Market-Frankford Line - Rolling Stock

Rolling Stock

The original cars for the Market Street subway, numbered 1-135 and later designated as Class A-8 by SEPTA's predecessor, the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), were built by the Pressed Steel Car Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. between 1906 and 1911. An additional set of cars, numbered 136-215, were built by the J.G. Brill Co. of Philadelphia, Pa. between 1911 and 1913. The Frankford Elevated portion opened in 1922 along with another set of cars, numbered 501-600, also built by Brill that year, later receiving the designation Class A-15. The two rail lines were soon merged, resulting in a combined fleet of 315 cars (215 Market Street cars, 100 Frankford cars). By 1960, when the PTC began replacing the cars, the Market Street cars had been in operation for 56 years, thus having the longest lifespan of any Philadelphia subway cars, surpassing that of the original Broad Street subway fleet, which had 54 years of operation. (The Broad Street cars were built in 1928, and phased out in 1982.) The Frankford cars were not much younger, at 38 years of operation. After retirement, two of the "Market" cars (cars 69 and 163) and six of the "Frankford" cars were retained as work train cars (Cars #532, 551, 559, 583, 585, and 589) for some time. It is currently unknown when these cars were withdrawn, but all had been removed from SEPTA property by 2000, with none reported to have been saved for museums.

The "Market" and "Frankford" cars were replaced by a fleet of 270 new stainless steel cars built in 1960 by the Budd Company. The PTC had designated Class A-49 cars numbered 601-646 as Class A-49, and numbers 701-924 as A-50 and A-51. All cars were re-designated as Class M-3 when SEPTA assumed operation of the line. The cars had been nicknamed "Almond Joys" by many riders as their distinctive ventilation fan housings resembled the almonds atop the Peter Paul (now Hershey's) Almond Joy bar. These cars, while mostly an improvement in quality compared to their predecessors, had been plagued with faulty wheel frame assemblies, causing the body to shake, sometimes violently, as the car moved. The cars' fan housings had provisions for air conditioning units, however, only one car, number 612, had ever been air conditioned, which the transit authority had found to be uneconomical at the time.

Early in their service lives, some M-3 cars had fareboxes by their center side doors; these were necessary for collecting fares during the hours after midnight, when SEPTA closed cashier's booths at many stations during the era of 24-hour rapid transit service. "Night Owl" service (midnight–5:00 AM) trains operated on a twenty-minute headway (interval between trains) at that time. Since the 1990s, SEPTA has operated (along with the Broad Street Subway) all "Owl" service using buses, but similar to the old "Owl" trains, they run between 69th Street and Frankford Transportation Center on a slightly more frequent 15-minute interval.

In the early 1990's, the Market-Frankford line was in need of new rolling stock. The M-3 cars were approaching the end of their expected useful lifespan, as well as being increasingly scrutinized for their shaky ride quality and lack of air conditioning. To this end, SEPTA placed an order for 220 new rail cars, each costing $1.29 million.

These cars, designated Class M-4, were manufactured by AdTranz and delivered between 1997 and 1999. All of the M-3 cars were retired after the last of the M-4's entered service, with five of the former being converted to work cars. The five remaining M-3's were later retired, with M-4 cars 1033 and 1034 replacing them for work service. Two of the M-3's have been given to museums, cars 606 and 618 at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and the Seashore Trolley Museum, respectively. These cars represent the only preserved examples of Market-Frankford line rolling stock.