Huntingdon Valley station

Huntingdon Valley
Dormant tracks and a private residence near the former site of Huntingdon Valley station.
General information
Location	796 Welsh Road Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°07′16″N75°04′22″W / 40.1210°N 75.0729°W / 40.1210; -75.0729
Owned by	SEPTA
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Construction
Structure type	station shed (demolished)
Accessible	No
History
Closed	January 18, 1983 [1]
Electrified	No
Former services
Preceding station SEPTA Following station Walnut Hill toward Reading Terminal Newtown Line Bryn Athyn toward Newtown Preceding station Reading Railroad Following station Fox Chase toward Philadelphia Newtown Branch Bryn Athyn toward Newtown
Location

Huntingdon Valley station is a former SEPTA Regional Rail station in Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania. It was located on Terwood Road near Old Welsh Road (PA 63) and served the Fox Chase/Newtown Line. SEPTA closed the station in 1983, and the shelter was subsequently demolished.

History

Huntingdon Valley station, and all of those north of Fox Chase station, was closed on January 18, 1983, due to failing diesel train equipment SEPTA had no desire to repair. ^[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 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. ^[2] Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was cancelled at that time, and Huntingdon Valley station still appears in publicly posted tariffs. ^[3]

Although rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999.

Surviving tracks were removed by Montgomery County in summer 2014 for construction of the $2 million Pennypack Trail extension. ^{[4] [5]}

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.
2. 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.
3. "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.
4. Nussbaum, Paul (March 23, 2014). "Montco plans to convert more of rail line for recreation". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on May 13, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
5. http://www.septa.org/about/board/agenda-12-10-13.pdf SEPTA Board meeting minutes; December 10, 2013