In 1913, roads were few but farms were plentiful. And the farmers needed a way to move their goods to the marketplace. For some things, the horse and buggy just wouldn’t work – milk, for example. Because it spoiled so easily, it had to be moved to market quickly.
Philadelphia Rapid Transit served areas that were then very much rural, and purchased this car specifically for the transportation of milk. Farmers would bring their cans a relatively short distance to a trolley freight station, and F-22 would come by to pick them up and deliver them, refrigerated, to dairies in the city.
The service was short-lived due to motor freight (truck) competition, but the car lingered on. It spent 30 years as a trash collection vehicle (renumbered T16) on the Market-Frankford Subway-Elevated line prior to coming to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in 1982. After being modified cosmetically in trash service, F22 is currently undergoing restorative work to backdate its appearance to how it looked when originally built in 1913.
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| Car Number | F22 | Car Builder | J.G. Brill Company, Philadelphia |
| Year Built | 1913 | Type | DTDE Refrigerated Box Motor |
| Width | 8′ | Height | 11’3″ |
| Motors | GE 80A | ||
| Year Acquired | 1982 | Status | Stored inoperable, Trolley Display Building |