Station Review #63: Philmont (SEPTA)


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 at, one that developed after the station was built. There were multiple villages in Lower Moreland, places like Philmont, Bethayres, Huntingdon Valley, Forest Hills, etc. Huntingdon Valley in particular is the one that generally survives today, and this is because the post offices of Philmont and Bethayres got merged into the Huntingdon Valley post office. Over time, the area people call "Huntingdon Valley" grew to encompass most of Lower Moreland Township, including Bethayres and Philmont, and now neither really exist as places anymore. 

Tour

Silverliner V at the Outbound Platform

Philmont is possibly one of the prettiest stations along the entirety of the West Trenton Line. 

The building 

I mean, just look at it!

The building, but from further away

Bench

Tracks

The building from close by

Despite MAC not being called that anymore, the sticker is still proudly there.

Bay Window? 

A schedule and map can be found here

Validators

Average inaccessible concourse tunnel

Mini-high ramp

If you're a wheelchair user, you must go to either the Tomlinson Road or Pine Road grade crossing to change tracks because there is no accessible way to do so otherwise. Considering the lack of transit connections, This probably will not be an issue unless you wish to use the waiting room, as anyone disabled will probably be getting driven directly to the platform they wish to use. 

The door is also stylized

The waiting room is absolutely beautiful

This might legitimately be one of the nicest waiting rooms in the entire SEPTA system 

Parking

Outside the station house, Philmont has parking, a lot of parking, in fact. There are two levels of parking lot, plus a third parking lot across Tomlinson Road. Only one of these parking lots is paved. 

View of Philmont station from the stairs of the second parking lot

Of course, the stairs to get up the very large hill are pretty steep, and made of wood. Does that surprise anyone? 


Here is that same view, but zoomed out more. 

Transit Connections



There are no transit connections that go very close to Philmont station. The closest transit connection is the Tomlinson-Rennard variant of the 58, which is about a 10 minute walk away. This walk requires you to walk through the upper parking lot, before taking a left and walking along Tomlinson Road until you reach Tomlinson and Rennard. Note that the sections of Tomlinson Road in Lower Moreland Township have no sidewalks. 


The Tomlinson-Rennard variant of route 58 goes between Frankford Transportation Center and Tomlinson Road via Bustleton avenue, and occasionally Haldeman avenue. As opposed to this map, most variants of the 58 actually go past this point to County Line Road.  

Despite all of this, the Tomlinson-Rennard variant of the 58 is being counted here as there are absolutely people who do make that connection. This makes the change of the SEPTA bus revolution to make the new 67, which takes over this section of the 58, not go to Philmont station, all the more infuriating. SEPTA is opting instead to go to Rennard Street, which gets very little ridership. 

Points of Interest Around Philmont Station


There is a lot more than one would expect near Philmont station. This includes:

• The meadow shown above, along Tomlinson Road 
• The sign for what used to be a Texaco, also along Tomlinson Road
• American Language School, a language school
• A photography store 
• Ridgeway Park
• Philmont Country Club, what the station is named after
• Restaurants, most notably including Miss Philly (which is not in Philadelphia), a diner, and Golden Gates, an odd Russian Restaurant
• At least one theatre for performing arts

Statistics:


Name: Philmont 
Agency: SEPTA
Line(s): West Trenton 
Locality: Philmont/Huntingdon Valley
City/Township: Lower Moreland
County: Montgomery 
State: Pennsylvania 
Ridership: 1209 total per average weekday

Amenity Checklist

Accessible: ✓/ × (Platforms accessible, concourse not accessible)
Bathrooms: ✓
Bicycle parking: ×
Clean Station: ✓
Connections to other transit routes: × 
Easy passage for each side: ×
Fare Payment Kiosks (if applicable): ✓
Good Wayfinding: ✓
Indoor Shelters: ✓
Maps: ✓
Multiple entrances/exits: ✓
Adequate Parking: ×
Seating: ✓
Shelters: ✓
Station In Good Condition: ✓
Ticket Kiosks (if applicable): ×
Ticket Offices: ✓
TOD: × (no special housing)
Train Departure/Arrival Info (signs that update/screens): ✓
Updated/Useful Signage: ✓ 

Final Verdict: 6/10 

Station Directory

--------Pennsylvania--------

--------Philadelphia County--------

''''''''Center City Zone''''''''

Penn Medicine/University City

30th Street

Suburban

Jefferson/Market East

''''''''Zone 1''''''''
Fern Rock Transportation Center
--------Montgomery County--------
''''''''Zone 2''''''''
Melrose Park
Elkins Park
''''''''Zone 3''''''''
Jenkintown-Wyncote
Noble
Rydal
Meadowbrook
Bethayres
Philmont
--------Philadelphia County--------
Forest Hills
Somerton
--------Bucks County--------
Trevose
Neshaminy Falls
''''''''Zone 4''''''''
Langhorne
Woodbourne
Yardley
--------New Jersey--------
--------Mercer County--------
''''''''NJ Zone''''''''
West Trenton






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