Trolley Tracks on 49th St.

[M&Eman]

Does the nonrevenue trackage on 49th St. between Baltimore Ave. and Elmwood Depot ever get used, and if so, by what? I am a relative newbie to the Philly area and only had the occasion of seeing the subway surface lines in action in person for the first time this weekend. I understand the 42nd St. tracks are used when one of the portals, either 36th or 40th must be closed and lines using one portal must be detoured to the other.

[Patrick Boylan]

That's the way routes 34 Baltimore and sometimes 13 Chester Ave inbound get to and from the Elmwood depot.
13 Chester Ave can, and usually does, use the connection between Yeadon and Darby loops to pull in via the route 11 Woodland Ave.

[redarrow5591]

49th is used for almost all 34 Pull ins and -outs; there is a few pull-outs around 3PM that turn at Chester Ave and head downtown. All starting and finishing 34 cars are deadheads between Angora and Elmwood Depot.

49th is also used as a emergency diversion route, mostly between the 11 and 13. If there is a problem between 49th and the Portal on Baltimore or Chester they will run on Woodland; Woodland closures will require the 11 and 36 to run over Chester to 49th then take the left with supervision assistance. The same can be said for the 49th to 58th St. Segment for the 11 and 13. Any blockage past 58th will require the 11 to loop at Mount Moriah; the 13 would be alternatively sent to Island and Woodland to loop at Elmwood or can be sent over the old Route 62 tracks back to Yeadon to loop.

[walt]

That 49th Street trackage was revenue trackage until 1956 when the old trolley Route 70 (Bala- 49th & Paschall Ave.) was bustituted. Southbound Route 70 cars ran south on 52nd street, east on Baltimore ( with the 34) and then south on 49th. After the bus conversion, that trackage was used by Route 34 cars to reach the Woodland Depot from Baltimore Ave, and Route 13 Cars to reach Woodland from Chester Ave. until the late 1970's fire at the Depot and the establishment of the Elmwood Depot to service the subway surface routes formerly served by Woodland.

[usroadman]

I doubt anything has changed in the last 4 years, but figured I'd ask. I rode Route 34 to Angora on a Saturday last summer. At Angora I told the operator that I was just going back to Center City and he told me the trolley next to us would leave first. As I was walking to the other trolley I noticed the one I had just left had changed his sign to "36 73rd & Elmwood" photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/roadandra ... 5004088891. This was midday when the timetable shows a couple of the runs as just Angora and 49th & Baltimore (currently the 11:57, 12:12, & 12:42 runs). Do those 3 runs go as revenue Route 34 Angora to 49th, non-revenue down 49th, and then revenue Route 36 down Elmwood to 73rd (and he was just a little early with the sign change), or do they actually make a revenue run from Angora to 73rd & Elmwood now (via 49th)?