Ranya's Ramblings

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...

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...

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...

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...