Ben Franklin Bridge - abandoned/never used trolley line
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 เม.ย. 2007
- From a WHYY special... the trolley line planned for use across the Ben Franklin bridge, never actualized. Pretty incredible footage, plus some cool blueprints/schematics showing the original plan. The stations are in the anchoring houses of the bridge!
I remember this one program with Derrick Pitts. They went around Philly and showed a lot of the underground history. Very interesting places and artifacts.
A PBS series.
I absolutely love seeing things like this... The sort of things which have been long abandoned, and nearly nobody will ever see or even think of in their entire lives.
Places which were abandoned and never used for their intended purpose are like hitting a gold mine to me.
07CVPI you should check out the Cincinnati Subway. Great stuff!!
I have read a lot of interesting info on Wikipedia about all of the Broad Street Subway branches that were never built
Ile have to watch Mr and Mrs Smith again 😭
Shame they don't give tours. I live right next to the bridge and it's an engineering marvel even to this day.
I'd pay to see this up close.
I agree it would be awesome to have tours. Which side are you on? Philly or NJ?
I would love that!!
So quickly
They DID give tours ... in 2001 for the 75th anniversary of the bridge. Let's see what happens in 2026 for the 100th.
I say get back to work and finish that damn terminal... MORE TROLLEYS!
Why don't they have a modern street car system running in the underground basement,such as the new street car system which has just opened in Pennsylvania.
No more trolleys ever again. In the 1940s and 50s, to sell more cars, General Motors bought up trolley systems all over the U.S., scrapped the cars, and tore up the tracks. Philadelphia is one of the few cities with remnants of its old trolley lines still running.
They did. It's called the PATCO line
It's amazing a huge space like that on prime real estate has never been used.
Truly wouldn't want uses up empty space as storage unit.
probably is but for shit they don't want people to know about
Thank you for posting these WHYY specials on Philadelphia, I saw this show a few years ago and enjoyed it.
:)
I have put my hands on those stone anchors from the outside. You can feel the tension energy coursing through the anchor structure! It’s an awesome sensation!
I live near Philadelphia and use the Ben Franklin Bridge a lot. This was amazing. I will always think of the bridge differently!
This is awesome! I've walked across the BFB many times. Never knew this was here! Thanks for posting!
Amazing engineering was done in the early 20th century freaking awesome and hard working people
Back when I was in high school my cross country coach used one practice each season for us to run across this bridge from Camden to Philly and back. Really cool.
"people didn't want to ride trollies, they wanted to ride buses" balderdash, the municplal authorities decided to run buses instead
I rode the route 56 trolley in high school. Was late every timed it rained and would often have to wait 5 minutes because a nogoodnic double parked and went into a store or a house. Only good thing about trollies they never got stuck in snow.
This excellent! I've always wanted to see the inside of this bridge and now I have. What an engineering masterpiece.
I’ve driven uncountable times and walked many also. Born and raised in Camden. WOW !!!! Peace, Rocky
I saw the last part of this on WHYY and had always wished that I had not missed the beginning. Thanks WhollyGhost for posting it.
Manhattan Bridge has a different stone anchorage as this one, but I’ve never been on this bridge before. I usually took the Manhattan Bridge when I was young, and I have never been there in years. The anchorage on the Manhattan Bridge looks almost similar to what it looked on the Ben Franklin Bridge which was 18 years later. It had a row of columns where it goes into the cables.
Outstanding video I've been over that bridge many times when working in that area and paid many tolls.
If that was in New York City--they would've made it into 1 million dollar condos...
Or rental space for restaurants and merchants
wow. very interesting video. Just the schematics from the begining was amazing to see. I so love street-secrets
Wow! This video is amazing! Thanks for putting it up!
This vid is awesome! Thanks for the upload!!!
Scary & Great at the same time, ... Loving it !!!
BTW, the host of this show is Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer and Director of the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia
You didn't adequately explain the pedestrian areas in the towers. They weren't just for pedestrians crossing the bridge. They were trolley stations for 2 tracks on each side of the bridge. There were elevators to get up to them from street level. The current extreme right side traffic lane on each side were originally built to be trolley tracks. The outside trolley track on each side is now for the PATCO high speed line commuter train.
I worked on the bridge for nine years.
I love stuff like this. Thanks!
I saw this on tv once... or something similar... I think about it everytime I take that bride to or from NJ
That's awesome! Let's hope that our world is still here in 2026!
Hello!!!! It's 2020 and 2026 is only 6years away
2 more years
So the cables inside the ben frank could wrap around the equator. Nice.
@dpjaexp It's slightly more complicated, in that clean new buses were replacing dirty old streetcars. So people did want to ride buses, but it was because of the decisions of the transit companies to buy buses rather than streetcars. The PCC streetcars that run on Route 15 were an attempt to stem the tide in the 1930s by designing a modern streetcar.
When I was in the sixth grade, Ritchie Mozitis, Joey Cheladic and I, ran across the bridge traffic on Vine street for the sole purpose of seeing what was on this island.
unbelievable, always wondered about this
Thank you Oren. I always wondered what the the the tiles were that I saw every time we drove over the bridge!
Looks very awsome,
Derrick Pitts is a Philadelphia treasure...
The music is amazing.
Isn't the guy a WHYY astronomer, as well as an interviewer?
Phenomenal report.
The in depth reporting of all that engineering is almost beyond belief. Very striking photography of all that wiring.
A question ~ due to the extraordinary depth of the internal anchorage, were there any fatalities or injuries arising from lack of air or because of atmospheric pressure? In Brooklyn, NY when the Brooklyn Bridge was being constructed there were many unfortunate circumstances of workers not getting enough air or insulation against atmospheric conditions and some, sad to say, suffered fatal consequences. I hope there were not any similar events there in Philly.
WOW ... WHO WOULD HAD THOUGHT ....SO MANY HIDDEN THINGS ABOUT THAT BRIDGE AND PHILADELPHIA ....
Wow that's so interesting
Reminds me of that place near the city we visited on or about 1970-1998 or thereabouts to some certainty wow what an almost like adventure with those thing there cannot be expressed written-like you know wow what a thing.
Wow they were really forward-thinking with that bridge, unlike the Walt Shitman bridge
I go over this bridge sometimes to get to the shore.
"Secrets Beneath The Streets"
A little confused on the anchorages at the ends - the building goes down "several hundred feet" but the footers go 130 feet below the "surface". Data elsewhere says the bridge is 130 above mean water level and deepest footing is about 100 feet, so "several hundred" looks to be about 230.
Loved the extra education with the calcium deposits... "These are stalag-MITES, and these are...." LOL. Now how about thinking about how that leakage may one day make the decking fall in if not kept in good repair (which I'll assume it is).
I’m certainly far from a genius, but I just happened to run across your comment .In this case and in every case I know, they’re not formed from structural damage or weakness.As in all compositions of rock,(in this case concrete +other stone ) the combination of calcium, natural material,(dirt), moisture, lime, expansion +contraction for not for that the structure would collapse and all kinds of Twilight Zone shit is what happens. What he didn’t say was that this was not natural , but man-made. Peace, Rocky
By the way ,mate ,by the time the one up and the one down touch,thisfriggin planet won’t be worth a shit. Peace, Rocky
[sigh] I wish I could have been around during the era of trolley service. I know of numerous abandoned trolley grades and bridge abutments, and even re-purposed buildings originally for trolley service. I can barely remember the once small town I am originally from, having a two car train service, and as neat as that was, it's still not as amazing as trolley service must have been.
The town my mom grew up in still has a trolley barn -- it is used as a parking garage for the town garbage trucks.
R.I.P. right ear....
ree
Nice video, they should open the cave area and walkways
By the 1920's they were past the pick and shovels stage, they were using high capacity steam powered shovel loaders and very primitive gas powered shovels.
I agree with you
Hmmm... the river line could go over, into a tunnel, and connect with Subway surface lines... the SEPTA trolleys would still loop at city hall, and the river line would, too, but they would basically meet in the middle... just an idea
Nope.
Different track gauges and RiverLINE cars are wider.
Not to mention, SEPTA and NJT don't get along
Deep!
You're very welcome!
I always thought there should have been a rail line that spanned the Franklin.
I also wondered what what is inside the structures.
There is the Patco, but I agree that there should be more. I live in Rhawnhurst and I think it's horrible that there is no public transportation that goes over the Tacony Palmyra Bridge or anything along NJ 73
The city could use the old trolley station to store city equipment, like trucks or even just salt. Put old cargo containers down there and you've got great nonperishable storage. I bet they got some overstuffed city yard somewhere and just cant figure out where to put everything.
+RandyGent Well Randy as long as your lover/s gets it regularly and it satisfies them all is well.
redbox
Myself,along with my 3 children walked across that snow covered bridge in the middle of winter to Camden,NJ to the VOA 1980.My husband met us after work from the NavyYard.My husband being a Vet was denied home ownership in Philly.We were treated like dirt.A family wanting to do the right thing.Never drank,used drugs.My dear children persevered,one is a State Trooper.
my left ear loved his video. greedy bastard D:
This'd be good for an apocalypse/disaster shelter.
It's kind of a shame they didn't open the bridge up to pedestrians, like the Golden Gate.
Um yeah they did
Anyone know a secret way in?
The PATCO High Speed line goes by an abandoned PATCO Stop on the Philly side, wonder if they are conneted
Franklin Square.
They're close if not connected
It’s the same system. If you take a strong flash light and put it up to the glass you can see how far it goes.
awesome - mr.rogers meets squatters. reminds me of teenage mutant ninja turtles II
How do you get in here?
Lavar Burton?
Doesn't look like they maintain the trolley tunnels too good. A lot of rust there.
It's not a Trolley tunnel
Whats the name of this special
From no where to nowhere to now here.
They'll probably have to finish it eventually out of necessity.
Deploy the nansen canabis! 😭
I'm going to have to disagree with the statement at 2:01 that people would rather ride busses instead of trolleys. Especially back in the late teens and early twenties, rail is always smoother, quicker and safer; everyone knows that.
Agreed. Nobody especially wanted busses. They wanted cars, but couldn't afford them during the 1930s depression, and they weren't built during World War II. Beginning in 1950s, as suburbs sprung up, people wanted cars. General Motors helped them along by buying up trolley lines and scrapping them.
Yes, no one ever WANTS to ride the bus unless it is the only option available. In some cities the owners replaced the trains with busses to remove competition, or like today, it is simply cheaper, hence the advent of Bus Rapid Transit.
You have to remember this was a different time. They didn't have buses etc. that catered to disabled people.
@Deadkittens22 WOW! Really?? :D
Nice video but that has to be the stupidest statue I've ever seen.
A lightning bolt in reference to the bridges namesake?
Tell how you could do better?
It's to bad the trolley station can't be repurposed as some sort of underground strip malls similar to like what has taken place in both western and eastern Europe.
Huell Howser eat your heart out!
Whoa this coolest about facts about the city's bridge in education way thanks old saying goes never too old learn something new.
volume is way too low i can not hear it
He ddin't say nobody like to ride buses. He by the time the bridge opend people wanted to ride buses not trolleys.
To quote Winston Churchill, "We are two great nations separated by a common language." In the US, "trolley" is used much more commonly than "tram" for a commuter train-like conveyance. In the US, we use a "supermarket cart", or, more commonly, "cart" for what the Brits call a "trolley." BTW, here in the US, I bet few people "get" my username, RandyGent ;-)
Funny, science says stalagmites take millions of years to form
How come the homeless people haven't found out about it?
Locked tight.
DRPA ain't playing that.
These areas should used to teach our future tradesmen !!! We need more tradesmen and less liberal arts students!
So why keep it abandoned? Why not build office spaces there. Do something with it. Don't leave it empty.
Bruh there's plenty of stalagmites in the freakin subway too, shit is pretty normal
Philadelphia won’t do anything about these great spaces Pathetic
black people had the NAACP, but that didn't stop ignorance. It's changing mindsets (people chaning their own mind) not government mandated programs. They might help enforcing something, but mindsets changing is what really brings change.