One of One-Sixty wrote:It is my understanding that back when the EL aka the Market-Frankford line aka Blue Line was first introduced that it either did not go underground till either right before or after it cross the SureKill (Schukyll) River.
Does anybody havae any info or pics, as I thought I remember seeing pics of it running at 30th above ground and not underground.
Also what was the name of the tranist company that owned it back then?
Until 1955-56, the MFSE was elevated from 69th Street to about 24th street. There was a 32nd Street Station, after which it crossed the river on a bridge which was parallel to the Market Street Bridge, then went underground at about 24th Street. The subway-surface cars turned off Market at 32nd Street, then, as the "El" reached ground level, ran on tracks outside of the "El" into the subway using the same portal. There was a subway-surface car station on the incline leading to the portal at about 24th Street. The 19th Street station was the first underground subway-surface station, while the first underground "El" station was 15th Street.
In 1955 the Market Street subway was extended into its present configuration with the trains rising to the surface just prior to the 46th Street Station, with the trolleys also exiting as they do now.
The original operator of the MFSE and the subway surface cars was the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company ( PRT) which became the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) in 1940. SEPTA took over the PTC in 1968.
The Portion between 69th Street and Front Street was built by the PRT, while the portion from Front Street to Frankford was built by the City of Philadelphia. There was once a PRT built section running south over Delaware Ave to about South Street, but this section was abandoned and torn down in the late 1930's.