Station Review #21: Bridesburg (SEPTA)


Bridesburg is a train station located in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, immediately outside of Bridesburg. Bridesburg station is located along the Trenton line, where it intersects with Bridge Street and Aramingo/Harbison avenues, and the second closest station to Torresdale avenue (the closest would have been the now closed Frankford station that I believe was much closer to Adams avenue). 

History
I could not find a single historical picture of the station online.

There is very little known about Bridesburg station's history. From what is known, a padt version of Bridesburg station was originally built in 1883, before being replaced by another station in 1892. In 1896, that was replaced with a shelter type station. As far as I know, that's this station. 

Description 

There is not much at Bridesburg station. The entire station consists of two shelters off the side of a bridge. That's it, that's all there is at Bridesburg station. 

The platforms have bars on them, making your experience even more miserable. As far as I can think of, no other shelter like this exists in the entire SEPTA network. 

Also, none of this is accessible at all by the way. I don't know if you even can make Bridesburg accessible without completely rebuilding the station. And at that point, you might as well make it have full highs. 

To make matters worse, the station is near Bridge - Aramingo - Harbison - Torresdale, a very unsafe triangle of intersections. However, all of these roads have buses on them that connect to Bridesburg station, so all is not lost, however some road narrowing could be useful here, especially on Aramingo/Harbison. 

Gallery

Northbound Platform

Side of northbound shelter

Inside of one of the shelters

The southbound platform

Off the side of the northbound platform

At least you can pay here

Northbound platform at night

The sign

The view you get inside one of the shelters. It really goes to show how hard they went on the prison aesthetic with this station, but not as much as Holmesburg station 

Transit Connections

I think that this might be the only thing Bridesburg is good at in any way, shape, or form. It has multiple bus connections. Frequent connections will be bolded. These bus connections include:

• Route 25: Frankford Transportation Center to Columbus Commons (Whitman; this route connects the station to Frankford Transportation Center, the Aramingo Avenue shoppes, the Delaware riverfront, Penns Landing, and eventually to Pier 70 and Columbus Commons shopping centers. More importantly though, this links Bridesburg station with Bridesburg and Frankford themselves) 
• Route 26: Frankford Transportation Center to Pulaski - Rittenhouse (Germantown; This bus only serves the deviation that links to this station on weekdays, and infrequently, with two buses per hour at peak. This route links Bridesburg station to Frankford Transportation Center, neighborhoods such as Oxford Circle and Lawncrest, Olney Transportation Center, LaSalle University, Central High School, and Germantown)
• Route 56: Bakers Centre/23rd - Venango (Allegheny/Nicetown) to Torresdale - Cottman (Tacony/Holmesburg; This route links Tacony and or Holmesburg to Nicetown/Allegheny, a direct link to the Market-Frankford Line and Broad Street lines). 
• Route 73: Frankford Transportation Center to Richmond-Westmoreland (Poet Richmond; This route links Bridesburg Station to Frankford Transportation Center, Bridesburg itself, and Richmond - Westmoreland loop, where you can transfer to the 60 and 15). 
• Route 84: Frankford Transportation Center to Bustleton - County Line (Forest Hills; This bus route links Bridesburg to Frankford Transportation Center, industrial areas among the Delaware river, Torresdale - Cottman loop, Torresdale itself, neighborhoods in 19154, Philadelphia Mills Mall, Byberry East Industrial Park, and the West Trenton line at Somerton and Forest Hills stations) 

Route 73 bus

Points of interest in Bridesburg
Downtown Bridesburg

If you are any form of visible minority, it'd probably be better to not go to Bridesburg. I legitimately felt unsafe myself going there. The neighborhood is littered in Trump 2024 signs, along with other similar political signs. I have seen confederate flags flown here before as well. In addition, this neighborhood at one point attempted to create a KKK chapter a few years ago. 

That all aside, there is not much to do in Bridesburg. The main street is Richmond Street/Bridge Street. The entire neighborhood feels like it was transported out of the Susquehanna River valley and placed in Philadelphia. 

More Richmond Street

Bridge Street, this time

The only other thing I can think of nearby is the original route of the Tacony Creek, of which still partially remains: 

The remnants of the creek that created Bridesburg 

Checklist

Some vestige of accessibility: ×
Clean: ×
Connections to other transit routes: ✓ 
Easy passage to either side: × 
Fare Payment Validators (if applicable): ✓
Lighting: ✓ 
Maps: ×
Adequate Parking: × 
Shelters: ✓
Seating: ✓
Station in Good Condition: ×
Train Departure/Arrival Info: ×
Updated Signage: ✓

Final Verdict: .5/10

I despise this station. The only station on this line that's worse in my opinion is Eddington. 

Bridesburg station has no groom because the groom became so horrified by the station that they ran off. 

Station Directory

--------Philadelphia County--------
''''''''Center City Zone''''''''
Jefferson (Market East)
Suburban
30th Street
''''''''Zone 1''''''''
''''''''Zone 2''''''''
Bridesburg 
''''''''Zone 3''''''''
--------Bucks County--------
Cornwell Heights
Croydon
''''''''Zone 4''''''''
Bristol
Levittown
--------New Jersey--------
--------Mercer County--------
''''''''NJ Zone''''''''
Trenton Transit Center

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Station Review #50: Baltimore Pennsylvania (Amtrak/MARC)

Image
Baltimore-Pennsylvania Station (aka Baltimore-Penn or just Penn) is the main train station of Baltimore, Maryland. This station is used both for MARC trains and Amtrak trains, most notably for the MARC PENN line and Amtrak's Northeast Regional and Acela trains, as well as other Amtrak trains. Baltimore-Penn Station is currently the 8th most used train station in the US. History Baltimore Penn Station is the third iteration of the train station in that exact location, and trains stopping here go back to 1873. The first station was a wooden station built by the North Central Railroad, a subsidiary of the PRR. This was demolished, and replaced by the Charles Street Union Station, pictured above. This was then also demolished and replaced by a new Baltimore Penn station in 1910, which is the station that is currently there.  Historically, all service was run by the PRR, which not only included service up and down the Northeast Corridor but also included service
Read more

Station Review #73: Glenside (SEPTA)

Image
Glenside is a station serving multiple SEPTA Regional Rail lines, located at Easton Road and Glenside Avenue in Glenside, PA.  History Glenside station was built in 1873 by the North Pennsylvania Railroad, one of the few original NPRR station houses to remain to this day. Just six years later, the NPRR was bought by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, the predecessor to the Reading Railroad. Glenside station was originally named Abington station, and was renamed sometime later to Glenside.  In 2000, a café opened in the station building called Elcy's Café.  Routes that Serve Glenside Station  There are four Regional Rail routes that go to Glenside station, these are:  Airport Line: These trains go to Center City via the SEPTA Main line, before then going to Philadelphia International Airport. Oftentimes, these are combined with Warminister Line trains.  Glenside Combined Line: These trains usually just go from 30th Street station to Glenside vi
Read more

Station Review #54: Gwynedd Valley (SEPTA)

Image
Gwynedd Valley is a station on SEPTA's Lansdale - Doylestown line at its intersection with Plymouth Avenue in the small village of Gwynedd Valley, PA.  History Information about the history of Gwynedd Valley station is scarce. This station dates back to the 1850s. It's unknown if the station building is that old, or if it's actually a newer station built by the Reading Railroad after the acquisition of the North Penn Railroad main line. Not long after Gwynedd Valley station was built, wealthy people started moving to that area in droves. Today, many very wealthy people still live in the area.  Gwynedd Valley station is well known for an illustration of it being on the October 7th, 1961 cover of the Saturday Evening Post . This is illustrated by well-known illustrator John Falter, at the time a resident of Whitpain Township, PA.   Tour Much as you'd expect, this station really has not changed all that much in the last centu
Read more