The present rapid transit facilities of the City of Philadelphia include
Market St. Subway-Elevated line extending East from the 69th St.
Terminal to the Delaware River. The tracks are elevated from 66th St. to
22nd St. and pass in subway under the business section to another
elevated section on Delaware Ave. This line first began service in 1905
and during the year 1920 handled approximately 80,000,000 passengers.
As far back as 1912 an exhaustive study of the city’s transportation
facilities was made and a comprehensive program of extensions was
proposed for the rapid transit system. Owing to legislative delays, and
conditions due to the war, progress has been delayed on this program so
that so far only the Frankford Elevated line has been built. This is now
nearly ready for operation, from the foot of Market Street to Frankford,
a distance of 6.4 miles all double tracked. Other extensions planned for
construction in the near future include a four-track subway running
north and south under Broad Street, and an elevated line extending from
the present Market Street line at West Philadelphia to Darby.
The present elevated-subway system is double tracked throughout and
multiple unit trains up to seven cars each are operated on headways down
to two minutes. No express service is operated, all trains making every
stop.
[Illustration: PHILADELPHIA RAPID TRANSIT ELEVATED AND SUBWAY LINES]
[Illustration: TRAIN ON MARKET STREET ELEVATED, PHILADELPHIA RAPID
TRANSIT COMPANY]
_Power Supply_
The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company’s principal power station is at
Delaware Avenue. Steam turbine generating equipment totalling 58,000 kw.
is in service in three stations and is designed for 13,200 volts 3-phase
25 cycles at which it is transmitted to the substations. One or two
direct-current stations are still available for supplying 600 volts
direct to the trolley. Power is also purchased from the Philadelphia
Electric Co. and the Philadelphia Hydro-Electric Co.
_Substations_
The company operates a total of 17 substations used for supplying both
surface and rapid transit lines. These stations contain a total of 65
units aggregating 103,500 kw.
Power is distributed to all lines at 600 volts and on the rapid transit
lines is collected from an under running third rail similar to that used
on the New York Central Electric Zone.
_Rolling Stock_
The rolling stock used on the Elevated-Subway line includes 215 motor
cars each equipped with two motors. Trains are made up of all motor
cars, no trailers being used. General Electric motors are used
throughout including GE-66 and GE-222. The Frankford extension will be
operated with 100 motor cars each equipped with two GE-259 motors.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF SUBSTATION AT 15TH AND TUCKER STREETS,
SHOWING 2000-KW. SYNCHRONOUS CONVERTERS]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY EQUIPMENT IN MULTIPLE-UNIT
SUBWAY & ELEVATED SERVICE
════════════════╤═════════════════════════════╤══════════════════════
│ Cars │ Motors
SYSTEM ├───┬───────┬────────┬────────┼───┬────────┬─────────
│No.│Yr. put│ Total │ Length │No.│ Type │ Trailer
│ │ in │ Wgt. │Overall │ │ │Operating
│ │Service│ Pounds │Ft. In. │ │ │
────────────────┼───┼───────┼────────┼────────┼───┼────────┼─────────
Boston Elev. │ 40│1917 │ 66383│46 7¼ │ 2│GE-259-B│}
Rwy. Co. │ 45│1920 │ 66628│46 7¼ │ 2│GE-259-B│} No
│ 24│1920 │ 68009│46 7¼ │ 2│GE-259-B│}
│ 20│1912-3 │ 86400│69 6½ │ 2│GE-212 │}
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
Hudson & │ 50│1907 │ 74550│48 3 │ 2│GE-76 │}
Manhattan R. R. │ 90│1909 │ 69620│48 5 │ 2│GE-76 │}
│ 50│1910 │ 69620│48 5 │ 2│GE-76 │} No
│ 96│1911 │ 73000│48 3½ │ 2│GE-212-C│}
│ 25│1921 │ 73500│51 3½ │ 2│GE-259 │}
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
Interborough │828│1902-3 │ 75500│47 0½ │ 2│GE-66-A │}
Rapid Transit │200│1904 │ 58500│47 0½ │ 2│GE-69-B │}
Co. │ 91│1907 │ 59160│47 0½ │ 2│GE-211-A│}
│ 40│1907 │ 83200│47 0½ │ 2│GE-212-A│}
│190│1909 │ 83200│51 0½ │ 2│GE-212-A│} Yes
│ 6│1915 │ 70960│51 0½ │ 2│GE-240-C│}
│161│1915 │ 75000│51 0½ │ 2│GE-259-A│}
│103│1915 │ 75500│51 0½ │ 2│GE-260-A│}
│ 71│1915 │ 71000│51 0½ │ 2│GE-259-A│}
│168│1917 │ 75500│51 0½ │ 2│GE-260-A│}
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
Metropolitan │ 12│1895-98│ 65000│47 9½ │ 2│GE-2000 │}
West Side Elev. │ 78│1904 │65-70000│47 9½ │ 2│GE-55 │} Yes
Rwy. │ 37│1914-5 │ 70000│48 6¾ │ 2│GE-243 │}
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
Northwestern │192│1900-06│65-69000│46 7½ │ 2│GE-55 │}
Elev. R. R. │ 20│1908 │ 69000│46 7½ │ 2│GE-211-B│} Yes
│ 43│1914-15│ 70000│48 6¾ │ 2│GE-243 │}
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
South Side Elev.│149│1897 │ 52714│47 1 │ 2│GE-57-B │}
R. R. │ 70│1902-03│ 55000│47 3 │ 2│GE-73-A │} Yes
│ 61│1914-15│ 70000│48 6¾ │ 2│GE-243 │}
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
Chicago & Oak │ 84│1906 │65-70000│46 7½ │ 2│GE-55 │Yes
Park Elev. R. R.│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
N. Y. Municipal │900│1914-20│ 90600│67 0 │ 2│GE-248 │Yes
Ry. │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
Philadelphia │ 40│1906 │ 71000│49 7 │ 2│GE-66 │}
Rapid Tran. Co. │ 40│1907 │ 76000│49 7 │ 2│GE-66 │}
│ 16│1906 │ 72000│49 7 │ 2│GE-66 │}
│ 4│1909 │ 76000│49 7 │ 2│GE-66 │} No
│ 65│1911 │ 70500│49 7 │ 2│GE-66 │}
│ 50│1913 │ 70000│49 7 │ 2│GE-222-F│}
│ 50│1921 │ 89600│55 │ 2│GE-259 │}
│ 50│1922 │ 89600│55 │ 2│GE-259 │}
────────────────┴───┴───────┴────────┴────────┴───┴────────┴─────────
Bulletin Number 49 is a reproduction of a 1922 General Electric Company
pamphlet. Since that year many changes have been made in the systems
described and new lines have been constructed in Cleveland, Toronto and
Montreal. Another is under construction in the San Francisco area.
Additional copies are available at $1.50 each from the Electric Railway
Historical Society, Box 3305, Chicago, Ill. 60654.