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ABOVE: The Super Saturday trips always feature numerous photo stops, with row houses and churches making for common backdrops. The chartered PCC-II makes a typical stop on Route 13 on February 6, 2016. RIGHT: The trip has only traveled one block from its starting point at the Elmwood Depot in southwest Philly and the first photo stop is already happening, as the PCC-II pauses in front of a classic mid- century dry cleaners on Elmwood Avenue.


Avenue. Since the PCC-II streetcars normally run on Route 15, most trips concentrate on the southwest routes to get unusual photos in places where the PCC-II cars aren’t usually seen. There is also some “diversion” trackage that sees revenue service only when the Center City tunnel is closed — usually overnight on weekends — so that is used for the charters to get rare daylight shots on those tracks.


Super Saturday Streetcar Special


XXIII was not without its challenges. The plan was to have our PCC-II accompanied by wire car No. 2194, the last “true” PCC on the SEPTA roster. Alas, SEPTA decided to keep the wire car close to its home base of the Elmwood Depot, so it was only used at the very end of the trip. Also, a sinkhole popped up on the diversion trackage the week before the trip, which confined the usable trackage to just the regular southwest Philly subway-surface routes


68 MARCH 2016 • RAILFAN.COM


(and the PCC-IIs are not allowed in the Center City tunnel because they aren’t compatible with the


subway’s


signal system). However, the SEPTA supervisor following the trip, Michael Shepard, graciously allowed the trip to enter the usually off-limits Woodland Depot (which required unlocking the gates and energizing the wire) for some rare mileage and photo opportunities. The weather cooperated, however,


with mostly sunny skies for most of the trip. In 23 years, the trip has only been snowed out once — back in 2010 the initial date was snowed out, and the make-up date in February was also snowed out; the trip ultimately ran on a 70-degree day in March. These trips would not be possible without the help of SEPTA’s personnel, especially supervisor Ed Springer and the “railfan” operators — Bill Monaghan,


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