LRV were introduced in 1981

i be around broad and erie everyday. no trolleys run there anymore, not since the '90s. and i definitely weren't alive when these kinda trolleys were around. by the way, hoteldennis, you don't gotta apologize, poor quality can be better sometimes with some things

I was raised In Philly (NE) & graduated HS in 1980...I don't remember the trolleys that had that red, white, & blue color scheme.....all I remember was that puke green color. Why are there so many red/white/blue ones in this video? Were they only on certain routes? The trolleys & busses here look like they're pre-1970, but I can tell by the cars and ads on the busses that this WAS from the late 70's.

I captured many. a moment at the 40th& Spruce Portal

I swear that I saw John Engleman as one of the motormen.

I used to think it was so cool and fascinating when the trolleys would "come off the hook" as we called it! "Off the overhead line" would have been more accurate. Just curious as to what YOU called it?

Do they even have trackless trolleys any more?

The 36 at 5:50.

what country is Septa in ? Studebaker Kary NH USA 1-08-20