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The aforementioned "Norristown High-Speed Line" began life as the Philadelphia & Western Railway (also known as the P&W or the "Pig & Whistle"). Originally envisioned as part of a massive, transcontinental railroad, it was ultimately reduced to a few miles in the Philadelphia suburbs. The P&W never actually ran into Philadelphia proper, its current terminals were in Upper Darby, Strafford and Norristown, Pennsylvania.
While the P&W was once very much a "traditional" interurban, over the years it has been substantially upgraded - it is entirely double-tracked, grade-separated (i.e. no road crossings) and powered via electrified third rail. In 1931, the P&W acquired 11 high-speed, lightweight "Bullets" built by the J.G. Brill Company. These all-aluminum cars were actually tested in wind tunnels, and were capable of a 90mph top speed. The Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVT) operated their high-speed trains over the P&W until 1951. In 1954, the P&W was acquired by the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company ("Red Arrow Lines") who operated a number of bus and trolley lines. In 1963, the Red Arrow purchased the "Electroliners" from the recently-defunct North Shore Line, re-christening them as "Liberty Liners" and saving them from scrapping (both sets were retired in 1978, and are currently undergoing restoration in railroad museums). The "Bullets" ran in regular service until 1990 - a lifespan of nearly 60 years.
The P&W survived under private ownership until 1970, when the struggling Red Arrow Lines were acquired by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). Freight service was abandoned, and the line was re-christened as the "Route 100 High Speed Trolley" (in 2009, it officially became the "Norristown High-Speed Line"). There is some disagreement as to whether or not the contemporary Norristown High-Speed line is actually an "interurban" and not a rapid transit line, though most (if not all) agree that it at least began as the former.
