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Showing posts from May, 2024

Station Review #63: Philmont (SEPTA)

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Philmont is a station at the intersection of Pine, Philmont, and Tomlinson roads in the town of Huntingdon Valley, PA.  History Picture from 2007 or so, I believe The first Philmont station was most likely originally built sometime in the 1860s by the North Pennsylvania Railroad to serve the Philmont Country Club, right along the line. Not long after this happened, the entirety of the North Penn Railroad got absorbed into the Reading Railroad company. This station was not rebuilt despite this, even though other North Penn stations were rebuilt.  This changed in 1913, when the original Philmont station and freight depot burned down. The Reading Railroad decided to build the beautiful station building that is there today after this happened. Ever since then, very little has changed about the station itself.  What has changed though is the town it serves. "Philmont" was the name of a village centered around the intersection the train station is situated a

Station Review #62: Ivy Ridge (SEPTA)

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Ivy Ridge is a station along the Manayunk-Norristown line, located along Umbria street in the Ivy Ridge neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA.  History Ivy Ridge station has had a very storied history, albeit one that has not been very long. It all starts with the Pennsylvania Railroad, who created the Schuylkill Branch. The Schuylkill Branch was a railway that went from Philadelphia to Pottsville via Reading. This is not to be confused with the Reading Railroad's Main Line, which did the exact same thing. In fact, both lines were so close to eachother that when much of the PRR Schuylkill Branch was abandoned and later turned into a rail trail, it was lauded as one of the least destructive rail trails in the area.  By the 1970s, the Schuylkill Branch lost any revenue service north of Manayunk West station, and began being referred to as the Ivy Ridge Branch, named after a nearby hill within walking distance of the end of the non abandoned portion of the line. At

Station Review #61: Manayunk (SEPTA)

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Manayunk is a station on SEPTA's Manayunk-Norristown line, located at Cresson and Carson streets in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia. History One of the older variants of Manayunk station Manayunk has a very storied history as a train station. The first Manayunk station was built in 1834 by the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad. A few decades later, the Pennsylvania Railroad built a branch to Ivy Ridge, and a new station in Manayunk, called "East Manayunk". That station was open as late as May 1986, but with the Ivy Ridge branch being sent back to Cynwyd, this was closed. The remaining Manayunk station is the one that was owned by the Reading Railroad, which proceeded the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad.  Over the years, there were multiple incarnations of Manayunk station, four to be exact. This current station is the one that has stuck since 1930, when the station pictured above was demolished to grade s