"Philadelphia Rapid Transit" freight?

I just noticed on a roster that the streetcar system in Philadelphia had 34 freight motors. Why? That's a pretty hefty number for any electric railway or interurban. Did they have any regular carload freight workings, or was it all LCL?

In the case of PRT, a Broad Gauge 5' 2-1/4" company, there may have been full carloads for one customer, but a lot was less than carload between freight stations. There was through interline service over Reading Transit & Light, track connection at Germantown & NorthWestern Aves. (City Limits). Apparently most other interline freight was transshipped, especially with the Standard Gauge Lehigh Valley Transit at Erdenheim and 5' 2-1/2" Philadelphia & West Chester Traction at 63rd & Market Sts. I don't know what the situation was with the other Delaware and Bucks County trolley lines, all Broad Gauge, many with freight service. Not all of the cars may have been in freight service at the same time, the last one was recently retired as line car D-39, much earlier it was a refrigerated freight motor.
Besides the freight cars, PRT also had dedicated newspaper and Mail cars; that could be called carload service. Milk cans may have been another carload commodity. Philadelphia & West Chester Traction did haul solid flat car loads of hay.

Thanks!

Does anybody know where in central Philadelphia the main freight depot was?

1 North Front St., on top of the ramp from the East end of the subway to the Ferries and Frankford Els. It was torn down in the early 1970s for the Delaware Expressway.
P.R.T. also hauled trash incinerator ashes in carload lots.

JimBoylan wrote:1 North Front St., on top of the ramp from the East end of the subway to the Ferries and Frankford Els. It was torn down in the early 1970s for the Delaware Expressway.
P.R.T. also hauled trash incinerator ashes in carload lots.

I think those incinerator ashes ended up under that neighborhood near 9th and the Boulevard.

Needless to say the houses started settlling... then listing, then were torn down.

The PRT operated an extensive "trolley freight" business during the 1910's. In addition to its main freight station at Front Street, it also maintained a joint freight station at 63rd & Market, underneath the 'El station with the P&WCT and interchanged goods bound to and from West Chester with the suburban carrier at that location. PRT also served the area between Drexel Hill and Media and Clifton Heights and Sharon Hill ( probably using the rails of the Southern Pennsylvania Traction Company with which it connected at Angora [ 61st & Baltimore Ave] ). PRT shut down its trolley freight operations in June 1922 ( after having shut down for three days in April 1921). P&WCT, having lost its Center City Philadelphia connection, managed to continue its freight operations until January 1925.

PRT also shared the trolley freight station in Doylestown on the NorthWest side of Union St., between Main St./Easton Rd. and Broad St. with the companies that ran to Easton and to Bristol, Trenton, and Lambertville. PRT and the Bucks county company got there by running past the end of their lines over the Easton company's track, then over the short freight only branch to the station. PRT used a railroad coal trestle at the Trenton Cut-off & Easton Rd. to load its coal trolleys, probably only for its own powerhouse at Neshaminy. (The Bucks County company did the same at the Trenton Cut-off & Durham Rd.) PRT had its own freight only branch to its New St. freight station in Glenside. It also had a station in Darby, possibly shared with the Chester Pk. company, and another at the end of its Media lines, near 6th & Olive Sts. It was not easily reached from the non-PRT lines in Media.
PRT trolleys delivered lots of incinerator ashes and trash to South Philadelphia before the Sesqui-Centenial exposition and sports stadia were built. There were also sidings to the West side of Penn St. behind Frankford Depot and to the North side of Lansdowne Ave. at 69th St. While trolleys hauled "stuff" for fill at Roosevelt Blvd., I don't know how far they ventured on temporary tracks from 5th St., Old York Rd., or Rising Sun Ave. In some cases, the high lands seen to be closer to the trolley lines. Were the tracks West of 60th St. on Larchwood and Cedar Sts. just for ash cars?

PRT also shared the trolley freight station in Doylestown on the NorthWest side of Union St., between Main St./Easton Rd. and Broad St. with the companies that ran to Easton and to Bristol, Trenton, and Lambertville. PRT and the Bucks county company got there by running past the end of their lines over the Easton company's track, then over the short freight only branch to the station. PRT used a railroad coal trestle at the Trenton Cut-off & Easton Rd. to load its coal trolleys, probably only for its own powerhouse at Neshaminy. (The Bucks County company did the same at the Trenton Cut-off & Durham Rd.) PRT had its own freight only branch to its New St. freight station in Glenside. It also had a station in Darby, possibly shared with the Chester Pk. company, and another at the end of its Media lines, near 6th & Olive Sts. It was not easily reached from the non-PRT lines in Media.
PRT trolleys delivered lots of incinerator ashes and trash to South Philadelphia before the Sesqui-Centenial exposition and sports stadia were built. There were also sidings to the West side of Penn St. behind Frankford Depot and to the North side of Lansdowne Ave. at 69th St. While trolleys hauled "stuff" for fill at Roosevelt Blvd., I don't know how far they ventured on temporary tracks from 5th St., Old York Rd., or Rising Sun Ave. In some cases, the high lands seen to be closer to the trolley lines. Were the tracks West of 60th St. on Larchwood and Cedar Sts. just for ash cars?