Last night the iconic Solari split flap display was removed from Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station to make way for a new, ADA-compliant digital board. I spent the day documenting the takedown, and here is a collection of some of my photos from then, and from other days.
Tags: 30th streetamtrakphiladelphiasolari
Beautiful and kind photos… Was sad when the board was taken down at GCT. I remember it still up in the 1980s, seeing the long gone name trains flip by…
I have seen this one and a much larger one in Zurich Airport in Switzerland many years ago… the sound is wonderful and unmistakeable! GREAT PICTURES!!!
Our family visits from Texas to Philadelphia, we looked forward to seeing the schedule board do its thing. Preferred to see this over the Rocky steps!
The Trenton, NJ, station still has a working Solari at the main entrance.
Trenton serves Amtrak, NJ Transit, and SEPTA.
(Station also still has a few pay telephones).
I just came across this and loved it on so many levels. Nicely done. I wonder how many
Solari Clocks are left in in the NY Metro Area? So sad to see them all being removed.
There is still a split flap board in use at the station in Secaucus, although I don’t believe it is a Solari. That’s the only one I can think of that is being used for its purpose – there are two in New York (JFK’s TWA hotel, and the TWA lounge at the World Trade Center) but they are just for decorative purposes.