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History Of Tower Wagon D-39
By
Edward Springer
Photo By
Matthew Mummert
Tower
wagon D-39 started its long career in April 1908 as Philadelphia Rapid
Transit Co. (PRT) ash car #2621. It
was one of eight cars
constructed at PRT’s 8th & Dauphin Streets and Kensington Shops to
haul ash under contract for the City of
Philadelphia
. The car was renumbered P-12
in 1912. In 1915 the City
cancelled the contract to haul ashes.
P-12 was rebuilt by PRT on August 9, 1916
for freight service and renumbered F-25.
A new wood enclosed body was placed on the frame of the former ash
car.
PRT operated a fleet of 25 freight cars
hauling less than carload (LCL) freight.
Freight service commenced on May 4, 1908 and operated on a regular
schedule over the PRT system. Freight
was interchanged with the Schuylkill Valley Traction Co. at Norristown,
Lehigh Valley Transit Co. at Erdenheim, the Frankford, Tacony &
Holmesburg, the
Philadelphia
&
Easton
, the
Philadelphia
,
Trenton
&
Bristol
and the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Co. (P &WCT).
P & WCT delivered LCL freight and large quantities of raw milk
to PRT at 63rd & Market Streets. The
milk was transferred to Suplee-Will Jones’s wagons for delivery to their
dairy at Lancaster & Girard Avenues.
PRT terminated freight service on June 1, 1922 due to declining
revenue and the increased use of trucks.
F-25 was assigned to the surface utility fleet and used for
miscellaneous duties for almost 30 years.
In 1950 the Philadelphia Transportation Co. (PTC) re-gauged and
renumbered the car as T-17. It
became the Broad Street Subway’s (BSS) rubbish car.
In 1953 Lehigh Valley Transit Co. freight car C-15 was purchased
for rubbish service becoming PTC’s T-18.
T-17’s new assignment was as the BSS’s tool car (wreck car).
It was kept inside Fern Rock Shop and was seldom used.
The destruction of tower wagon D-38 in the Woodland Depot
fire of October 23, 1975 created the need for a replacement car for the
Subway-Surface tunnel. Market-Frankford
Subway/Elevated rubbish car T-16 was selected for conversion.
T-16 was also a former freight car, F-22.
However, T-16 could not negotiate the tight clearances in the
trolley tunnel. The smaller
T-17 was substituted for conversion.
In 1980 the car was sent to
Topton
,
Pennsylvania
for conversion to a tower wagon. The
car was again re-gauged using former snow sweeper trucks (Brill 50E-2) and
assigned number D-39. Work on
the conversion was completed by SEPTA in 1984.
However, electrical and mechanical problems delayed the car’s
availability for service. On
Sunday, August 6, 1986 D-39 operated from Luzerne Depot via the
‘temporarily’ bused Route 50 and active Route 15 to Elmwood Depot
where it joined tower wagon D-37.
D-39’s service at Elmwood
was less than three years. SEPTA’s
conversion of PCC’s 2187 and 2194 to tower wagons in 1988 made D-37 and
D-39 surplus. D-37 was sold to
the Buckingham
Valley Trolley Association (BVTA).
In 1989 D-39 was trucked to 69th Street Yard for service on the
Media and Sharon Hill Lines. The
only modification was the addition of a pantograph on one end of the car.
It joined the former Red Arrow Jewett tower wagon #07 (1911 freight
car) which saw limited service after the arrival of D-39.
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum acquired #07 in 1996.
For
the next 13 years D-39 operated spring and fall outings for scheduled
inspections and wire maintenance and of course emergency repairs.
During the late 1990’s SEPTA determined a new tower wagon was
required due to D-39’s age, a deteriorating car body and limited space
for equipment and material. Also,
a car was needed to plow snow on the Media and Sharon Hill lines.
On June 20, 2002 OPS0862, a self-propelled
tower wagon/snow plow arrived at the 69th Street Shops.
During the second week of December 2002 D-39 repaired the trolley
wires for the last time. OPS0862
first assignment was as a plow during the snowstorm of February 16, 2003.
During the spring of 2003 OPS0862 inspected and repaired the
Media’s and Sharon Hill’s wires for the first time.
D-39 was the featured vehicle on several charters at the end of its
career. Charters were operated
on December 2, 2001, June 6 and August 4, 2002 and April 6 and May 4,
2003.
In June 2003 Railways to Yesterday (RTY) purchased D-39, SEPTA’s
oldest electric vehicle at that time for preservation.
D-39 left SEPTA’s 69th Street Yard early on the morning of
November 20, 2003 for its new home at RTY. The car was unloaded on
November 21 and placed on a set of standard gauge Curtis trucks.
The trucks were acquired in a trade with the Electric City Trolley
Museum Association (formerly BVTA) to operate D-39 at RTY.
In a strange twist of fate these are the same trucks that were used
when it was T-17 on the BSS. The
car will be stored in RTY’s Carbarn #2 to prevent further deterioration
to the wood car body. Eventually
restoration to D-39’s wood body and electrical system will return the
car to operating condition as a tower wagon.
Bibliography
‘Utility Cars of Philadelphia,
1892-1971’, H. E. Cox, 1971 |