What an amazing trash pile find! Not much more to add – the original post below pretty much says it all:
This map is from the first year that SEPTA had become fully responsible for the operations of the commuter rail system in Philadelphia. I acquired this map a little while ago while wandering around West Philly with a friend where I saw a large pile of trash by the old water tower along the rail line. In that pile, I came upon this map and asked my housemate (he has a car) to swing by and grab it for me later as it was too large, heavy and filled with nails to carry it around with me all day. It has lived outside on our porch until a few weeks ago when my housemate took it upon himself of getting it off the plywood it had been secured to. As of today it was free from the board, after it broke a few drill bits, and I began the cleaning up process. It’s much better looking now but it has a very strange smell to it that I can’t exactly place or get rid of.
Every time I look at this map I’m reminded about how much transportation has changed in Philly since this was made. I think about such things frequently, quite frequently actually as its kind of my thing.
Today after cleaning it I wrote up a list of the stations that have been closed and added since this map was made. With this list I hope to go forward and document what I can (I already have a good start on this) about the stations that have been closed or altered.
Things to note on this map:
Market East Station does not exist at this point in time. All trains that had previously been part of the Reading Railroad System truncated at Reading Terminal Station, service to Reading Terminal ended on November 6, 1984 and shortly thereafter the Market East Station opened and connected the old Reading lines to the rest of the SEPTA system.
The Fox Chase Line that exists now once extended to Newtown and the history of this line in the Conrail and early SEPTA days is kind of storied and riddled with problems (accidents included). Rail buses replaced the aging Budd RDCs and finally operations ceased on September 3, 1985. Conrail did run trains on it until at least 1988 when a speeding motorist at a grade crossing in Newtown, PA hit a switch train.
The current Cynwyd Line once continued on to Ivy Ridge across the Pencoyd Viaduct until operations ceased on October 25,1986. The line was originally part of the Pennsy system as the Schuylkill Branch and went as far north as Wilkes-Barre through trackage rights that the Pennsy had of smaller lines in NE Pennsylvania. At the time of writing this, the Cynwyd Heritage Trail has plans to open the viaduct up as an extension of their path across the Schuylkill River.
The current Media/Elwyn Line at the time this map was made extended further to West Chester. Operations truncated on the line past Elwyn on September 19, 1986 and there is work currently being done to restore operations to Wawa. The Wawa Station originally was part of the West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad that was later absorbed by the Philadelphia & Baltimore Central Railroad, which was controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad (referred to mostly as the Pennsy here).
Finally, the Airport Line that we know and love did not exist until April 28, 1985. This line runs along what was originally part of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.
Please find the stations on this map that have been closed listed below with any information I know or think I know about when they closed. Obviously, there are a lot of things to note about this map that I haven’t included, or in the histories of lines that I summarized above. Railroad history, including our regional rail system history in Philadelphia is quite a full history and I’m currently very tired and hungry.
Trenton Line
Andalusia -1991
Wissinoming – 2003
Frankford – 1990’s
Frankford Junction – 1990’s
West Trenton Line
Tabor – 1992
Logan – ?
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988
Fox Chase (Newtown) Line
Newtown – 1983- 1985
George School – 1983- 1985
Village Shires/Buck Road – 1983- 1985
Holland – 1983- 1985
Churchville – 1983- 1985
Southampton – 1983- 1985
County Line – 1983- 1985
Bryn Athyn – 1983- 1985
Huntingdon Valley – 1983- 1985
Walnut Hill – 1983- 1985
Logan – ?
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988
Warminster Line
Fulmor – 1996?
Tabor – 1992
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988
Lansdale/Doylestown Line
Fellwick – 1996
Tabor – 1992
Logan – ?
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988
Chestnut Hill East Line
Fishers – 1992
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988
Chestnut Hill West Line
Westmoreland – 1994
Manayunk/Norristown Line
Mogees – 1992
Shawmont – 1996
Cynwyd (Ivy Ridge) Line
Barmouth – 1986
Manayunk – Upper Level – 1986
Ivy Ridge – Upper Level – 1986
Media/Elwyn (West Chester) Line
West Chester – 1986
West Chester State College – 1986
Westtown – 1986
Cheyney – 1986
Glen Mills – 1986
Wawa – 1986
Lenni – 1986
Glen Riddle – 1986
Williamson School – 1986
Broad – Ridge Spur
Spring Garden Street – 1991
Sharon Hill Trolley Line
Shisler Avenue – 2010
