Wayne Junction station is a

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 Philadelphi ...

junction station ''Junction station'' usually refers to a railway station situated on or close to a junction where lines to several destinations diverge. The usual minimum is three incoming lines. At a station with platforms running from left to right, the minimum ...

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 multi-modal transfer point between six of SEPTA's regional rail lines as well as three major transit routes – the Route 75 Trackless Trolley and the Route 23 and 53 bus lines. The station served more than 321,000 riders annually in 2018.

Service

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 ...

joins the SEPTA Main Line at Wayne Junction. Wayne Junction is the last station before the

Fox Chase Line The Fox Chase Line SEPTA Regional Rail service connecting Center City Philadelphia with Fox Chase. It uses the Fox Chase Branch, which branches off from the SEPTA Main Line at Newtown Junction north of the Wayne Junction station. It runs entirel ...

splits off the SEPTA Main Line, at Newtown Junction. Additionally, Wayne Junction is served by the

Warminster Line The Warminster Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail commuter rail system. It serves stations between its namesake town, Warminster (SEPTA station), Warminster, and Center City, Philadelphia. Half of the route is shared by other lines, incl ...

West Trenton Line The West Trenton Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail service connecting Center City Philadelphia to the West Trenton section of Ewing Township, New Jersey. With around 12,000 riders every weekday, it is the third busiest line in the SEPTA Regional R ...

, and

Lansdale/Doylestown Line The Lansdale/Doylestown Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail line connecting Center City Philadelphia to Doylestown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Until 1981, diesel-powered trains continued on the Bethlehem Branch from Lansdale to Quakertown, Bethle ...

on the SEPTA Main Line.

Station

The original station building was designed by architect

Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled b ...

and constructed in 1881. The current station building was designed in 1900 by architects

Wilson Brothers & Company Wilson Brothers & Company was a prominent Victorian-era architecture and engineering firm established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company was regarded for its structural expertise. The brothers designed or contributed engineering work to h ...

. An old post card once boasted that "more trains stop here than at any other station in the world." The station, located in fare zone one, does have a sales office but lacks any dedicated parking spaces.Wayne Junction Station
/ref> Wayne Junction recently underwent a $11,165,600 renovation that included a new low level railway platform, an additional high-level platform in the inbound side, two new elevators, and new canopies and windscreens. In FY 2013, Wayne Junction station had a weekday average of 527 boardings and 521 alightings. The SEPTA's Roberts Yard and Midvale District Bus Garage are nearby to this station.

History

For most of the first half of the 20th century, Wayne Junction served as the

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 calle ...

's counterpart to the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

North Philadelphia station 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. The Southeastern Pennsylvan ...

, away. It served a very busy and prosperous business and residential area, drawing from North Philadelphia, Nicetown, Tioga, Logan, Germantown and other points. In addition to the extensive commuter network, service was provided by the Reading Railroad on a regular basis to New York via the Jersey Central and to Bethlehem and beyond on the

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, w ...

to Upstate New York and Toronto. Beginning in the 1890s,

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

passenger trains between Washington and New York City, including its famed ''Royal Blue'', also stopped at Wayne Junction, using Reading and Jersey Central rails north of Philadelphia. The station was useful for transfers between Reading trains and B&O trains. This was more advantageous than changing between 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 Headhou ...

and the B&O's 24th & Chestnut Station as those Philadelphia stations were several blocks apart. Until the B&O discontinued passenger service on the line in April, 1958, it provided regular service to Washington with through sleepers to the West, including Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles on such trains as the ''Capitol Limited'' and ''

National Limited The ''National Limited'' was the premier train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on its route between Jersey City, New Jersey and St. Louis, Missouri, with major station stops in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio. (Buses took passenge ...

''. Reading Railroad long distance trains included the ''

Interstate Express The ''Interstate Express'' was a long-distance passenger train operating between Syracuse, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, jointly operated by the Reading Railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Delaware, Lackawanna and West ...

'' and the ''Scranton Flyer.'' The station provided a baggage room and lunch room, as well as the usual telegraph office. On October 25, 1959, Wayne Junction was the starting point for the first of the Reading's Iron Horse Rambles excursions featuring their T-1 class steam locomotives. The surrounding neighborhood was a busy shopping area and provided additional services. The station has been a contributing property in the

Colonial Germantown Historic District The Colonial Germantown Historic District is a designated National Historic Landmark District in the Germantown and Mount Airy neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along both sides of Germantown Avenue. This road followed a Native Americ ...

since 1966, and the Wayne Junction Historic District since 2012.

Redevelopment

In September 2017, developer Ken Weinstein outlined a $12 million proposal to redevelop properties in the immediate vicinity of the Station including 32 apartment units at the Max Levy Autograph Co. building, a pocket park on a vacant lot across the street, a 1950s diner, an office building, an artisanal manufacturing site, and a barbecue and brewery. Most of the development is taking place in a restored factory and warehouse structures, making use of the federal Historic Tax Credit program. In July 2018, the Pennsylvania state Historic Preservation Review Board approved the Philadelphia Historical Commission's request to create the Wayne Junction National Historical District, a collection of eight large-scale industrial buildings built between the late-19th and mid-20th century surrounding the Station. The eight properties include the Train Station at 4481 Wayne Avenue, New Glen Echo Mills at 130 W Berkley Street, Brown Instrument Company at 4433 Wayne Avenue, the Max Levy Autograph at 212-220 Roberts Avenue, Arguto Oilless Bearing Company at 149 W Berkley Street, Blaisdell Paper Pencil Company at 137-45 Berkley Street, The Keystone Dry Plate & Film Works / Moore Push Pin building at 113-29 Berkley Street, and 200-10 Roberts Avenue.

References

External links