Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Locale | Chester/Delaware/Philadelphia counties, Pennsylvania |
Dates of operation | 1848–1881 |
Successor | Philadelphia & Baltimore Central Railroad |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
Length | 28.36 miles (45.64 kilometres) |
The West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad (WC&P) operated in the greater Philadelphia area from 1848 to 1881. It became the West Chester Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). It has been operated as the Media/Wawa Line on the SEPTA system since 2022. It was known as the Media-Elwyn Line from 1983-2022.
The West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1848, and the company was organized in 1851. Construction began in Philadelphia in 1852, and the road reached Kellyville (now Gladstone) in November 1853, and Media by November 1854. In July 1855, at least one worker died in a construction accident and costs mounted due to construction of numerous bridges.
Financial difficulties followed, and work was suspended until 1856, when the line opened to Grubb's Bridge (now Wawa). The remaining line to West Chester was completed by November 1858. [1] : 513 [2] The WC&P was the second railroad to serve the borough of West Chester. The first was the West Chester Railroad, built in 1832 and running northeast to a PRR connection at Malvern.
A junction was constructed at Wawa for the Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad, which began construction in 1855 and opened its first section to Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, in 1859. [1] : 477
In May 1880, the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad purchased the WC&P, and then folded it into the Philadelphia & Baltimore Central Railroad Company by the following year. [3] The PRR eventually took control of all these earlier lines.
The PRR merged with the New York Central Railroad in 1968 to form the Penn Central (PC), and was bankrupt by 1970. The West Chester line was sold to SEPTA 1978, though Conrail provided operations until 1983, when SEPTA assumed passenger operations until September 1986 when service was suspended. Tourist operator West Chester Railroad resumed operations between West Chester and Glen Mills in 1997.
The Junction Railroad was a railroad created in 1860 to connect lines west of downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and allow north-south traffic through the metropolitan area for the first time. The railroad consisted of 3.56 miles of double track and 5.3 miles of sidings. It owned no locomotives or rolling stock. The line connected the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road line at the west end of the Columbia Bridge over the Schuylkill River, crossed the Pennsylvania Railroad line, ran parallel to Market Street, and turned south to connect with the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad at Gray's Ferry.
The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by SEPTA and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its suburbs and satellite towns and cities. It is the sixth-busiest commuter railroad in the United States. In 2016, the Regional Rail system had an average of 132,000 daily riders and 118,800 daily riders as of 2019.
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) operated from Baltimore, Maryland, southwest to Washington, D.C., from 1872 to 1902. Owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was the second railroad company to connect the nation's capital to the Northeastern U.S., and competed with the older Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The Wilmington/Newark Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail commuter rail system in the Philadelphia area. The line serves southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware, with stations in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Delaware, and Newark, Delaware. It is the longest of the 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines.
Media station is a SEPTA regional rail station in Upper Providence Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, near Media. It serves the Media/Wawa Line, the former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) West Chester Line. It is located at 301 Media Station Road. The station includes a 231-space parking lot. In 2013, this station saw 692 boardings and 533 alightings on an average weekday.
The Northern Central Railway (NCRY) was a Class I Railroad in the United States connecting Baltimore, Maryland, with Sunbury, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1861, when the PRR acquired a controlling interest in the Northern Central's stock to compete with the rival Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O).
Wawa is an unincorporated community located in Delaware County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia, partially in Middletown Township and partially in Chester Heights Borough.
The Trenton Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The line runs from CP NICE in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, northeast to Port Reading Junction in Manville, New Jersey. The line was formerly part of the Reading Company system.
The Schuylkill Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in Pennsylvania. The line ran from the Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line at 52nd Street in Philadelphia north via Norristown, Reading, and Pottsville to Delano Junction, about 2.5 mi (4.0 km) northeast of Delano. From Delano Junction, the PRR had trackage rights over the Lehigh Valley Railroad's Hazleton Branch and Tomhicken Branch to Tomhicken, where the PRR's Catawissa Branch began.
The Delaware Extension was a rail line owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The West Chester Branch is a railway line in southeastern Pennsylvania. At its fullest extent, it connected with the Philadelphia–Washington Main Line at Arsenal Junction near the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia-Chicago Main Line near Frazer, Pennsylvania. It was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) system up until the formation of Conrail in 1976. Today, SEPTA operates the Media/Wawa Line commuter service as far west as Wawa, while the West Chester Railroad heritage railway operates between West Chester station and Glen Mills.
The Chester Creek Branch was a 7.25-mile (11.67 km) railroad line that operated in southern Delaware County, Pennsylvania, from 1869 to 1972.
The Newtown Square Branch was a branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) that diverged from the West Chester Branch in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, and ended in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
The Glen Riddle station was a commuter rail station which was located on the SEPTA Regional Rail R3 West Chester Line. Situated underneath the South Pennell Road (PA-452) overpass in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, it was originally built by the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad, and later served the Pennsylvania Railroad's West Chester Branch, which finally became SEPTA's R3 line.
Lenni station is a defunct commuter rail station on the SEPTA Regional Rail R3 West Chester Line, located in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The station and several others were closed in September 1986, and subsequently demolished.
Wawa station is a commuter rail station on the SEPTA Regional Rail Media/Wawa Line, located adjacent to U.S. Route 1 in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The original station was built by the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad and later served the Pennsylvania Railroad's West Chester Branch, which finally became SEPTA's R3 line. The outer section of the line, running from Elwyn to West Chester including the old Wawa station, was closed in 1986.
The Media/Wawa Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail service that runs from Center City Philadelphia west to Wawa in Delaware County. It uses the West Chester Branch, which connects with the SEPTA Main Line at 30th Street Station. Under the Pennsylvania Railroad, service continued to West Chester, Pennsylvania. On September 19, 1986, however, service was truncated to Elwyn.
The Chestnut Hill West Line is a commuter rail line in the SEPTA Regional Rail network. It connects Northwest Philadelphia, including the eponymous neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, West Mount Airy, and Germantown, to Center City.
The Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad (P&BC) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It operated a 110-mile (180 km) main line between West Philadelphia and Octoraro Junction, Maryland, plus several branch lines.
The West Chester Railroad (WCRR) was chartered in 1831 and began operation in 1832. The railroad line ran from West Chester, Pennsylvania, for 9 miles (14 km) to Malvern, Pennsylvania, where it connected with the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Service was originally provided with horse-drawn cars.
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