Posts

Station Review #184: Washington Lane (SEPTA)

Image
Washington Lane is a SEPTA Regional Rail station located near Washington Lane and Chew Avenue in the East Germantown neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia.  History The station with older signage. In 1878, the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad built a Walnut Lane station along their Chestnut Hill Branch. The PG&N was subsequently bought out by the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1907, work was underway to remove grade crossings along a few lines. In doing so, the PRR replaced the station with a new Washington Lane station. The depot fell into disrepair and was demolished to make way for more parking. Part of a shelter was kept from it, and not much else.  Tour The station from across the road. Washington Lane is a small station, or at least it's small enough that you can't see it past the very large trees. Those have been growing since the 1930s at the very earliest.  Inaccessible walking path. Parking lot.   This station has a l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Station Review #183: Hammonton (NJT)

Image
Hammonton is a station on NJT's Atlantic City Line. The station is located along front street, near the intersection of Line and Front streets in Hammonton, New Jersey.    History Old station building The first Hammonton station was built sometime around 1850. It was then bought out by the Pennsylvania Railroad and rebuilt sometime before 1907. In 1989, service was brought back to Atlantic City from Philadelphia and New York City from Amtrak, which necessitated a new station be built. That new station is the station used today. The old station depot is still standing.   Tour  Atlantic City Line train. Hammonton is a fairly decent station, especially as far as NJT stations are concerned (looking at you, Delawanna ).     Inside one of the two shelters. Hammonton station has benches, TVMs, and maps. No countdown clock, however.    Platform. The platform at Hammonton station is a full high level platform.     For accessibility...
Post a Comment
Read more

Station Review #182: Garrettford (SEPTA)

Image
  Garrettford is a SEPTA station located at Edmonds Avenue and Jones Street in the Garrettford neighborhood of Upper Darby. The station is served by the D2 trolley.    History   Garrettford station was built as part of the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company's Sharon Hill line in 1906. Theine has changed hands multiple times since then but this station has stayed almost exactly the same. There used to be a parking lot next to the station, but it's since been abandoned.  Tour Trolley and the southbound platform. This station is a lot like other D2 stations on the line. Nothing is accessible here.   The shelter. Considering how old everything on the D2 line is, this shelter is probably around 125-126 years old.  The platform. Bike racks. Inside the shelter. The shelter has no benches or seating, which is unfortunately common for a lot of D2 stations.  Outdated signage and map. A lot of the signage here and at other D2 stations is outdated...
Post a Comment
Read more

Station Review #181: Elwyn (SEPTA)

Image
Elwyn is a SEPTA station located on Elwyn Road in Elwyn, Pennsylvania, itself located in Middletown Township, in Delaware County. Elwyn Station is located on the Media-Wawa line and is a zone 3 station.   History The original Greenwood station     This station started out as Greenwood station, and was built for the Pennsylvania Training School, a school for children with Intellectual Disability, as well as other developmental disorders. The name was changed in the 1880s to better fit the fact that it was for the school. Considering the fact that the Pennsylvania Training School was named after Dr. Albert L. Elwyn, this seemed to work out well enough. To this day, people going to the Elwyn School  (which the school renamed itself to) is a decent chunk of the ridership.  Of course, the small village of Greenwood ended up renaming itself to Elwyn. Elwyn at this point was still rural, a small village built around the school and the station.  Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Station Review #180: Bristol (SEPTA)

Image
Bristol is a station along Beaver Street in Bristol, PA. This station has service from the Trenton Line, and is a zone 4 station.  History Old station The first Bristol station was built in 1834 as part of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, and was left until 1911, long after this railroad was absorbed into the Pennsylvania Railroad. This was demolished due to the tracks in the area being realigned and elevated. The second station, shown above, was built around then. Sometime around the late 1970s, the station was rebuilt and the old depot was sold off. Currently the depot is a daycare, though it once was a bagel shop.    Around 2022, SEPTA fenced off parts of the station due to the station beginning to crumble. The rebuilding of Bristol station is planned but currently in political limbo due to the Pennsylvania public transit funding crisis.  Tour Staircase This station has a lot of stairs, and no elevators or ramps.  Platform  ...
Post a Comment
Read more