About this collection

Red Arrow Lines was a division of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, a company formed in 1936 by the merger of two transportation companies, the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Company and the Philadelphia & Garrettford Street Railway Company, both owned by Merritt H. Taylor, Jr. (1922-2010).

Over the 1960s, Taylor's unwillingness to allow the company to join competing companies in public-private regional transportation compacts that consolidated services or accepted public regulation in exchange for public subsidies and other benefits led to increased expenses, revenue losses, and reduced ridership. In 1970, the Red Arrow division was sold to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).

The Red Arrow Lines photographs (Accession 1972.438) collection contains photographs dating from 1899 to 1970 that document transit vehicles, infrastructure, and routes for the Red Arrow Lines and its predecessor transit lines. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety.

Image: Oakmont Station, 1959