The Fox Chase Line
SEPTA Regional Rail
The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and serving the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelp ...
service connecting
Center City Philadelphia
Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous wi ...
with
Fox Chase. It uses the
Fox Chase Branch
The Fox Chase Branch, formerly the Newtown Branch, is a railway line in the state of Pennsylvania. It runs from a junction with the SEPTA Main Line near to . At its fullest extent, it continued another fifteen miles north to . The oldest part o ...
, which branches off from 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 ...
at
Newtown Junction
Newtown Junction is a rail junction in Pennsylvania, where the Newtown Branch joins the SEPTA Main Line. The Warminster Line, West Trenton Line, and Lansdale/Doylestown Line all continue north toward Fern Rock along the old Reading trunk while t ...
north of the
Wayne Junction
Wayne Junction station is a SEPTA Regional Rail junction station located at 4481 Wayne Avenue, extending along Windrim Avenue to Germantown Avenue. The station is located in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Wayne Junction serves as a m ...
station. It runs entirely within the city of Philadelphia. The line is fully
grade-separated
In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...
, except for one
grade crossing
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...
on Oxford Avenue. Under the
Reading Company
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 ...
service continued north to
Newtown, but this ended in January 1983. Various proposals to resume this service have failed, and the line within
Montgomery County has been gradually converted into a
rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetc ...
from 2008 onward, ending any chance of resumed passenger service on the abandoned section of line for the foreseeable future.
History
Most of what is now the Fox Chase Branch was built by the
Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad between 1876 and 1878. Initially, it was part of the
Pennsylvania Railroad system, but 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 ...
leased it in 1879. Under the Reading it was known as the Newtown Branch. Following the Reading's final bankruptcy in 1976 the branch was conveyed to
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 ...
;
Conrail operated services under contract until 1983 when SEPTA took full control.
Accidents
During the
Reading Company
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 ...
era, an
accident on the line in
Bryn Athyn occurred where two
steam trains
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the Tractive force#Rail vehicles, force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rar ...
collided head on with each other. Almost a century later, a similar incident occurred involving a car, tank truck, and train.
Conrail/SEPTA Era
Between 1984 and 2010 the route was designated R8 Fox Chase as part of SEPTA's
diametrical reorganization of its lines. Fox Chase trains operated through the city center to the
Chestnut Hill West Line
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, as well as West Mount Airy and Germantown, to Center City.
Ro ...
. Plans had called for the Fox Chase Line to be paired with a
Bryn Mawr local and designated R4, but this depended on a never-built connection from the Chestnut Hill West Line to the ex-Reading near Wayne Junction. , most Fox Chase Line trains continue through Center City to the
Airport Line on weekdays and the
Media/Wawa Line
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 Pennsylva ...
on weekends.
Beyond Fox Chase
Under the Reading Company
Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) operated through from the
Reading Terminal
The Reading Terminal ( ) is a complex of buildings that includes the former Reading Company main station located in the Market East section of Center City in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises the Reading Terminal Headho ...
in downtown Philadelphia to Newtown. The Reading extended electrification to Fox Chase in 1966; limited diesel shuttles from Fox Chase to Newtown continued.
SEPTA suspended these shuttles on July 1, 1981, as part of a systemwide discontinuation of non-electrified service. The shuttles returned on October 5 as the Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line. The operation of the line was troubled: the RDCs were in poor mechanical condition, SEPTA's decision to use transit division employees from the
Broad Street Subway
The Broad Street Line (BSL), also known as the Broad Street subway (BSS), Orange Line, or Broad Line, is a subway line owned by the city of Philadelphia and operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The line r ...
caused labor issues, and ridership was low.
SEPTA suspended service again on January 18, 1983.
Since 1983, there has been interest from Bucks County passengers in resuming service to Newtown. In anticipation of a possible resumption, SEPTA performed extensive track upgrades in 1984.
Street crossings in Newtown and Southampton received brand new welded rail, which were secured using sturdy
Pandrol clips vs. traditional
rail spike
A rail fastening system is a means of fixing rails to railroad ties (North America) or sleepers (British Isles, Australasia, and Africa). The terms ''rail anchors'', ''tie plates'', ''chairs'' and ''track fasteners'' are used to refer to part ...
s. Though not promoted, this work was done in order to comply with a federal grant.
By March 1985, SEPTA gave into political pressure and made a concerted effort to integrate the non-electrified Fox Chase-Newtown line into the rest of its all-electrified commuter system. A $10 million plan to restore service to Newtown and Pottstown using
British Rail-Leyland diesel railbuses was considered, with a test run reaching Newtown on September 3. Though the trial runs were relatively successful, ride quality was lackluster. Burdened with ongoing budgetary problems, SEPTA decided against the purchase of the railbuses.
In March 1987, SEPTA received several bids from private operators interested in running diesel-hauled trains to Newtown (as well as between Norristown and Pottstown). The operators suggested using non-union workers, which SEPTA was against. In addition, funding for these operations was allegedly questionable, and the SEPTA board rejected all offers.
Beginning in 2009, portions on the line within Montgomery County have been converted into a
rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetc ...
.
By 2015, the
Pennypack Trail extended along the former line between
Rockledge and Byberry Road near
Bryn Athyn. Additional trackage was in Southampton was dismantled in October 2018,
though several townships along the line are still hoping for resumption of rail service to alleviate traffic congestion on local roads and highways. The right-of-way in Bucks County is currently being redeveloped as the Newtown Rail Trail.
Stations
Fox Chase trains make the following station stops after leaving the
Center City Commuter Connection
250px, The ASCE plaque in Jefferson Station
250px, City plaque in Jefferson Station
The Center City Commuter Connection, (CCCC) commonly referred to as "the commuter tunnel", is a passenger railroad tunnel in Center City, Philadelphia, Penns ...
. Stations indicated in gray background are closed. Although SEPTA suspended service to all stations north of Fox Chase in 1983 and has since converted most of the northern portion of the line to a rail trail, it continues to list those stations in its public tariff.
Ridership
Yearly ridership on the Fox Chase Line between FY 2008–FY 2018 has remained steady around 1.2-1.4 million:
Notes
Footnotes
References
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External links
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Reading Company Routes and MileagesNewtown Branch restoration website
{{Cheltenham
SEPTA Regional Rail