The Chestnut Hill East Branch is a railway line in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It runs from a junction with the

SEPTA Main Line The SEPTA Main Line is the section of the SEPTA Regional Rail system from the Zoo Interlocking in West Philadelphia to Lansdale Station in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. The line is long, and serves all 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines. Current servi ...

Nicetown–Tioga Nicetown–Tioga is a neighborhood in the North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It comprises two smaller, older neighborhoods, Nicetown and Tioga, although the distinction between the two is ra ...

, a neighborhood in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, to

Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is known for the high incomes of its residents and high real estate values, as well as its private schools. Geography Boundaries Chestnut H ...

. The oldest part of it was built in 1832 by the

Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad The Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad (PG&N) was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1831 and opened its first line in 1832, making it one of the oldest railroads in North America. The Philadelphia and Rea ...

. It was part of the Reading Company system from 1870 until 1976. Today it is owned by

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five c ...

and hosts the

Chestnut Hill East Line The Chestnut Hill East Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail (commuter rail) system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill. It is one of two lines that serve Ch ...

commuter rail service. The line runs roughly parallel to the Chestnut Hill West Branch, formerly of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

History

The

's initial line ran from Ninth and Green in Philadelphia to

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ge ...

. This line opened on June 6, 1832. Plans to build north from Germantown to

Norristown Norristown may mean: * Norristown, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a municipality with home ...

were abandoned in favor a different route that branched off the existing line at what is now 16th Street Junction. Germantown remained the northernmost station on the branch until 1854 when the

Chestnut Hill Railroad The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

, leased by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, extended the line to Chestnut Hill. This extension opened on December 1, 1854. The

Philadelphia and Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

, a forerunner of the Reading Company, leased the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad on December 1, 1870. In 1879, the Reading built the

Tabor Branch The Ninth Street Branch was an elevated railway line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was operated by the Reading Company; ownership was split between the Reading and its subsidiary the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad. It was a ...

to link the former PG&N line with the

North Pennsylvania Railroad The North Pennsylvania Railroad was a railroad company which served Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northampton County in Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1852 and began operation in 1855. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway, ...

's main line, thus making the former PG&N line south of Wayne Junction the Reading's primary passenger route into Philadelphia. 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. The Reading electrified the branch on February 5, 1933. 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. With the Reading Company's final bankruptcy in 1976, the Chestnut Hill Branch was conveyed to Conrail and then

. SEPTA activated

positive train control Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains a ...

on the Chestnut Hill East Branch on July 25, 2016.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * {{cite book , title=Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 , year=1975 , author=United States Railway Association , author-link=United States Railway Association , location=Washington, DC , url=http://multimodalways.org/docs/govts/federal/executive/Agencies/DOT/USRA/FSP/FSP%20VI.pdf , oclc=2889148 , volume=1 , ref={{Harvid, USRA, 1975 SEPTA Regional Rail lines Railway lines opened in 1832 Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Reading Company lines