SEPTA Routes 101 and 102

SEPTA Routes 101 and 102,[5] also known as the Media–Sharon Hill Line,[6] are light rail lines operated by the Suburban Transit Division of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, serving portions of Delaware County. The routes' eastern terminus is 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Route 101 runs to Media, while Route 102 goes to Sharon Hill. Altogether, the two lines operate on approximately 11.9 miles (19.2 km) of route.[2] The lines were formerly interurbans.

Routes 101 and 102 Media–Sharon Hill Line
Route 102 at Sharon Hill station
Overview
Locale	Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Termini	Media-Orange Street (Route 101) Sharon Hill (Route 102) 69th Street Transportation Center
Stations	52
Service
Type	Light rail
Services	2 Media Local (101) Media Express (101) Sharon Hill Local (102) Sharon Hill Express (102) 69th Street Local (both routes)
Operator(s)	SEPTA
Daily ridership	Route 101: 4,400 Route 102: 3,576 (average weekday, FY 2014)[1]
History
Opened	1906
Technical
Line length	11.9 mi (19.2 km)[2]
Character	Surface (at-grade)
Track gauge	PA gauge 5 ft 2 ^1⁄4 in (1,581 mm)[3][4]
Electrification	Overhead lines
Route map MFL to Frankford NHSL to Norristown Transportation Center 69th Street T.C. to 69th Street Yard / Shops West Yard; formerly to West Chester & Ardmore Fairfield Avenue Walnut Street Avon Road Hilltop Road Beverly Boulevard Congress Avenue Lansdowne Avenue Drexel Park Irvington Road Drexel Hill Junction Route 101 Route 102 Huey Avenue Garrettford School Lane Drexel Manor Aronimink Marshall Road Anderson Avenue Creek Road Drexelbrook Darby Creek Drexeline Baltimore Pike Penn Street Scenic Road Springfield Road Springfield Road Clifton–Aldan ELW Saxer Avenue Shisler Avenue closed Leamy Avenue Providence Road Woodland Avenue Magnolia Avenue Thomson Avenue North Street Springfield Mall Bartram Avenue Paper Mill Road Andrews Avenue I-476 MacDade Boulevard Pine Ridge Sharon Hill Beatty Road Providence Road Manchester Avenue Edgemont Street Monroe Street Jackson Street Olive Street Veterans Square Media–Orange Street

Along with the Norristown High Speed Line, formerly the Philadelphia and Western Railroad, the routes are the remaining lines of the Red Arrow Lines Trolley System once operated by the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (successor to the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company); some local residents still call them "Red Arrow".

This route uses 29 Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company Series 100 LRV cars similar to those used on the SEPTA Subway–Surface Trolley Lines. However, unlike the city cars, the Series 100 cars on Routes 101 and 102 are double-ended and use pantograph collection instead of trolley poles.

Current system

Route	Length[7]	South terminal	North terminal
101	8.6 miles (13.8 km)	Media Orange Street at State Street	Upper Darby 69th Street Transportation Center
102	5.3 miles (8.5 km)	Sharon Hill Sharon Hill

The 101 and 102 run together on their exclusive right-of-way from Upper Darby to Drexel Hill Junction for approximately 2 miles (3.2 km), at which point they diverge.

Map of Routes 101 and 102 (red), as well as former trolley (now bus) Routes 103 and 104 (orange), and Route 100 (blue)

Route 101 continues on its own right-of-way traveling west and southwest through Drexel Hill and Springfield with an important stop at the Springfield Mall before entering the street in Media. The 101 has double tracks to Woodland Avenue, then a single track to just before Pine Ridge, then enters the street at Providence Road in Media and runs on a single track the rest of the way. Cars in the street must yield to the trolley. The line terminates in the middle of the street just west of the Delaware County Courthouse.

Route 102 runs southeast from Drexel Hill Junction through Drexel Hill and Clifton Heights and then goes into the street in Aldan. After Aldan, it returns to its own right-of-way, then passes through Collingdale before terminating at Chester Pike in Sharon Hill. The 102 has double tracks until up to North Street in Collingdale, where the 102 returns to its own right-of-way, and after North Street, there is a single track until the end of the line.

Springfield Road contains two stops along both lines. Route 101 stops at Springfield Road in Springfield. Route 102 stops at Springfield Road in Clifton Heights, then joins this street until it moves onto Woodlawn Avenue through Aldan.

History

Heavy steel interurban cars like this ran on the Red Arrow until the 1970s.

The Sharon Hill Line (Route 102) was originally built by the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company, and opened on March 15, 1906, and the Media Line (Route 101) was originally built by the same company, opening on April 1, 1913.[8] The lines were later bought by the Philadelphia Suburban Transit Company in 1954.

Besides Routes 101 and 102, there were also two other, now defunct, Red Arrow trolley lines. The direct ancestor of the SEPTA Route 104 bus line went to West Chester, splitting off from the rest of the system right after 69th Street Transportation Center onto West Chester Pike. The tracks continued all the way up West Chester Pike. West Chester trolleys were replaced by buses in 1954 due to widening of West Chester Pike; rush-hour trips to Westgate Hills lasted until 1958. Tracks remained in use for access to the Red Arrow's carbarn in Llanerch until SEPTA closed the barn in 1971; all tracks were soon removed except for a portion near 69th Street that SEPTA occasionally uses to store out-of service trolleys. The other now-defunct Red Arrow trolley line went to Ardmore until December 1966. It split from the West Chester line at Llanerch and continued on its own exclusive right-of-way. Much of the right-of-way still remains between Schauffele Plaza in Ardmore (the former terminus of the line) and Eagle Road in Havertown, although the tracks were removed and the right-of-way paved for dedicated use by the replacement bus line, now SEPTA Route 103. The 103 still uses this private right-of-way, although much of its other street routing has changed.

On April 1, 2020, service on Route 102 was suspended while Route 101 was substituted with buses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trolley service on both routes resumed June 1, 2020.[9][10][11]

Media stops

Media is the western terminus of the Route 101 trolley line. Despite being located in the town, there is no direct connection to the Media station of the Media/Elwyn Line.

Location	Station/stop	Connections	Notes
Route 101 (Media branch)
Media	Orange Street – State Street	110	Route 101 western terminus
	Veterans Square – State Street
	Olive Street – State Street
	Jackson Street – State Street	118
	Monroe Street – State Street
	Edgemont Street – State Street
	Manchester Avenue – State Street

Stations and stops

Location	Station/stop	Connections	Notes
Media	Providence Road		Begin right-of-way and two-track operation Formerly known as Bowling Green
	Beatty Road
Springfield	Pine Ridge		Tracks converge east of here
	Paper Mill Road		Serves Smedley Park
	Springfield Mall	107, 109, 110	Formerly known as Sproul Road
	Thomson Avenue
	Woodland Avenue		Resume two-track operation east of here
	Leamy Avenue
	Saxer Avenue
	Springfield Road
	Scenic Road
Drexel Hill	Drexeline
	Drexelbrook
	Anderson Avenue
	Aronimink
	School Lane
	Huey Avenue
Route 102 (Sharon Hill branch)
Sharon Hill	Sharon Hill – Chester Pike	114, 115	Route 102 western terminus
Collingdale	MacDade Boulevard – Woodlawn Avenue	113	Formerly known as Collingdale
	Andrews Avenue – Woodlawn Avenue
	Bartram Avenue – Woodlawn Avenue
North Street – Woodlawn Avenue		Tracks leave right-of-way and merge with Woodlawn Avenue north of here
Aldan	Magnolia Avenue – Woodlawn Avenue
	Providence Road – Woodlawn Avenue
	Shisler Avenue – Woodlawn Avenue		Station closed on March 15, 2010
Clifton Heights	Clifton-Aldan – Woodlawn Avenue	Media/Elwyn Line	Tracks transition onto Springfield Road
	Springfield Road		Tracks leave Springfield Road for right-of-way south of here
	Penn Street
	Baltimore Pike	109
Drexel Hill	Creek Road		Located in Indian Rock Park Formerly known as Oakdale
	Marshall Road
	Drexel Manor
	Garrettford
Routes 101 & 102 (Common section)
Drexel Hill	Drexel Hill Junction	107	Also known as Shadeland Avenue Routes 101 and 102 diverge west of here
	Irvington Road		Bypassed by Route 101 rush hour express service
	Drexel Park		Bypassed by Route 101 rush hour express service Also called Fairfax Road
Upper Darby	Lansdowne Avenue – Garrett Road	107, 115
	Congress Avenue – Garrett Road		Bypassed by Route 101 rush hour express service
	Beverly Boulevard – Garrett Road & Bywood Avenue		Bypassed by Route 101 rush hour express service Formerly known as Beverly Hills
	Hilltop Road – Garrett Road & Bywood Avenue		Bypassed by Route 101 rush hour express service
	Avon Road – Garrett Road & Bywood Avenue		Bypassed by Route 101 rush hour express service Formerly known as Bywood
	Walnut Street – Garrett Road & Bywood Avenue		Bypassed by Route 101 rush hour express service
	Fairfield Avenue – Bywood Avenue		Bypassed by Route 101 rush hour express service Tracks merge with street east of here
	69th Street Transportation Center – Market Street	MFL Market–Frankford Line, NHSL Norristown High Speed Line 21, 30, 65 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 120, 123, 126

• 
  Route 101 LRV in Media
• 
  Private right-of-way outside Media
• 
  Front of Route 101 LRV in Media with the sign set for its next outbound trip to Sharon Hill on Route 102.

See also

• Railroad bus

References

1. "Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Service Plan" (PDF). SEPTA. May 2013. p. 42. Archived from the original (pdf) on September 22, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
2. Demery, Leroy W. Jr. (November 2011). "U.S. Urban Rail Transit Lines Opened From 1980" (PDF). publictransit.us. pp. 37–40. Archived from the original (pdf) on November 4, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
3. "The history of trolley cars and routes in Philadelphia". SEPTA. June 1, 1974. p. 2. Retrieved June 11, 2014. An early city ordinance prescribed that all tracks were to have a gauge of 5' ​2 ¹⁄₄.
4. Hilton, George W.; Due, John Fitzgerald (January 1, 2000). The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford University Press. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
5. "101 and 102 Official map". Retrieved July 22, 2018.
6. "SEPTA Capital Improvements in Delaware County" (PDF). SEPTA. December 2007. p. 4. Retrieved January 4, 2008.
7. "SEPTA – Spring 2012 Route Statistics" (PDF). Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. 2012. Retrieved 2013-06-28.
8. "Philadelphia Suburban Transit Routes". ChicagoRailFan.net.
9. "Service Information". SEPTA. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
10. "SEPTA Transit Network Lifeline Service Schedule" (PDF). SEPTA. April 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
11. "Service Temporarily Suspended" (PDF). SEPTA. Retrieved April 14, 2020.

External links

• U.S. Urban Rail Transit Lines Opened From 1980 (PDF)
• Rt. 101/102 – Media/Sharon Hill; Images, guide, and slight history at World-NYC Subway.org