Where in the World

The first photo taken in February 1949 is looking south along route 202 which at this point is DEKALB PIKE - to  a northbound Liberty Bell Limited trolley which has just crossed the distant intersection of GERMANTOWN PIKE Route 422  (located at the auto and houses in background)  and is curving away from the high-speed private right-of-way after coming up from Norristown,  to run up parallel along the west edge of Dekalb Pike's southbound lane..  That curve in earlier years was a blind curve in a highly wooded area and was the site of (in 1942 I think) a 2 car head on collision with two cars badly damaged and some deaths. 

The Aerial Photo  BELOW in my collection is from 1942 and I have drawn in the red lines to indicate appropriate locations to identify the first photo. 

NOTE:  MARKLEY Street changes names and becomes SWEDE Street at the crossing of Johnson Highway -- BUT for aerial photo simplicity I indicated it as Markley Street on the Map where the LVT leaves the (Swede St.) roadway and enters private R-o-W.

=======================================================================================

The second photo was taken in February 1951 of LVT Car 1008 on Markley Street in downtown NORRISTOWN, PA., in a  view looking north from just ahead of the AIRY Street overpass roadway bridge behind us..  The Reading RR Commuter and freight  tracks would be paralleling on the far left -- the trolley appears to be heading south and  turning east (right) on to AIRY Street to run uphill (along the north side embankment wall of the Airy Street bridge approach) to then meet and turn south on to Swede Street and head south to and up the ramp to the P&W  Elevated Station at Main Street.  To the right of the trolley looks like the AIRY Street Freight Station and turn back loop tracks  around the freight station.  If I find my overhead shot of this area I will provide it.

Here is a MAP of the LVT and SVT trolley lines in Norristown.  See the RED LINES which are the Lehigh Valley Transit Line trackage -  and see small red LOOP circle ---  and the track at its left curving off Markley Street --- that is where the photo is located !

The BLUE lines are the Schuykill Valley Transit line tracks and the GREEN lines are the Philadelphia & Western (P&W) Transit tracks crossing the river northwaqrd to end at their Main Street Elevated Station,  whose tracks connected with the LVT tracks.  The RAILROAD tracks are the Reading Railroad.

regards - Joe F

Thanks Joe.  You seem to be thoroughly versed on the trolley/interurbans in the area.  I should have known the second photo was of the same line, just by the paint scheme.  I seem to recall a photo of the area that I thought the second photo was taken of.  I'll have to look for it.  

I have this link to historic arial photographs.  It's quite fascinating to look at your neighborhood, 60 and 70 years ago.  It's also useful to us rail fans.

https://www.historicaerials.com/?javascript=&

Dan,

     If the area you are looking at is in PA, also be sure to check out pennpilot.psu.edu as it has a quite extensive collection of photos. 

I have used it for researching defunct trolley lines, amusement parks, and ski areas.

Hello Dan P  --

Glad I was able to be of some help.  Its sad that such a great line as the Lehigh Valley Transit Co. was closed and gradually demolished for a bus service then using  small  GMC smelly diesel buses to replace it which could no way even match the fast running time time schedules of the LVT hi-speed interurbans.

The LVT System is one of my favorite lines --- it folded in I believe September 1951 -- the Hi-Speed line from Allentown to Norristown and 69th St Terminal via sharing the P&W tracks -- the LVT Company local city trolleys and other local trolley lines closed in Allentown and nearby regional areas I I R C between 1951 and 1953.

I have used NETR Aerials also but they splay all those white TEXT lines (their name and the word COPYRIGHT) repeatedly in rows all over the photos.  Which blocks out certain details, unlike the Aerial image from another source which I sent you.  The only good thing is you can compare two different year-era images side by side

regards - Joe F

Hello again Dan ---

 Yes, Penn Pilot is a better source -- I use it also - but it has scattered static still aerial photos  - meaning you cant continually "fly" over and along very long distances of the region in the scene like on NETR or Google aerials).    But its photo quality is far better for it very old images

 Here BELOW are the exact locations of your two photos in current day images - in the same order as you posted the originals.

PHOTO ABOVE --  Note on the above photo we are looking north in the original roadway of Markley Street and the trolley was turning to the right coming off the original creek lattice girder bridge (still the original bridge from trolley days) and about to pass the new open parking lot where the turn back loop track was and the trolley freight station and its siding tracks were located.  Markley Street was widened to become the new  Route 202 as seen by its new roadway and bridge at left...becoming the dedicated southbound lanes of the road.   The Reading RR (now SEPTA)  Commuter tracks are just off the left edge of the photo as they parallel Markley Street.  The Airy Street overpass bridge is behind us.

PHOTO ABOVE -- This view is looking south in near the same spot as your 2nd photo - on Delakb Pike which is also US 202. We see the small creek bridge (a new one as the roadway was widened to 4 lanes from 2 lanes many decades ago) -- which is the white (concrete railing walls) patch seen over the roof of the black car in the earlier photo -- and the trolley tracks in red indicate where the trolley turned - almost following the same curvature of the new sidewalk.  The right hand S/B lane was the unpaved  gravel R-o-W that the LVT single track ran along north and south on the southbound side of the old roadway.  Germantown Pike (Rte. 422) intersection is where the 3 autos are seen in the distant background.

PHOTO ABOVE -- 2016 Aerial looking due southwest with a thin yellow line I drew in to show the still intact (walkable and driveable) as a dirt and gravel one track wide pathway from Swede Street northward (except the part of the line's one track running along the west side of Dekalb Pike, Rt 202,  which is a new southbound paved roadway lane) up to Sumneytown Pike in North Wales,  some miles north ( northward off the bottom of the photo)

At all the crossing roads along  the former LVT Trolley line,  you can look up and down the one track now long trackless R-o-W and see the wood utility poles - some of the few still remaining original wood poles  that remain, many that had the trolley wire supported by them.  LVT leased their poles and R-o-W for use by the local utility company to run their additional poles and wires --- and that grandfathered use still continues today 67 years later -- which is why the R-o-W remains for use by the utility company maintenance trucks !!

regards - Joe F