Dear Little Bald Bastard,
How come the El train in Philly turns into a subway in Center City? Also, why does the subway turn into an El train when it's not in Center City?
- Blue Line Bandit
Dear Blue Line Bandit,
There is doubtless a Perfectly Reasonable Explanation, involving water tables, soil densities, and other dull technical information. However, my Wildly Uninformed Perspective is skeptical about all that blather. In the early 20th Century when the line was being constructed, Center City's roster of well-to-do residents and businesses was "important" in a way that the poorer western and northeastern neighborhoods weren't. That disparity of economic swagger still holds true today. Coincidentally, Center City's residents and businesses get to have their rail transportation buried underground, while people living in Kensington and West Philly have the pleasure of a gigantic metal monstrosity covering their streets and trains rattling by at the level of their second-story windows.
This is, of course, rank speculation. If anyone has a less invidious explanation, I'd be willing to entertain it.
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