Chestnut Hill East Branch

The Chestnut Hill East Branch is a railway line in Pennsylvania. It runs 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from a junction with the SEPTA Main Line in Nicetown–Tioga, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, to Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. The oldest part of it was built in 1832 by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad. It was part of the Reading Company system from 1870 until 1976. Today it is owned by SEPTA and hosts the Chestnut Hill East Line commuter rail service. The line runs roughly parallel to the Chestnut Hill West Branch, formerly of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Chestnut Hill East Branch
Overview
OwnerSEPTA
Service
Services     Chestnut Hill East Line
History
Opened6 June 1832 (1832-06-06)
Technical
Line length5.8 mi (9.3 km)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification12kv 25hz overhead catenary
Route map
mi
10.9
 Chestnut Hill East
10.3
 Gravers
10.0
 Wyndmoor
Fort Washington Branch
9.3
 Mount Airy
8.9
 Sedgwick
8.6
 Stenton
7.8
 Washington Lane
6.9
 Germantown
6.1
 Wister
5.7
 Fishers
SEPTA Main Line
Wayne Junction Yard
5.2
 Wayne Junction
5.1
Wayne
Roberts Yard
Blue Line Branch
SEPTA Main Line

History
Main article: Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad

The Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad's initial line ran from Ninth and Green in Philadelphia to Germantown. This 6-mile (9.7 km) line opened on June 6, 1832.[1] Plans to build north from Germantown to Norristown were abandoned in favor a different route that branched off the existing line at what is now 16th Street Junction.[2] Germantown remained the northernmost station on the branch until 1854 when the Chestnut Hill Railroad, leased by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, extended the line 4 miles (6.4 km) to Chestnut Hill. This extension opened on December 1, 1854.[3][4]

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, a forerunner of the Reading Company, leased the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad on December 1, 1870.[5] In 1879, the Reading built the Tabor Branch to link the former PG&N line with the North Pennsylvania Railroad's main line, thus making the former PG&N line south of Wayne Junction the Reading's primary passenger route into Philadelphia.[6]

The Reading continued to run regular commuter service on what it called variously the Germantown and Chestnut Hill Branch or simply the Chestnut Hill Branch.[7][8] The Reading electrified the branch on February 5, 1933.[9] The Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad continued to exist on paper, owning that part of the branch between Wayne and Germantown, but the Chestnut Hill Railroad was merged into the Reading in 1948.[10] With the Reading Company's final bankruptcy in 1976, the Chestnut Hill Branch was conveyed to Conrail and then SEPTA.[11] SEPTA activated positive train control on the Chestnut Hill East Branch on July 25, 2016.[12]

Notes
  1. Poor (1860), p. 480.
  2. Coates (1990), p. 66.
  3. Holton (1989), p. 257.
  4. ICC (1931), p. 448.
  5. Holton (1989), p. 279.
  6. International Railway Journal (1909), p. 25.
  7. Official Guide of the Railways. New York: National Railway Publication Co. January 1904. OCLC 6340864.
  8. "Reading Company Timetable" (PDF). Reading Company. January 1, 1973.
  9. Coates (1990), p. 75.
  10. ICC (1950), p. 817.
  11. USRA (1975), pp. 227–228, 281, 332.
  12. "Positive Train Control Update". SEPTA. May 1, 2017. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2022.

References
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