Night of the Living Track: The return of dead trolley lines.

[mixiboi]

Im sure many of you seen this before, a nice street with a weird crack pattern in it, and slowly over the years you watch that crack get worst and worst until it turn into this:



Its old trolley track that they city and SEPTA decided to bury then remove. You wouldn't know that many of the old Trolley track lines are still under there until one day pieces of the track start to rise from beneath.

Its weird that they didn't remove them before and when this happens they STILL don't remove them just bury them again until the crack through again.

[NE19149]

Out of sight...... Out of mind.

[Jayfar]

And other fascinating artifacts are the remaining metal poles with wooden insulators still dangling for the catenary wires, notably even on Bainbridge St in SWCC where the last trolleys ran about 55 years ago. In fact in my former block of Bainbridge there is at least one PRT manhole cover.

[BarryG]

And other fascinating artifacts are the remaining metal poles with wooden insulators still dangling for the catenary wires, notably even on Bainbridge St in SWCC where the last trolleys ran about 55 years ago. In fact in my former block of Bainbridge there is at least one PRT manhole cover.

There's spots on Bainbridge around 5th St where the the tracks underneath the asphalt create very uneven pavement. Sucks for biking around cars. The same thing is on 8th St just before Snyder, the pavement is all messed up because of the tracks beneath.

You can see tracks and old cobblestone on S 4th St too. Really, the remnants are all over.

[BenDee]

There's spots on Bainbridge around 5th St where the the tracks underneath the asphalt create very uneven pavement. Sucks for biking around cars. The same thing is on 8th St just before Snyder, the pavement is all messed up because of the tracks beneath.

You can see tracks and old cobblestone on S 4th St too. Really, the remnants are all over.

Most of the numbered streets in and around CC still have track under them. This summer when they tore up 19th between Callowhill and Vine to repave it, you could clearly see the old tracks and cobblestone still in fairly good condition (considering the surface was paved and then torn up) in some parts.

[luchobucho]

I love the old cobble stone and belgian block streets......they make cars go slow......suck for biking though.

Most of the numbered streets in and around CC still have track under them. This summer when they tore up 19th between Callowhill and Vine to repave it, you could clearly see the old tracks and cobblestone still in fairly good condition (considering the surface was paved and then torn up) in some parts.

[londoner]

Does anyone know the reason the city did away with most of its cobblestone streets? Is it just cost? As another poster alluded to, not only are cobblestone streets pretty and textural, they also act as a simple traffic calming device...do they not handle drainage well? you'd think that with all the pores and crevices in cobblestone, they'd actually be a fairly effective storm water management tool?

[mixiboi]

[QUOTE=londoner;446828]Does anyone know the reason the city did away with most of its cobblestone streets? Is it just cost? As another poster alluded to, not only are cobblestone streets pretty and textural, they also act as a simple traffic calming device...do they not handle drainage well? you'd think that with all the pores and crevices in cobblestone, they'd actually be a fairly effective storm water management tool?[/QUOTE

For the most part they are a pain on cars suspension. And if you wanna see how well cobblestone streets hold up visit 5th St between Chestnut and Walnuts sts and around Society Hill Towers:

[palvar]

With commodity prices so high, I'm surprised that there isn't someone who will rip out the tracks/pull down the polls for free.

[Sean]

With commodity prices so high, I'm surprised that there isn't someone who will rip out the tracks/pull down the polls for free.

I have often thought this as well.

[londoner]

[QUOTE=mixiboi;446834]

Does anyone know the reason the city did away with most of its cobblestone streets? Is it just cost? As another poster alluded to, not only are cobblestone streets pretty and textural, they also act as a simple traffic calming device...do they not handle drainage well? you'd think that with all the pores and crevices in cobblestone, they'd actually be a fairly effective storm water management tool?[/QUOTE

For the most part they are a pain on cars suspension. And if you wanna see how well cobblestone streets hold up visit 5th St between Chestnut and Walnuts sts and around Society Hill Towers:

Dude, are you joking? durability is the last thing thing to bring up. We had roads just paved this summer that are showing initial signs of distress. Some cobblestone streets in this city have bee around for 200 years. And Screw suspension, I bet if you did a study on home values in cobblestone street laden 'hoods, the increase in value would more than offset a few visits to meineke--visitors be damned!

[qweezyq]

First of all, you guys don't mean cobblestone, you mean granite or belgium block. Cobblestones are actual round stones and off the top of my head, I can't think of any area that cars drive on them.
RE: Trolley tracks, as I understand it, the reason they haven't been removed is because SEPTA keeps them there in the crazy chance that trolleys go back in service on those roads. At what point do they decide to finally take them out? I don't know, but it is SEPTA that owns the tracks not Streets. But yeah, they are definitely a nuisance and they should be realistic and remove the tracks when theey repave.

[mixiboi]

Dude, are you joking? durability is the last thing thing to bring up. We had roads just paved this summer that are showing initial signs of distress. Some cobblestone streets in this city have bee around for 200 years. And Screw suspension, I bet if you did a study on home values in cobblestone street laden 'hoods, the increase in value would more than offset a few visits to meineke--visitors be damned!

I was saying if you wanted to see the cobblestone street(Asqweezq noted aren't actually cobblestone) then that is the area to check out to see there status and how people feel about driving on them.

RE: Trolley tracks, as I understand it, the reason they haven't been removed is because SEPTA keeps them there in the crazy chance that trolleys go back in service on those roads. At what point do they decide to finally take them out? I don't know, but it is SEPTA that owns the tracks not Streets. But yeah, they are definitely a nuisance and they should be realistic and remove the tracks when theey repave.

Only the Routes 23, 56 and 15 that were under "saved", as those tracks are still there(For the most part) above ground along with the wiring.


These Trolley routes were abandon in the 50s to the 80s and they WON'T be back, but instead of removing the entire tracks, they paved over them.

Philadelphia Trolley Tracks: 1953 Philadelphia Transit Map

Which is why these tracks are falling apart and breaking free from their tombs. As a bonus, here is a map that shows the last Trolley routes in the 80s before they kill them all in the 90s and you can still find tracks that aren't buried in some places up till a couple of years ago:



These are the ones still with the trolley poles around the most.

[mixiboi]

Update: With the paving of Center City streets this summer, it gives you an idea of what trolley lines ran down these streets before they paved over them:

These are from 17th and 18th streets






Cobblestone and all underneith..and we wonder why the streets get messed up...

[qguy]

Those square or rectangular stones are called Belgian block, not cobblestone. (Jes' sayin'. )

[mixiboi]

I know I know, I'm just too lazy to call it that.. lol

[guzzijason]

I bet its real fun for the construction guys to mill around those rails!

__Jason