Ranya's Ramblings

Bethayres is a station on SEPTA's West Trenton Line. The station is located on Huntingdon Pike in Bethayres, a village mainly located within Lower Moreland Township, PA. There is also a station driveway leading towards Welsh Road as well. Despite mainly serving the towns of Bethayres and Huntingdon Valley, Bethayres station is frequented by customers from other nearby Philadelphia neighborhoods like Holme Circle, Bustleton, Krewstown, and Pine Valley.  History Bethayres station was opened in 1876 as an infill station along the Reading Railroad's New York branch. The station was named after local resident Elizabeth Ayres, the mother of someone who worked in the Reading Railroad. The station was originally at a grade crossing, though this was rectified in 1932 after the New York branch was electrified to West Trenton.  Since this point, very little about the station has meaningfully changed. Within the last few decades, the station was renovated, which ad...

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 situat...

Woodbourne is a station on SEPTA's West Trenton line, located in Middletown Township, PA.  It's renowned among railfans in the area as a very good railfanning location, as you can find SEPTA, CSX, and Norfolk Southern trains here.  History Woodbourne station was built by the North Pennsylvania Railroad (NPRR) in the 1870s, and opened to service in 1876 as part of the Delaware River and Bound Brook Railroad, later known as the Delaware River and then the West Trenton branch. Details about Woodbourne station itself are unknown, though it's likely that the Reading Railroad demolished the original station building and built a new one, that being the station that was there for many decades afterward.  At the same time, the PRR had a station on the Trenton Cutoff (now the Norfolk Southern Morrisville line) right nearby, though this station was instead called "Woodbourne - Oxford Valley", which is probably a better name. Together, the two Woodbour...