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SEPTA's decorated holiday trolleys return

Operators Gary Mason and Dave Musgrave are once again decorating their trolleys with lights, garland and ornaments for the holiday season.

Gary Mason, veteran SEPTA trolley operator, decorates his car with festive lights each holiday season.
Gary Mason, veteran SEPTA trolley operator, decorates his car with festive lights each holiday season.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / File Photograph

It's that time of year again: SEPTA is bringing back its "jolly trolleys" to ring in another holiday season, the transportation agency said Thursday morning.

West Philadelphians can catch a glimpse of the decorations on Trolley No. 9104, which operates on Route 10, or Trolley No. 9055, operating on Routes 11, 13, 34 and 36.

Operators Gary Mason and Dave Musgrave are behind the festive tradition, and have been known to decorate their trolleys with "hundreds of lights, yards of garland and tons of ornaments" in order "to make the season brighter for their passengers," SEPTA said.

Mason has been adorning his trolley with reminders of the season since 1993.

"If [passengers are] having a bad day, they'll smile," he told the Inquirer in 2015.

SEPTA spokeswoman Heather Redfern said Mason and Musgrave hung up their decorations last weekend. It didn't take long for passengers to start sharing images of the festive trolleys on Twitter.

The trolleys have gotten a fair share of love on social media in the past.

A decorated trolley is also on display on the lower level of SEPTA's headquarters at 12th and Market Streets.

The trolleys join some of SEPTA's already decorated cars along the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines, which were given the holiday treatment for SEPTA's "Santa Express" on Nov. 24.

Want more of the holidays? Christmas Village, a German-style open air market, returned to LOVE Park after a brief run at City Hall last weekend. And a South Philadelphia outlet store sells all kinds of wacky holiday decorations.

This story initially included an incorrect trolley number for one of the decorated trolleys.