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The Connecting Railway was a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, incorporated to build a connection between the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad and the PRR in the city of Philadelphia.
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The Connecting Railway was a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, incorporated to build a connection between the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad and the PRR in the city of Philadelphia.
The PRR controlled the Philadelphia & Trenton, and had originally intended to directly connect the two lines through the heart of Philadelphia. However, attempts to buy out and demolish buildings in the right-of-way led to riots, and the Philadelphia & Trenton was forced to end at Kensington. To resolve the problem, Connecting Railway Company was incorporated May 15, 1863, and between 1864 and June 1867, constructed a 6.75-mile (10.86 km) connecting line between Frankford Junction on the Philadelphia & Trenton and Mantua Junction (now Zoo interlocking) on the PRR mainline, passing through what is now North Philadelphia.
On July 18, 1863, the Frankford and Holmesburg Railroad was incorporated to build a line from Frankford to Holmesburg. This would have paralleled the Philadelphia & Trenton between those points. The charter was amended on April 10, 1867, to allow it to build from the Philadelphia & Trenton at Holmesburg Junction to the nearby town of Bustleton instead. It built 4.16 miles (6.69 km) of line between the two points about 1870. On January 1, 1871, it was leased to the Philadelphia & Trenton to operate as their Bustleton Branch. The company subsequently went bankrupt and was sold at foreclosure on November 18, 1890, and was reorganized on January 12, 1891 as the Bustleton Railroad and leased to PRR. Passenger service on the Bustleton Branch ended on February 13, 1926 due to high competition. [1]
On January 2, 1883, the Philadelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad was incorporated, to construct a line between Germantown Junction (now North Philadelphia) and Chestnut Hill. This project was directed by Henry H. Houston. This line of 6.75 miles (10.86 km) was built between 1883 and 1884, closely paralleling the Chestnut Hill Railroad (controlled by the Reading), and now forms the basis of SEPTA's Chestnut Hill West Line. Between 1892 and 1893, two additional branches were built: the Midvale Branch, running 0.85 miles (1.37 km) from Midvale to the Midvale Steel Company plant, and the Fort Washington Branch or Cresheim Branch, running 6.27 miles (10.09 km) from Allen Lane to Fort Hill, where it connected with the Trenton Cutoff.
On March 26, 1884, the Kensington and Tacony Railroad was incorporated. From a connection with the Philadelphia & Trenton at Tioga Street and Delaware Avenue, it built 1.65 miles (2.66 km) along Delaware Avenue between 1886 and 1887. The Frankford Creek Railroad was incorporated March 17, 1890, and built 0.62 miles (1.00 km) of track from the Philadelphia & Trenton down Butler Street and towards Frankford Creek. It was merged on April 14, 1891 into the Kensington & Tacony as the Frankford Street Branch. The K&T built 2.85 miles (4.59 km) further along Delaware Avenue in 1891–1892 to connect to the Philadelphia & Trenton just east of Tacony, and extended the Frankford Street Branch 1.16 miles (1.87 km) across and parallel to Frankford Creek 1893–1894. At some point it also bought the connecting Philadelphia & Trenton line of 1.23 miles (1.98 km) from the P&T main down Tioga Street.
The Philadelphia and Bustleton Railway was incorporated on March 17, 1892 to build from Front Street and Erie Avenue, on the Connecting Railway mainline, to Bustleton. The Bustleton and Eastern Railroad was incorporated on January 27, 1893 to extend the Philadelphia & Bustleton from Bustleton to Fallsington, just west of Morrisville on the Trenton Cut-Off. The two were consolidated into the Philadelphia, Bustleton and Trenton Railroad on May 1, 1893.
The Philadelphia & Bustleton had done only a little grading and built several cuts and viaducts. The cuts and viaduct work that were performed can be seen today, as they are used as a bridle path through the Pennypack Park that run about 1/2 mile that runs from Krewstown Road to about 1/4 of a mile west of Bustleton Avenue on the south side of the Pennypack Creek. On the north and south sides of the creek, there is evidence of approach work for a trestle over the Pennypack Creek.
The Philadelphia, Bustleton & Trenton, after completing 3.55 miles (5.71 km) of the line in December 1896, built no further towards Fallsington. It crossed the Philadelphia and Frankford Railroad (Reading) about a mile south of its terminus.
On June 13, 1892, the Fair Hill Railroad was incorporated, and built 0.78 miles (1.26 km) of line from the Connecting Railway mainline near Rosehill Street to Cambria Street 1895–1896.
On September 22, 1892, the Engelside Railroad was incorporated, and built 0.17 miles (0.27 km) of line from the Connecting Railway mainline near 32nd and Jefferson Streets to near 32nd and Thompson Streets, where it connected with the Reading (former Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad trackage).
On January 1, 1902, these seven corporations were consolidated into The Connecting Railway Company. This company and all its predecessors were directly or indirectly controlled by the PRR throughout their history. On December 9, 1956, the Pennsylvania, Ohio and Detroit Railroad, an agglomeration of certain PRR Lines West, was merged into the corporation. This was solely for the sake of corporate bookkeeping and had no effect on operations.
The Connecting Railway mainline was operated as part of the PRR mainline from Philadelphia to New York, providing through and local passenger service and extensive freight service to the many industries located in northern Philadelphia. The main passenger station on the line was North Philadelphia station. Because of the northern alignment of the Connecting Railway, passenger trains between New York and Pittsburgh would stop there only, bypassing 30th Street Station. The Chestnut Hill, Fort Washington and Bustleton Branches also saw passenger service; the other lines were exclusively freight lines. In particular, the Kensington & Tacony Branch served the upper Philadelphia waterfront and the Frankford Arsenal, and the Oxford Road Branch served a Sears distribution center near its crossing of the Reading.
Passenger service on the Bustleton Branch was discontinued in 1926, but the Chestnut Hill and Fort Washington Branches became part of the PRR suburban electrification program. Electrified service from Chestnut Hill to Broad Street Station began in 1918 and over the Fort Washington Branch in 1924. The rest of the mainline was electrified by 1935 to allow electric service to New York.
The Bustleton Branch diverged here (center of picture) and the K&T Branch diverged from the track leading the crossover at the bottom left. The tower closed in 1992.
The little-used Fort Washington Branch was de-electrified, and passenger service discontinued in 1952. In 1953, the upper section of the branch from the Trenton Cutoff connection at Fort Hill to Wyndmoor was abandoned. In the 1960s, part of the right-of-way was used for Pennsylvania Route 309. The remaining section from Wyndmoor to Allen Lane continued to see freight service until the late 1970s; this remnant was abandoned and removed in the early 1980s.
The loss of industry in Philadelphia began to take its toll, and many of the freight branches became little-used. In 1973, the Oxford Road Branch was abandoned north of the Reading crossing. The Connecting Railway survived as a separate corporation through the Penn Central merger, but all its tracks were sold to Conrail and Amtrak in 1976 and the corporation was subsequently dissolved.
The main line became part of the Northeast Corridor, and the Chestnut Hill Branch was sold to SEPTA in 1983 (although Conrail continued switching industries along the line). The Bustleton Branch, Frankford Street Branch and Engelside Branch are still operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations. The Fairhill Branch, Oxford Road Branch, Midvale Branch and the Kensington and Tacony Branch were abandoned during the 1980s. The Kensington and Tacony right-of-way has been converted to a rail trail. [2]
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. The NEC is roughly paralleled by Interstate 95 for most of its length. Carrying more than 2,200 trains a day, it is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States by ridership and service frequency.
The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad was a railroad from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Trenton, New Jersey. Opened in 1832, it became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in 1871. The majority of it is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.
Holmesburg began as a Village within Lower Dublin Township, Pennsylvania. It is now a neighborhood in the Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Holmesburg was named in Honor of Surveyor General of Pennsylvania Thomas Holme, who was a cartographer.
Philadelphia was an early railroad hub, with lines from all over meeting in Philadelphia. The first railroad in Philadelphia was the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, opened in 1832 north to Germantown. At the end of 1833, the state-built Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, part of the Main Line of Public Works, opened for travel to the west, built to avoid loss of travel through Pennsylvania due to projects such as the Erie Canal. At the same time, the north-south leg of the Philadelphia City Railroad opened, running south along Broad Street from the Philadelphia and Columbia.
Tacony is a historic neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia, United States, approximately 8 miles (13 km) from downtown Philadelphia. It is bounded by the east side of Frankford Avenue on the northwest, the south side of Cottman Avenue on the northeast, the north side of Robbins Street on the southwest, and the Delaware River and Interstate 95 on the southeast.
Holmesburg Junction station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located at Rhawn and Decatur Streets in the Holmesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, it serves the Trenton Line.
The Frankford Avenue Bridge, also known as the Pennypack Creek Bridge, the Pennypack Bridge, the Holmesburg Bridge, and the King's Highway Bridge, erected in 1697 in the Holmesburg section of Northeast Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, is the oldest surviving roadway bridge in the United States. The three-span, 73-foot-long (22 m) twin stone arch bridge carries Frankford Avenue, just north of Solly Avenue, over Pennypack Creek in Pennypack Park.
Interstate 95 (I-95) is a major north–south Interstate Highway that runs along the East Coast of the United States from Miami, Florida, north to the Canada–United States border at Houlton, Maine. In the state of Pennsylvania, it runs 51.00 miles (82.08 km) from the Delaware state line near Marcus Hook in Delaware County in the southeastern part of the state northeast to the Delaware River–Turnpike Toll Bridge at the New Jersey state line near Bristol in Bucks County, closely paralleling the New Jersey state line for its entire length through Pennsylvania.
The Harrisburg Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Pennsylvania. The line is located in Philadelphia, and connects Greenwich Yard and the Philadelphia Subdivision with the Trenton Subdivision along a former Pennsylvania Railroad line. Much of the Harrisburg Subdivision is the High Line' or West Philadelphia Elevated along 31st Street over the 30th Street Station area.
North Philadelphia station is an intercity rail and regional rail station on the Northeast Corridor, located on North Broad Street in the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. SEPTA Regional Rail's Trenton Line and Chestnut Hill West Line account for most of the station's service. Three Amtrak trains, two southbound and one northbound, stop on weekdays only.
Cresheim Creek is a creek in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising at Wyndmoor in Springfield Township, it runs about 2.7 miles (4.3 km) southwest, passing through part of Northwest Philadelphia and forming the boundary between Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill, before emptying into the Wissahickon Creek at Devil's Pool not far south of the Valley Green Inn.
U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a United States Numbered Highway running from Fayetteville, North Carolina, north to Morrisville, Pennsylvania. The route runs for 49.359 miles (79.436 km) through the Delaware Valley metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route enters the state from Delaware in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. It continues northeast through Delaware County, passing through the city of Chester before heading through suburban areas along Chester Pike to Darby. US 13 enters the city of Philadelphia on Baltimore Avenue and runs through West Philadelphia to University City, where it turns north along several city streets before heading east across the Schuylkill River along Girard Avenue. The route turns north and heads to North Philadelphia, where it runs northeast along Hunting Park Avenue. US 13 becomes concurrent with US 1 on Roosevelt Boulevard, continuing into Northeast Philadelphia. US 13 splits southeast on a one-way pair of streets before heading northeast out of the city on Frankford Avenue. The route continues into Bucks County as Bristol Pike, heading northeast to Bristol, where it becomes a divided highway. US 13 becomes a freeway in Tullytown and continues north to its terminus at US 1 in Falls Township, near Morrisville. US 13 roughly parallels Interstate 95 (I-95) through its course in Pennsylvania.
Route 60 is a former streetcar line and current bus route, operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Northwest and Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It connects to the East Falls to the Port Richmond, and runs primarily along Allegheny Avenue.
Route 56, the Erie and Torresdale Avenues Line, is a former streetcar line and current bus route. It is operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The line runs between the Tioga and Tacony neighborhoods primarily along Erie Avenue and Torresdale Avenue. Route 56 was one of three "suspended" by the SEPTA board effective June 12, 1992. The two others, Routes 15 and 23, were then also operated by buses as of the same year; however, the Route 15 Trolley has since been restored back to trolley as of September 5, 2005.
The Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad was a railroad in southeastern Pennsylvania that is now a part of the SEPTA commuter rail system as the Fox Chase Branch. Despite the name, it only ever extended between Philadelphia and Newtown, Pennsylvania.
Frankford Junction is a railroad junction, and former junction station, located on the border between the Harrowgate neighborhood of Philadelphia and Frankford, Philadelphia. At the junction, the 4-track Northeast Corridor line from Trenton connects with the 2-track Atlantic City Line from Atlantic City in the northeastern portion of Philadelphia about 2.9 miles (4.7 km) northeast of North Philadelphia station. It lies near the intersection of Frankford Avenue and Butler Street, to the west of the interchange between Interstate 95 and the approach to the Betsy Ross Bridge. It has been used for rail transportation since 1832 but has not served as a station since October 4, 1992.
The Trenton Cutoff is a 48-mile (77 km) rail corridor in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that runs from Morrisville to Glenloch. Today used by Norfolk Southern, it consists of two rail lines: the Morrisville Line, which runs between Morrisville and Ernest, and the Dale Secondary between Ernest and Glenloch.
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.
