It's said that the 101 Trolley is the last remaining trolley in the US that runs through its town's main thoroughfare. Basically, Media is the last town in the US with a trolley on main street.
@ZedAlfa: Also the #100 NORRISTOWN -69TH DARBY L LINE is thought of as an Interurban too! I think that line is a high tech rapid transit line unlike Philadelphia's other L-SUBWAY Lines. The NORRISTOWN -69TH DARBY L is a special line so different in appearance and unique!
In a lot of old Streetcars systems, you had the streetcar track right down the middle of the road. Examples of this were the Moxham line in Johnstown PA. The line was mostly one track but every so often the tracks would double to permit streetcars to pass each other going opposite direction. The Moxham line was converted to a trackless trolley system in 1952 and to Diesel buses in 1967. Another example of one lane was in Cannonburg along the old Washington PA interurban streetcr line. In the 1980s PENNDOT was repaving the main street in Cannonsburg and after the asphalt was removed you could see the blocks installed when they pulled the tracks out in the early 1950s. The Drake line was a series of single track right of ways with double tracks every so often its entire length till upgraded in the early 1980s as part of the present LRV system (As was the Valley line from South Hills Junction to Castle Shannon and the conneting line between the Clearview loop of the Beechview line in MT Lebanon). In Pittsburgh itself it was one set of track in the middle of Arlington Avenue going up and down Mt Washington (It was two tracks on Warrington Avenue to South Hills Junction) till the upgrade in the early 1980s to the present two tracks on Arlington street). The Library line was mostly two lanes from Castle Shannon to Library, but in the early 1950s it was decided to terminate both the Donora Streetcar line at Library and the Washington line at the then new Drake Loop. Library was the last part of the old interurban line that was double tracked. Through Finelyville and South it was mostly single track with sidings. As to why the Drake loop was picked, the bridge over the road at the Drake loop needed to be replaced, it was almost 50 years old and Pittsburgh Railway did not want to spend money on such an upgrade so installed a loop instead for it was cheaper. Sidenote: The Pittsburgh Railway Company had been in Federal Bankrutcy protection since the early 1930s. In the early 1950s new investors appeared with a plan to take the Railway out of Bankruptcy, The plan of the new buyers of the railway in the early 1950s to get the Pittsburgh Railway out of Bankrupty was to sell the right of way in Washington County for the Right of Way was right next to the then new Four Lane Washington Road from the Allegheny County line to Canonsburg lake. If you ever go down Washington road, look at the businesses on the east side of Washington Road, from the Allegheny Border to Cannonsburg Lake, that was all Pittsburgh Railway Right of Way, that it could sell after abandoning the line. Yes, the railline made money and then sold what was left to Allegheny County in 1964. If you ever go Sarris Candy in Cannonsburg, the parking lot for the "old" store is the old Right of Way for the Streetcar (I mentioned the "old store" for Sarris is moving its store to a new location closer to I-79). At the store itself you will see the parking end for that is the remaining end of a bridge the streetcar used to get over both Cannononsburg Creek and the B&O rail line below. Here is a photo of a West Penn Railway Streetcar going through Cannonsburg in the 1950s on its way to the Trolley museum. The single track is Pittsburgh Railway track but it was the best way to get these odl West Penn Streetcar to the museum as both the West Penn closed down its steetcar operations in Wesmoreland and Fayette Counties and Pittsburgh Railways had not yet close down its Washington County operations. i.pinimg.com/564x/f7/2d/a7/f72da7ccfcd9092644117d57b42e8813.jpg On this Video you will see the same center of the road single set 0f tracks through Cannonsburg PA at 58:50: th-cam.com/video/lwYT6aAzwAs/w-d-xo.html
In Phiily, they're trolleys. In Baltimore and DC, they're streetcars. The first time I went to Media in late 1969, I took a heavy, steel PRR train, walked up the hill and took the trolley and el back to Center City.
Born and raised in Media. It is really a wonder and beautiful town. I've never heard of the trolley over running the track at the end, but I can assure you that collisions with cars happen regularly. Those trolleys don't stop for much LOL.
This is an excellent and very interesting video presentation which is really very encouraging to see that such a street car network exists. What a beautiful city it goes through. Thank you for bringing these videos to the people as it is good to see that the United States of America does have a fair amount of transit available, one might even suggest that there may be places where one does not need to own an automobile!
Newton, Brookline and Milton, MA are also streetcar suburbs, as is Shaker Heights outside Cleveland and the south side Pittsburgh suburbs on the light rail line.
Classy Whale thank you so much for this! Been living in Media for a few years now and the streetcar is one of my favorite things to show off. I'm always surprised at how well the streetcar and automobiles actually interact on these narrowing street (due to automobiles getting larger). I have yet to actually take a ride into 69th and then into 30th but will defiantly need to try that soon.
Great video! I want to ride the 102 line from Sharon Hill (Another Streetcar Suburb!) To Drexel Hill Junction, then 101 into Media once the weather gets warmer. Always love the info, and how you share local information / history in your videos. Keep it up! Hopefully you can get more subscribers as you deserve.
There are 5 street car Septa lines left in the city: 10, 11, 13. 34 and 36. These also travel underground in Center City Philly. Locally they are called subway-surface lines.
The trolley overran the end of track twice before. 1950s and 70s. Since then they put a clamp on the wire who would knock the pan off the wire before the trolley runs aground.
Hello from Media! Glad you enjoyed your visit. I knew main street trolleys died in popularity years ago, but I didn't realize this was the *last* one in America to have it.
To be clear: this is the only small town with a meaningful trolley line still. There are still several major cities with trolley/streetcar/tram networks, and Kenosha Wisconsin is a small town but its network is just a small loop which is not particularly significant.
In my town we used to have a trolley many years ago, the company has since closed but for many years you could see the tracks from the depot museum on Oak street, to the library where the trolleys would turn onto Fulton street (The trolley from Oak street along the train tracks, turned onto Mill street, then Water street which is just a bridge, then onto main, then Fulton and all the way to a little intersection where it would turn onto a county Highway to King) (Waupaca Wisconsin) one baggage car from the old trolley survived, it was a hunting shack out in the woods near the tourist destination called King, it is now at the museum.
Thanks for doing the video of one of my local transit lines. I have ridden the 101 trolley many times. For a time I worked for the county government and commuted to my job on this line. It is relatively fast due to the major part of the line being on private right of way and was always dependable especially when we had bad snow storms. One other note the route 102 to Sharon Hill which shares a portion of its route with the 101 also has some streetcar trackage through Clifton Heights and Alden but is double tracked in that area and is mostly a residential area.
This might be controversial, but the 101 and 102 should be a modern light rail with low floor vehicles., like the Alstom Citadis 202. The service is meant to serve the people on it, not provide historic ambience. light rail could do with the 101 was meant to do better
I used to live right off of the Pine Ridge Road stop, the trolley went right behind my house. My family and I would take it into Philadelphia every few weeks. I really miss having such easy access to transit as I now live in a city with just a crappy bus system.
Great video! I lived in Rose Valley, about 1 mile south of Media, for about six years (1973-1979). Played guitar Friday nights at a little French restaurant on State St. called "It's About Thyme." Frequented one of the first vegetarian restaurants called "The Bread Line". Saw many films and did some performances at the Media Theater. I'm so glad to see they have kept the trolley and the charm.
There were in the recent past marks on the street pavement that indicated that yes, in fact, at least one trolley over-ran the end of the line. Those marks may not be visible today, but they were clear no more than five years ago.
Also, the Media/Elwyn regional rail line is being extended out to what used to be the Wawa station on the West Chester line. There is a new station being built (it's getting close to completed) with a large parking garage structure. I gather that is supposed to open for service around the beginning of July. It's apparently going to be renamed to the Middletown Station. By the way, there is quite a story about the regional rail line beyond Elwyn, which used to have a connection to the eastern end of the "Octoraro branch" (Google that and also check the Wikipedia article about the "Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad", by the way) near to the old Wawa station. If I recall correctly a bad hurricane created serious flooding in the area, which wiped out some of the roadbed for both the West Chester Branch and the Octoraro branch, disconnecting the two, and cutting off service beyond what is currently the Elwyn station. There were at one time also at least 2 stations between Elwyn and the old Wawa station. One was just past the Elwyn station where the line passed the Williamson Trade School. That one has been gone a very long time, though the building and the road leading to it on the school's campus were still there until during my childhood. Another was the Glen Riddle station where the tracks passed under Pennell Road (State Route 452) about a mile south of US Route 1, also known as Baltimore Pike. If you look at that area on Google Maps, you will see about midway between the old Williamson school station and the old Glen Riddle Station mentioned above that there is a small lane running north toward the tracks called Palmers Lane. Zoom in on the other side of the tracks from where that ends and you will see that there is also a very short stub of a road called Palmers lane. Palmers lane used to cross the tracks there on a small bridge, though that bridge disappeared decades before the developments were built there. It had to be taken down when the line was electrified in the 1930's (I think) because the catenary wire carrying the power for the trains would have run right through the bridge. When I was a child the bridge foundations were still visible in the railroad's road cut at that point. They may be heavily overgrown by now, however. Perhaps a ride through there in the winter when the greenery is gone might reveal them.
So Mattapan, MA and Shaker Heights, OH aren't considered streetcar suburbs? How about Darby, Yeadon and Sharon Hill, all in Delaware County, also reached by streetcar?
Sometimes, I wonder what would've happened if electric utility companies had been allowed to continue operating streetcar lines or if state public utilities commissions were more generous in allowing streetcar companies to set their own fares so they could modernize and attract riders. National City Lines is usually cast as a villain in urbanist circles, but most of the streetcar lines that were converted to buses under NCL ownership were already planning to do so because their plant and equipment was clapped out and they no longer had the ridership to make operating streetcars profitable. In fact, NCL actually purchased brand-new PCCs for their busiest lines. For example, the Yellow Cars in LA remained in operation under NCL ownership. It was only after LAMTA took over that the decision was made to end streetcar service in Los Angeles.
@@ClassyWhaleAs I understand it, Mumbo had the guy's permission to use it. The problem is that the artist sampled an old-ass song that a company still had the rights to for *some* reason.
It's said that the 101 Trolley is the last remaining trolley in the US that runs through its town's main thoroughfare.
Basically, Media is the last town in the US with a trolley on main street.
There's also a trolley on Main Street in Sharon Hill, PA, and on Beacon Street in Brookline, MA.
The last? Just crazy. The rise of the automobile in the US really fucked this one up beyond belief
@ZedAlfa: Also the #100 NORRISTOWN -69TH DARBY L LINE is thought of as an Interurban too! I think that line is a high tech rapid transit line unlike Philadelphia's other L-SUBWAY Lines. The NORRISTOWN -69TH DARBY L is a special line so different in appearance and unique!
In a lot of old Streetcars systems, you had the streetcar track right down the middle of the road. Examples of this were the Moxham line in Johnstown PA. The line was mostly one track but every so often the tracks would double to permit streetcars to pass each other going opposite direction. The Moxham line was converted to a trackless trolley system in 1952 and to Diesel buses in 1967.
Another example of one lane was in Cannonburg along the old Washington PA interurban streetcr line. In the 1980s PENNDOT was repaving the main street in Cannonsburg and after the asphalt was removed you could see the blocks installed when they pulled the tracks out in the early 1950s.
The Drake line was a series of single track right of ways with double tracks every so often its entire length till upgraded in the early 1980s as part of the present LRV system (As was the Valley line from South Hills Junction to Castle Shannon and the conneting line between the Clearview loop of the Beechview line in MT Lebanon). In Pittsburgh itself it was one set of track in the middle of Arlington Avenue going up and down Mt Washington (It was two tracks on Warrington Avenue to South Hills Junction) till the upgrade in the early 1980s to the present two tracks on Arlington street).
The Library line was mostly two lanes from Castle Shannon to Library, but in the early 1950s it was decided to terminate both the Donora Streetcar line at Library and the Washington line at the then new Drake Loop. Library was the last part of the old interurban line that was double tracked. Through Finelyville and South it was mostly single track with sidings.
As to why the Drake loop was picked, the bridge over the road at the Drake loop needed to be replaced, it was almost 50 years old and Pittsburgh Railway did not want to spend money on such an upgrade so installed a loop instead for it was cheaper.
Sidenote: The Pittsburgh Railway Company had been in Federal Bankrutcy protection since the early 1930s. In the early 1950s new investors appeared with a plan to take the Railway out of Bankruptcy, The plan of the new buyers of the railway in the early 1950s to get the Pittsburgh Railway out of Bankrupty was to sell the right of way in Washington County for the Right of Way was right next to the then new Four Lane Washington Road from the Allegheny County line to Canonsburg lake. If you ever go down Washington road, look at the businesses on the east side of Washington Road, from the Allegheny Border to Cannonsburg Lake, that was all Pittsburgh Railway Right of Way, that it could sell after abandoning the line. Yes, the railline made money and then sold what was left to Allegheny County in 1964.
If you ever go Sarris Candy in Cannonsburg, the parking lot for the "old" store is the old Right of Way for the Streetcar (I mentioned the "old store" for Sarris is moving its store to a new location closer to I-79). At the store itself you will see the parking end for that is the remaining end of a bridge the streetcar used to get over both Cannononsburg Creek and the B&O rail line below.
Here is a photo of a West Penn Railway Streetcar going through Cannonsburg in the 1950s on its way to the Trolley museum. The single track is Pittsburgh Railway track but it was the best way to get these odl West Penn Streetcar to the museum as both the West Penn closed down its steetcar operations in Wesmoreland and Fayette Counties and Pittsburgh Railways had not yet close down its Washington County operations.
i.pinimg.com/564x/f7/2d/a7/f72da7ccfcd9092644117d57b42e8813.jpg
On this Video you will see the same center of the road single set 0f tracks through Cannonsburg PA at 58:50:
th-cam.com/video/lwYT6aAzwAs/w-d-xo.html
In Phiily, they're trolleys. In Baltimore and DC, they're streetcars.
The first time I went to Media in late 1969, I took a heavy, steel PRR train, walked up the hill and took the trolley and el back to Center City.
Love the Video the 101 did go off the tracks cuz you can see the marking on the street of where the trolley derailed
Born and raised in Media. It is really a wonder and beautiful town. I've never heard of the trolley over running the track at the end, but I can assure you that collisions with cars happen regularly. Those trolleys don't stop for much LOL.
This is an excellent and very interesting video presentation which is really very encouraging to see that such a street car network exists. What a beautiful city it goes through. Thank you for bringing these videos to the people as it is good to see that the United States of America does have a fair amount of transit available, one might even suggest that there may be places where one does not need to own an automobile!
I really like the content. Now I've gotta visit Media!
live in philly from delco i honestly did not realize that trolleys in suburbs were not a common thing
Newton, Brookline and Milton, MA are also streetcar suburbs, as is Shaker Heights outside Cleveland and the south side Pittsburgh suburbs on the light rail line.
newton is light rail
Classy Whale thank you so much for this! Been living in Media for a few years now and the streetcar is one of my favorite things to show off. I'm always surprised at how well the streetcar and automobiles actually interact on these narrowing street (due to automobiles getting larger). I have yet to actually take a ride into 69th and then into 30th but will defiantly need to try that soon.
The 101 Trolley Line has operated for 107 years.
Great video! I want to ride the 102 line from Sharon Hill (Another Streetcar Suburb!) To Drexel Hill Junction, then 101 into Media once the weather gets warmer. Always love the info, and how you share local information / history in your videos. Keep it up! Hopefully you can get more subscribers as you deserve.
Thanks for sharing! Media is the town I live in, and I hear these every day!
Nice video, it’s great that SEPTA continues to maintain the street portion of the line.
There are 5 street car Septa lines left in the city: 10, 11, 13. 34 and 36. These also travel underground in Center City Philly. Locally they are called subway-surface lines.
@@yvonneplant9434 You missed route 15, also the 100, and 102.
This is only one of the great things about Media, Everyone's Home Town including mine. Just love Media, PA!
Fantastic!! So glad you enjoyed your trip
The Green Line in Boston also goes out into the suburbs like Brookline and beyond.
The trolley overran the end of track twice before. 1950s and 70s. Since then they put a clamp on the wire who would knock the pan off the wire before the trolley runs aground.
Hello from Media! Glad you enjoyed your visit. I knew main street trolleys died in popularity years ago, but I didn't realize this was the *last* one in America to have it.
To be clear: this is the only small town with a meaningful trolley line still. There are still several major cities with trolley/streetcar/tram networks, and Kenosha Wisconsin is a small town but its network is just a small loop which is not particularly significant.
Utterly charming! Thanks for a great spotlight on a special place.
In my town we used to have a trolley many years ago, the company has since closed but for many years you could see the tracks from the depot museum on Oak street, to the library where the trolleys would turn onto Fulton street (The trolley from Oak street along the train tracks, turned onto Mill street, then Water street which is just a bridge, then onto main, then Fulton and all the way to a little intersection where it would turn onto a county Highway to King) (Waupaca Wisconsin) one baggage car from the old trolley survived, it was a hunting shack out in the woods near the tourist destination called King, it is now at the museum.
Thanks for doing the video of one of my local transit lines. I have ridden the 101 trolley many times. For a time I worked for the county government and commuted to my job on this line. It is relatively fast due to the major part of the line being on private right of way and was always dependable especially when we had bad snow storms. One other note the route 102 to Sharon Hill which shares a portion of its route with the 101 also has some streetcar trackage through Clifton Heights and Alden but is double tracked in that area and is mostly a residential area.
This might be controversial, but the 101 and 102 should be a modern light rail with low floor vehicles., like the Alstom Citadis 202. The service is meant to serve the people on it, not provide historic ambience. light rail could do with the 101 was meant to do better
I like how the station at Media is just a single track that leads into the pavement, also can you do a video on the 102
The 102 also has some street running between Drexel Hill Junction and Sharon Hill,
I used to live right off of the Pine Ridge Road stop, the trolley went right behind my house. My family and I would take it into Philadelphia every few weeks. I really miss having such easy access to transit as I now live in a city with just a crappy bus system.
This feels like a wonderful town to spend a Christmas in
It truly is, so many ppl out on the weekends 😊
Great video! I lived in Rose Valley, about 1 mile south of Media, for about six years (1973-1979). Played guitar Friday nights at a little French restaurant on State St. called "It's About Thyme." Frequented one of the first vegetarian restaurants called "The Bread Line". Saw many films and did some performances at the Media Theater. I'm so glad to see they have kept the trolley and the charm.
Great town! And a trademark streetcar suburb! Well done as always!
Reminds me of another place that loves the trolley and doesn't have them anymore(Its was the longest trolley route in philadelphia)
Every driver lives in or near Media soon learns the art of dodging the 101 trolley.
There were in the recent past marks on the street pavement that indicated that yes, in fact, at least one trolley over-ran the end of the line. Those marks may not be visible today, but they were clear no more than five years ago.
You’re becoming one of the great transit channels
Wow, cool place!
If it weren't in a cold place like Pennsylvania, Media would probably be a great place to live.
Probably? It is a great place to live. Summers feel like Florida: heat/ humdity.
the car has to bow to the power of the 101 trolley😂
What about yeadon or upper Darby? Are they considered trolley suburbs? I mean I've taken the trolley to both places before
Also, the Media/Elwyn regional rail line is being extended out to what used to be the Wawa station on the West Chester line. There is a new station being built (it's getting close to completed) with a large parking garage structure. I gather that is supposed to open for service around the beginning of July. It's apparently going to be renamed to the Middletown Station.
By the way, there is quite a story about the regional rail line beyond Elwyn, which used to have a connection to the eastern end of the "Octoraro branch" (Google that and also check the Wikipedia article about the "Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad", by the way) near to the old Wawa station. If I recall correctly a bad hurricane created serious flooding in the area, which wiped out some of the roadbed for both the West Chester Branch and the Octoraro branch, disconnecting the two, and cutting off service beyond what is currently the Elwyn station.
There were at one time also at least 2 stations between Elwyn and the old Wawa station. One was just past the Elwyn station where the line passed the Williamson Trade School. That one has been gone a very long time, though the building and the road leading to it on the school's campus were still there until during my childhood. Another was the Glen Riddle station where the tracks passed under Pennell Road (State Route 452) about a mile south of US Route 1, also known as Baltimore Pike.
If you look at that area on Google Maps, you will see about midway between the old Williamson school station and the old Glen Riddle Station mentioned above that there is a small lane running north toward the tracks called Palmers Lane. Zoom in on the other side of the tracks from where that ends and you will see that there is also a very short stub of a road called Palmers lane. Palmers lane used to cross the tracks there on a small bridge, though that bridge disappeared decades before the developments were built there. It had to be taken down when the line was electrified in the 1930's (I think) because the catenary wire carrying the power for the trains would have run right through the bridge.
When I was a child the bridge foundations were still visible in the railroad's road cut at that point. They may be heavily overgrown by now, however. Perhaps a ride through there in the winter when the greenery is gone might reveal them.
So Mattapan, MA and Shaker Heights, OH aren't considered streetcar suburbs?
How about Darby, Yeadon and Sharon Hill, all in Delaware County, also reached by streetcar?
2:23 What do you mean it just "ends"? Like.. does it just go in reverse?
I think one day the Media Line might get extended further. Perhaps beyond State & Orange Streets.
We have a trolli that runs down girard in Philly
Sometimes, I wonder what would've happened if electric utility companies had been allowed to continue operating streetcar lines or if state public utilities commissions were more generous in allowing streetcar companies to set their own fares so they could modernize and attract riders. National City Lines is usually cast as a villain in urbanist circles, but most of the streetcar lines that were converted to buses under NCL ownership were already planning to do so because their plant and equipment was clapped out and they no longer had the ridership to make operating streetcars profitable. In fact, NCL actually purchased brand-new PCCs for their busiest lines. For example, the Yellow Cars in LA remained in operation under NCL ownership. It was only after LAMTA took over that the decision was made to end streetcar service in Los Angeles.
you can tell the audio was filmed in a car
If you cross the border into canada toronto has two streetcar suburbs south etobicoke and riverdale
Ok, if you're going to keep playing Mumbo Jumbo's theme, you have to start doing Minecraft redstone videos!
Ey, he stole it from the same artist I did
@@ClassyWhaleAs I understand it, Mumbo had the guy's permission to use it. The problem is that the artist sampled an old-ass song that a company still had the rights to for *some* reason.
It's always the north😁