123-125 East Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19144
© Harold E. Spaulding,
Workshop of the
World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
In the 1870s, horse
cars traveled along Germantown Avenue; in the 1890s,
electrification began in Philadelphia. In 1908,
Philadelphia Transit Company built Substation #2 to
convert alternating current into 650 volts of direct
current to feed the Route 23 trolley line.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
(SEPTA) currently owns Substation Number 2. Now known as
Substation Number 12, the building consists of two parts:
the main hall, which contains the electrical equipment,
and the adjacent switchgear room. The building is brick
and has a large three bay Roman-type window prominently
positioned in the center of the main hall's facade. The
windows of the switchgear room are elegantly detailed
with cut stone quoins and flat arch lintels.
This beautiful little system has been operating reliably
for over 80 years. It has a classic open-front
switchboard of ebony asbestos, with gleaming copper knife
switches and Weston meters with cast iron cases. Facing
the switchboard are three rotary synchronous convertors,
alleged to be among the last station sets in
Philadelphia. (In the future, they will no doubt be
replaced by static devices and operate unmanned.) Their
outputs run to the tracks via an underground cable, which
feeds the trolley wire about every 300 feet and is easily
visible. The trackage for the trolley is a bit unusual in
that it is "Philadelphia Broad Gauge," 5 to 6 inches
wider than standard rail gauge. 1
The builders of
the system used this gauge to ensure that freight traffic
would never be moved on the system.
The Route 23 trolley line, powered by Substation Number
2, is Philadelphia's longest and most diverse. It
services very different neighborhoods, running from South
Philadelphia, through Center City and Germantown, up to
the top of Chestnut Hill.
1 Standard gauge is
4'-8-1/2" between rail centers; Philadelphia Broad Gauge,
more correctly known as Pennsylvania Broad Gauge is
5'-2-1/4" between rail centers.
Update May
2007 (by
Linny Schenk & Michael Parrington):
The brick building has fallen
into disrepair.