Oh noes, Zombie Thread Alert!
In a typical roundabout way, I found this thread (searched for it, figuring such a thread would exist) about this trackage after reading a short aside on the Roads of Philadelphia
Crosstown Expressway entry (unbuilt), specifically
Furthermore, the railroad line that runs along the middle of Washington Avenue would have to be relocated, possibly leading to the loss of industrial jobs.
Well, the railroad was indeed "relocated" (to oblivion), as were many of the skilled industrial jobs (area looks to be light industrial, service, and retail nowadays), even though the Crosstown Expressway was never built.
My question is why did the railroad serve the Washington Avenue branch from the East via Delaware Avenue (as Jim Boylan stated) instead of from the West end? The stretch from 11th St. East seems commercial/residential even back in the day (and most buildings seem to be of 1960s vintage or earlier - also, I gather the 3 tall tower blocks near Jackson Square in 1967 were housing projects, as two of them are gone by 2002), while west of 11th St. looks to have been the stretch of Washington Ave. where the heavy industry was located (yes, buildings are being replaced here too, and Google Maps shows two big empty lots on either side of Broad St. which I'd guess were Industrial at one time) - one dead give-away is the (probably former)
Frankford Chocolate factory on 21st and Washington - the
1967 Historical Aerial of the area seems to bear this out: most spurs are to the West of S. Broad St, including a freight yard about a block and a half in area one block West of Broad St. So, why not keep the Western connection (back in the 1950s)? In the 1950 Historic, I believe I see the ramp mentioned, but just to the North is two long nearly empty lots that slope down to Washington - they could have just laid a graded embankment, no steelwork needed! (And the lots are still mostly empty even today).
Bonus trivia - virtually zipping along via Google Street, I came across the "Philadelphia Beacons", 4 steel and glass columns on each corner of S. Broad and Washington, that I had previously read about in
a rather salty and a bit opinionated blog post.
Bonus 2: You gotta love all the vehicles parked in the median of Washington Avenue.