Ranya's Ramblings

Olney is a SEPTA station located in the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA. Olney station is the sixth station on the Fox Chase Line, and the first unique station on the line, going northbound. History Original Olney station, from the 1860s Olney station was originally built in the 1860s or so by the Philadelphia, Newtown, snd New York Railroad, as one of the first stations. The PNNYRR itself was then absorbed by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, which then made a new station in 1906.  The original station remained for a while afterwards, and nobody knows when it was torn down. I hypothesize that it was torn down in the 1950s, or so.  Credit to West2K for the photos shown here I could not find any color photos of Olney station from before it was demolished, despite that happening fairly recently. I have seen the building itself before, and the building is brick, with the walls red. The roof was black, meanwhile, similar to many other roofs out there. Th

Sign for Somerton Station Somerton Station is a train station on SEPTA's West Trenton Line. This train station is at the intersection of Bustleton Avenue and Philmont avenue in the Somerton neighborhood of Far Northeast Philadelphia.  Tour Station House Somerton is a station with a building, a very old building. The platforms are low but there are mini highs at the station.  Silverliner V train going towards West Trenton at Somerton Station Amenities The station has basic amenities, such as benches, platforms, a crossing light, map, schedule, and newspaper stand Basic amenities  The station also has a ticket office, inside the building. Speaking of the building: Empty This building has issues with being incredibly empty, I wonder why. There should be benches here, yet there are none. The sheer amount of empty space in this building is almost surreal.  More empty space Every piece of furniture in thi

Chinatown is a station on SEPTA's Broad Ridge Spur Line, the only station that's completely unique to the Broad-Ridge Spur, especially since the closing of Spring Garden (BRS). Tour I tried, okay? There's not much here. The station has what you'd expect of a Broad Ridge Spur station. Two tracks, platforms, a lack of seating, tiles, etc. The platforms are way too long for the trains that use them, though. That might be an issue... Another look at the platforms Much unlike some BSL stations, Chinatown has no interesting mosaic patterns on the walls, or really much at all, besides the station name being written in English and Mandarin Chinese (please correct me if I'm wrong on that). For some reason, the station feels off though, like something is wrong with it... Rusty stairs Something is  in fact wrong with Chinatown station. Many somethings, actually. It's unfortunate how much this station is actively deteriorating

Race - Vine is a station on SEPTA's Broad Street Line, possibly one of the most overbuilt ones on the line.  Tour Aver age station on the BSL  Race - Vine looks like every other station on the BSL that has express service, at least at the platform. It has everything: benches, trashbins, etc.  Things get more interesting once you get to the mezzanine: The Mezzanine  An Old "Train Arriving" Sign There's no sign for express, and othe other end doesn't have signs at all Yeah... This station has maps and information about nearby buses It's too bad almost all of it is old and outdated And the city bus map, too And the little details are pretty cool too, like the painted on words here:  Once you go outside up the stairs, you see the head houses, or the staircase. Really pretty head house