Posts

Showing posts with the label Pennsylvania

Station Review #80: Hatboro (SEPTA)

Image
Hatboro is the second to last station on SEPTA's Warminister Line, and the last station within Montgomery county. The station is located on Penn Street between Byberry Road and Moreland Avenue in the borough of Hatboro, PA.  History Hatboro was originally built by the North Pennsylvania Railroad, on its North East Pennsylvania Railroad branch, which went as far as Hartsville, PA (now Ivyland, PA, notably not in Northeastern Pennsylvania). The old Hatboro station (not pictured above) was built and put into service in 1871. In 1879, the entire line transferred ownership to the Reading Railroad. The line then changed names to the New Hope Branch and was subsequently extended as far as New Hope.  In 1931, the line was electrified between Glenside and Hatboro. Hatboro suddenly had extra service in the form of "doodlebug" trains, an example shown above. To mark the sudden newfound importance of Hatboro station, the old station building was demolished and...

Station Review #78: Cornwells Heights (Amtrak/SEPTA)

Image
Cornwells Heights (pronounced and often misspelled as "Cornwell Heights") is a train station along the Northeast Corridor. The station is located at 700 Station Avenue in Cornwells Heights, PA, a CDP located within Bensalem, PA.  The station is mainly served by SEPTA's Trenton line. Despite this, three trips of Amtrak's Keystone Service stop at the station every day: 640 (7:02 AM), 649 (3:51 PM), and 655 (7:40 PM). Cornwells Heights is currently the least used Amtrak station in the state of Pennsylvania.  From Station Avenue to the edge of the park and ride, this station is about half a mile long.  History Despite how it is today, Cornwells Heights was not nearly as important as it is now for much of its existence. The first known iteration of Cornwells Heights station was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1891. It's unknown if there was any iteration of the station from before that year, and was only rebuilt by the PRR or not. This is ...

Station Review #75: Wayne Junction (SEPTA)

Image
Sign Wayne Junction is a train station located in the Wayne Junction neighborhood of Philadelphia. It has service from SEPTA's Airport, Chestnut Hill East, Fox Chase, Glenside Combined, Lansdale - Doylestown, and Warminister lines.  History  Old Wayne Junction station Wayne Junction was first built in 1881 as a station along Germantown Pike that also served as a junction station. This junction allowed trains from Germantown, Chestnut Hill, Bethlehem, Doylestown, and Newtown to all converge along the Reading Main line, which made transfers more convenient for passengers. Both the Reading Railroad and the B&O railroad used the station, so eventually, services from all over the US that went through Philadelphia started going through Wayne Junction as well.  Alas, the era of train being the main mode of travel eventually ended in the US by the 1950s. This caused the decline of Wayne Junction station. Even after this, there still was intercity train...