Bryn Athyn station

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. The station is a contributing property to the Fetter's Mill Village Historic District.[2]

Bryn Athyn
Bryn Athyn station, 2006
General information
Location2586 Fetters Mill Road
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009
Coordinates40.1302°N 75.0708°W / 40.1302; -75.0708
Owned bySEPTA
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
Construction
Parking20 spaces
History
Opened1902 (RDG)
ClosedJanuary 18, 1983[1]
Electrifiedno
Former services
Preceding station SEPTA Following station
Huntingdon Valley
toward Reading Terminal
 Newtown Line County Line
toward Newtown
Preceding station Reading Railroad Following station
Huntingdon Valley
toward Philadelphia
 Newtown Branch Woodmont
toward Newtown

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 the 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 in a narrow gully after the signals for the northbound train were ignored. The crash killed 26 and injured 70 train passengers and crewmen.[3] The route later became a part of SEPTA's Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line. The station and all of those north of Fox Chase were closed on January 18, 1983.[1]

In addition, a labor dispute began within the SEPTA organization when the transit operator inherited 1,700 displaced employees from Conrail. SEPTA insisted on using transit operators from the Broad Street Subway to operate Fox Chase-Newtown diesel trains, while Conrail requested that railroad engineers run the service. When a federal court ruled that SEPTA had to use Conrail employees 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 cancelled. Surviving trackage was replaced with the Pennypack Trail rail trail.[6][7]

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. Kennedy, Sara (October 21, 1983). "SEPTA to Boost Rail Service 13%". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 1–2. Retrieved July 14, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  2. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (3/2/1934 - ) (June 2005). Pennsylvania SP Fetter's Mill Village Historic District. File Unit: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: Pennsylvania, 1964 - 2013.
  3. "21 Persons Killed in Reading Wreck" (PDF). The New York Times. December 6, 1921. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  4. Tulsky, Fredric N. (January 29, 1982). "Conrail Staff Must Run Trains: court ruling bars SEPTA takeover". The 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 31, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
  6. Nussbaum, Paul (March 23, 2014). "Montco plans to convert more of rail line for recreation". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  7. http://www.septa.org/about/board/agenda-12-10-13.pdf SEPTA Board meeting minutes; December 10, 2013
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