Ranya's Ramblings

Sign on the side of the shelter North Philadelphia Main is a station serving both as an Amtrak train station on Amtrak's Keystone Service and as a SEPTA train station on the Trenton Line. This station is the most built out and most used station in the North Philadelphia Station Complex aside from North Philadelphia BSL station. The station is located on a large lot between Broad Street and 16th, just south of Indiana Avenue. Until 2022, this station held the award for being the least-used Amtrak station in Pennsylvania, though now that award goes to Cornwell Heights. This is unsurprising considering the sheer amount of decay and neglect this station has faced over the last few decades. I'll show you what I mean about that in a moment, but first, a very depressing history lesson. Services Southbound platform view This station has two services that stop here:  Amtrak: Five Keystone Service trains stop here, Four southbound and one northbound. This service ...

North Broad is a train station on SEPTA's main line. Particularly, it serves the Manayunk - Norristown, and Lansdale - Doylestown lines.  North Broad possibly is also one of the saddest stations I have ever seen.  History Corner of the old station house The station used to be a much grander station on the Reading Railroad. Originally called Huntingdon st station, this station was rebuilt immediately before the Great Depression when passenger amounts heavily dwindled. Then, other things like World War Two and the rise of cars, the subway, and suburbia further dwindled the use of this station. Sometime around the 1960s to 1970s, the original station building was shut down and sold, and the two shelters you see today were built.  Station Tour Station gate The station starts at a gate on Broad Street. Enter the gate, and you immediately are greeted with a long ramp and the SEPTA map.  The map Part of the walkway...

Ah yes, part two of my ongoing series on the North Philadelphia Station Complex  North Philadelphia CHW is a station on the Chestnut Hill West line, located in North Philadelphia (hence the name), near 16th and Indiana. Much like most of the other North Philadelphia stations, this station is absolutely awful, and it's not hard to see why.  History  I can't find any old photos of this area directly, but it was always an extra area just off of the main station, as seen from the only aerial photo I found of the station. The station used to at least have a station house and shelters. Those are all gone, and replaced by... Nothing. Concrete Platform Tour Chestnut Hill West Train There isn't much of anything here. There are two bus stop type shelters, and nothing else.  Everything To add insult to injury, the shelters are in very bad condition. The Center City shelter has all of its glass broken, and papers are taped to the pillars of th...