Years ago ... At 6:00 AM, on a 100F Sunday morning, my son and I packed PB&J sandwich's, a cooler of sodas, and bought a bunch of soft pretzels, and caught a bus to the 69th st terminal. The smell of creosote filled the air, as we boarded the 100 Brill trolley to Norristown. We opened up every one of the slide up windows, so it would be a total air flow through ride. A lady got on and her hair was immaculately styled. The driver came on and saw 3 people in the trolley, and soon we were off at @ 25 mph, which quickly picked up speed. After the 1st stop it was @ 45 mph, and the lady was holding onto her hat, so it wouldn't get zooked out the window. By the 2rd stop we were hitting almost 60 mph, and all debris and newspapers were zooming around inside the trolley, and everything loose got zooked out the open windows. We walked up the isle and talked with the drive, and asked him how fast this trolley went. He said he gets up to 75 in spots, and the trolley felt as if it was going to shake off the tracks and derail. We had a grand time, except the lady in the hat looked extremely perturbed. The wind was tremendous, gusting though the air flow through trolley ! When it reached Norristown the driver started shifting the seats backwards, for the return trip to 69th st ... and looked at us guzzling soda's, and eating soft pretzels, and PB&J sandwich's, and said loudly: "End of the line" ... I said: "I know" ... He reinterated: "No, it's the end of the line, you gotta get off now" ! We complied, as the driver exited the platform ... but we lollygagged, and took our good ol' time, but did not exit through the turnstile ... Instead we got back on the trolley without re-paying. Later on the trolley driver saw us again ... and he just shook his head, and laughed ... soon we were again doing 75 in places ... by now the trolley was completely air blow cleaned out of all newspapers and debris ... it was so hot on that day ... And bus's had no air conditioning, and had sliding windows ... When we got home my mom had on her nightshirt still, and it was wringing wet with sweat (as we didn't have air conditioning either) ... She had the 2 box fans on high, as she asked: "Where the heck did you 2 go at 6:00 AM" ? We told her that we went for a high speed ride to, and from, Norristown. We needed a cool shower by then, as we were itchy with trolley grit, on our sweaty bodies, and in our hair. Later I said: "Let's do it all over again" !... but we were pretty tired by then, and watched shows on the B&W TV, in front of the 2 box fans, on high ... lol
Today the Brill trolleys are all retired, and newer air conditioned streamlined trolleys have taken their place
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c8cbZl93YM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24aFswvR5JE
There have been dozens, and dozens, and dozens, of serious accidents over the years, on that line 100 line, as well as the other trolley lines, as well as the Market Frankford El, and on the Phila Washinton DC, Phila Harrisburg, Phila Paoli line(s)
