Red Arrow Lines

The D, formerly known as the Media–Sharon Hill Line (MSHL), is a light rail line in the SEPTA Metro network serving portions of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The line comprises two services which terminate at 69th Street Transit Center in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania: D1 to Media and D2 to Sharon Hill. Service is operated by the Suburban Transit Division of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). Altogether, the two services operate on approximately of route. The line is one of the few remaining interurban systems in the United States, along with the South Shore Line in Illinois and Indiana, the River Line in New Jersey, and the Norristown High Speed Line, also in the Philadelphia area.

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".

The line uses 29 Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company Type K LRV cars similar to those used on the SEPTA subway–surface trolley lines. However, unlike the city cars, the Type K cars on the D1 and D2 are double-ended and use pantograph collection instead of trolley poles.

Route

The D1 and D2 run together on their exclusive right-of-way in Upper Darby to Drexel Hill Junction for approximately , at which point they diverge.

D1 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 D1 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.

D2 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 D2 has double tracks until up to North Street in Collingdale, where the D2 returns to its own right-of-way, and after North Street, there is a single track until the end of the line.

Springfield Road has one stop on each line. D1 stops at Springfield Road in Springfield. D2 stops at Springfield Road in Clifton Heights, then runs within this street until it moves onto Woodlawn Avenue through Aldan.

History

The Sharon Hill Line (D2) was originally built by the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company, and opened on March 15, 1906, and the Media Line (D1) was originally built by the same company, opening on April 1, 1913. The lines were later bought by the Philadelphia Suburban Transit Company in 1954.

Besides D1 and D2, 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 what is now the 69th Street Transit 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 the then-Route 102 was suspended while the then-Route 101 was substituted with buses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trolley service on both routes resumed June 1, 2020.

In 2021, SEPTA proposed rebranding their rail transit service as "SEPTA Metro", to make the system easier to navigate. Under this proposal, the Media and Sharon Hill lines would have been rebranded as the "D" lines (for "Delaware", the county in which the trolley routes are located) with a pink color and numeric suffixes for each service. The 101 and 102 were to respectively be rebranded as the D1 69th St / Orange St and D2 69th St / Sharon Hill. After a period of public comment, SEPTA revised its plans to primarily refer to the line as the "D," the services as simply "D1" and "D2", as well as to rethink the name of the then-Route 101's "Orange Street" terminal station name.

Future rolling stock

In 2023, SEPTA awarded Alstom Transportation the contract to furbish 130 new low-floor trolleys, with an option for 30 more. The trolleys will be of Alstom's Citadis family and will be 80 feet in length and fully ADA-compliant, which the current Kawasaki trolleys from the early 1980s are not. The trolleys will be distributed among the D1 and D2 in Delaware County, and its subway-surface lines and G trolley in neighboring Philadelphia. The first trolley is expected to be delivered from Alstom in the Spring of 2027, with the last trolley to be delivered sometime in 2030.

With SEPTA Trolley Modernization in progress, SEPTA is proposing to extend the D2 to Darby Transit Center. This extension would connect the D2 with the T3 and T4.

Media stops

Media is the western terminus of the D1 trolley line just west of the Orange Street intersection with State Street, the latter of which the trolley runs down the center line. Despite being located in the town, there is no direct connection to the Media station of the Media/Wawa Line which is a mile to the south on Orange Street and partly through a wooded area.

Stations and stops

File:Media Trolley 072107 014 (917190137).jpg, Route 101 (D1) LRV in Media
File:Media Trolley 072107 025 (917190413).jpg, Private right-of-way outside Media
File:Media Trolley 072107 021 (917190353).jpg, Front of Route 101 (D1) LRV in Media with the sign set for its next outbound trip to Sharon Hill on Route 102 (D2).
File:Bartram Ave SEPTA station.JPG, Station shelter in 2015

References

Notes

Citations

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''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Septa Routes 101 And 102
Light rail in Pennsylvania
101 and 102
Interurban railways in Pennsylvania
5 ft 2¼ in gauge railways in the United States
600 V DC railway electrification
Railway lines opened in 1906
1906 establishments in Pennsylvania