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Matt Cosgro photo, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
Philadelphia's nearly 600 strong PCC fleet is represented by No. 2709 of 1947. This is a standardized postwar car developed by St. Louis Car Company, further evolving from the work which produced the fleet for St. Louis Public Service. Approximately 1500 cars of this type were built by St. Louis Car from 1947 to 1952 for a dozen cities that had not written off their street railways. Another 500 relatively similar cars were turned out by Pullman-Standard for five systems, illustrated by Boston car 3221. Philadelphia had 200 such new cars in its fleet, and later purchased additional cars used. Interestingly, although No. 2709 was produced even as the curtain was being lowered on America's street railway era, the 100 cars of this order were nonetheless built in a two man configuration for staffing by conductors.
No. 2709 came to the Museum in 1995, following a very long service life in the City of Brotherly Love, operating on Philadelphia's large street railway. Here, into the 1990s, PCCs in excellent condition traversed narrow cobblestone streets in ancient neighborhoods, as well as broad arteries, making for scenes could not be found in most cities even in 1950.
History from Historic Cars: The National Collection at the Seashore Trolley Museum by Ben Minnich
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