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Station Review #91: Norristown - Main Street (SEPTA)

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Norristown - Main Street is a station on SEPTA's Manayunk-Norristown line. The station is located on Main and Markley Streets in downtown Norristown.  History Norristown-Main Street was originally built by the North Penn Railroad in 1872 as part of their Stony Creek Railroad branch. This was a railway line that linked the North Penn Railroad main line to Norristown at Lansdale. This station was their Norristown station. Seven years after completion, the NPRR was bought out by the Reading Railroad. Immediately afterwards, a link was created between Norristown Main Street station and the new Reading main line at Norristown, completed in 1882. The station depot shown above most likely was built sometime around the turn of the 20th century, since it looks similar to other Reading Railroad stations of this era.  In 1912 when the Lehigh Valley Transit Company's Liberty Bell Line also started stopping at the station. This was an interurban that went between 69...
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Station Review #90: Norristown - Elm Street (SEPTA)

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Norristown - Elm Street is a station on SEPTA's Manayunk-Norristown line. The station is located on Markley and Elm Streets in Norristown's West End neighborhood. Elm Street is one of three stations in Norristown, along with Main Street and Norristown Transportation Center.  History The history of Norristown-Elm Street is very unclear. Originally, there was a station at Elm Street that was possibly built in 1872 by the North Penn Railroad. This station was torn down in 1899. Later on, electrification of the western end of the Stony Creek branch in Norristown occured in 1933, and this station was made on what was originally a siding as the terminus for most electric service on the Reading Railroad's services between Philadelphia and Norristown.  Even after further diesel passenger service on the Stony Creek Branch stopped, trains still go to Elm Street.  At some point in the 2000s, Norristown-Elm Street was rebuilt. There are no surviving pictures o...
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Station Review #89: Arrott Transportation Center (SEPTA)

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Arrott Transportation Center is a station on SEPTA's L line, located at Frankford Avenue and Arrott street in the center of Frankford, a neighborhood in Lower Northeast Philadelphia. The station is a regional bus hub as well.  History 75 bus at the busway Arrott Transportation Center is a very old station, its existence going back to 1922. Originally, the station was named Margaret-Orthodox-Arrott, but the Arrott was dropped after SEPTA took over in favor of what is simply "Margaret-Orthodox". Meanwhile, the bus terminal was called "Arrott Bus Terminal". It was around the time of this renaming that the last trolleys in the area, the 59 and 75, were replaced by trolleybuses.  For decades, this change stuck, confusing people who were not familiar with the area all the while. This finally changed in 2014, when Margaret-Orthodox station was renamed to Arrott Transportation Center. This was a hallmark for a major change to come for the station...
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Station Review #88: Bethayres (SEPTA)

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Bethayres is a station on SEPTA's West Trenton Line. The station is located on Huntingdon Pike in Bethayres, a village mainly located within Lower Moreland Township, PA. There is also a station driveway leading towards Welsh Road as well. Despite mainly serving the towns of Bethayres and Huntingdon Valley, Bethayres station is frequented by customers from other nearby Philadelphia neighborhoods like Holme Circle, Bustleton, Krewstown, and Pine Valley.  History Bethayres station was opened in 1876 as an infill station along the Reading Railroad's New York branch. The station was named after local resident Elizabeth Ayres, the mother of someone who worked in the Reading Railroad. The station was originally at a grade crossing, though this was rectified in 1932 after the New York branch was electrified to West Trenton.  Since this point, very little about the station has meaningfully changed. Within the last few decades, the station was renovated, which ad...
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