Bryn Athyn station

Bryn Athyn
Former SEPTA regional rail station

Bryn Athyn station, 2006; trackage will be removed by summer 2014[1]
Location 2586 Fetters Mill Road
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009
Coordinates 40°07′49″N 75°04′15″W / 40.1302°N 75.0708°W / 40.1302; -75.0708Coordinates: 40°07′49″N 75°04′15″W / 40.1302°N 75.0708°W / 40.1302; -75.0708
Owned by SEPTA
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 1
Construction
Parking 20 spaces
History
Opened 1902 (RDG)
Closed January 14, 1983
Electrified no
Services
  Former services  
Preceding station   SEPTA   Following station
Newtown Line
toward Newtown
Reading Railroad
toward Cheltenham
Newtown Branch
toward Newtown

Bryn Athyn station is a former railroad station in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Built by the Reading Railroad, it later served SEPTA's Fox Chase/Newtown Line. It is located on Fetters Mill Road near the Pennypack Creek.

History

Bryn Athyn station, built in 1902, was a stop on the Reading Railroad's Newtown Line. On December 5, 1921, the stretch of single track between Bryn Athyn and Southampton stations was the site of the Reading Railroad's deadliest accident at that time. Two trains met in a head-on collision, killing 27 and injuring 70.[2] The route later became a part of SEPTA's Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line. The station, and all of those north of Fox Chase, was closed on January 14, 1983.[3]

In addition, a labor dispute began within the SEPTA organization when the transit operator inherited 1,700 displaced employees from Conrail. SEPTA insisted on utilizing transit operators from the Broad Street Subway to operate Fox Chase-Newtown diesel trains, while Conrail requested that railroad motormen run the service. When a federal court ruled that SEPTA had to use Conrail employees in order to offer job assurance, SEPTA cancelled Fox Chase-Newtown trains.[4] Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was cancelled at that time, and Bryn Athyn Station still appears in publicly posted tariffs.[5]

Though rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light, and service was later canceled. The surviving trackage near the station is becoming part of the Pennypack Trail, with the bridge soon to be fixed.[1][6]

Station building

The building is currently used as a post office and community building. The former station canopy retains SEPTA signage installed in 1984 — one year after train service had ended.

References

  1. 1 2 Nussbaum, Paul (March 23, 2014). "Montco plans to convert more of rail line for recreation". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  2. ↑ "21 Persons Killed in Reading Wreck" (PDF). New York Times. December 6, 1921. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  3. ↑ Bryn Athyn Station details Archived May 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Tulsky, Fredric N. (January 29, 1982). "Conrail Staff Must Run Trains: court ruling bars SEPTA takeover". Philadelphia Inquirer. SEPTA must use Conrail workers rather than its own personnel to run trains over the region's 13 commuter lines, a special federal court has ruled in a decision that offers some job assurance for 1,700 Conrail employees next year. The special court, in an opinion issued Wednesday, ruled that SEPTA had acted legally in October when it replaced Conrail workers with its former subway operators on the line.
  5. ↑ "Tariff No. 154 - Supplement No. 37" (PDF). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. March 6, 2009. pp. 4–7. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
  6. ↑ http://www.septa.org/about/board/agenda-12-10-13.pdf SEPTA Board meeting minutes; December 10, 2013
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.