The West Chester Railroad is a privately owned and operated tourist railroad that runs between Market Street in

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Located within the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,461 at the 2010 census. West Chester is the mailing address for most of its neighb ...

, in

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee, United States * Cheshire or the County Palatine of Chester, a ceremonial county in the North Wes ...

, and the village of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, in Delaware County. The West Chester Railroad operates 90-minute round-trip excursions over of former

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 ...

track on the West Chester Branch. Trains operate Sundays, June through December. Besides the regular trains, the schedule expands with Saturday rides for a number of special events including Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Halloween, and Christmas. The railroad is owned by the for-profit 4 States Railway Service, Inc. and operated by the West Chester Railroad Heritage Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the railroad. All employees of the railroad are volunteers.

Locomotives

Notes

No. 1- Number 1 is a Plymouth 20-ton switcher that operated at the Glen Mills quarry. It was gasoline powered but was converted to diesel. Repainted to West Chester Railroad yellow it was put on display at the Market Street Station. No. 3- Built as Chesapeake & Ohio #5026 it later served as number 9115 for B&O, Luntz Iron & Steel and

Rohm & Haas Rohm and Haas Company is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals for end use markets such as building and construction, electronic devices, packaging, household and personal care products. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the company is organized i ...

. Bought and restored as Number 3 by Wilmington and Western Railroad after suffering freezing damage it was eventually traded to West Chester Railroad for an

EMD SW600 The EMD SW600 is a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between February 1954 and January 1962. Power was provided by an EMD 567C 6-cylinder engine, which generated 600 horsepower (450 kW). Origin ...

unit. In 2022 it was repainted to its original B&O paint scheme and re-numbered to its original road number. Number 3/9115 is currently not in service. No.1803- Is an ALCO RS-18 built for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1960. Number 1803 was retired in 1998 and that same year was bought by the West Chester Railroad. When 1803 arrived at West Chester it was re-painted in a Brunswick green with yellow striping. Since then it has been repainted in the West Chester Railroad gray black and yellow paint scheme. 1803 is in service. No. 4213- is an

ALCO C424 The Century 424 was a four-axle, diesel-electric locomotive. 190 were built between April 1963 and May 1967. Cataloged as a part of Alco's Century line of locomotives, the C424 was intended to replace the earlier RS-27 model and offered as a lowe ...

built by

Montreal Locomotive Works Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer which existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For a number of years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive ...

for the

in 1965. It was acquired by the West Chester Railroad in 2010. It is painted in the West Chester Railroad gray black and yellow paint scheme. 4213 is currently not in service. No.4230- Like its sister unit 4213, number 4230 is an

built in 1965 by

for the

. It was acquired by West Chester Railroad in 2005 and was painted in a

paint scheme of Brunswick green with yellow lettering. As with 4213 it has been painted in the West Chester Railroad gray black and yellow paint scheme. 4230 is currently not in service. No.6499- Is an

EMD GP9 The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1959. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen-cylind ...

built in 1957 for the

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 ...

as number 6499. It was owned by the Central Ohio Railroad when it was bought by the West Chester Railroad in 1997. It was repainted into a

scheme in 1998 with help from the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society Philadelphia Chapter. In 2022 6499 was repainted to a new red, black and yellow paint scheme for the railroad's 25th anniversery. 6499 is currently in service. No.7706- 7706 is an

EMD GP38 The EMD GP38 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel, General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and December 1971. The locomotive's Prime mover (locomotive), prime mover was an EMD 645 16-cyli ...

built in 1969 for the Penn Central Railroad as number 7706. Following the bankruptcy of Penn Central, it was absorbed into

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

in 1976. In the mid-1990s it was purchased by

PECO Energy PECO, formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company, is an energy company founded in 1881 and incorporated in 1929. It became part of Exelon Corporation in 2000 when it merged with Commonwealth Edison's holding company Unicom Corp. The company has ...

and later transferred to the

Exelon Corporation Exelon Corporation is an American Fortune 100 energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and incorporated in Pennsylvania. It generates revenues of approximately $33.5 billion and employs approximately 33,400 people. Exelon is the largest ...

to work in the Cromby Generating Station in

Phoenixville, PA Phoenixville is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Philadelphia at the junction of French Creek and the Schuylkill River. It is in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The population is 18,616 ...

. In 2012 the unit was donated to the West Chester Railroad. 7706 is currently in service.

Proposed commuter rail reactivation

In 2018 the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation commissioned a feasibility study for rebuilding the line and restoring direct commuter rail service from West Chester to Philadelphia

30th Street Station 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. SEPTA service below the Elwyn station was terminated in 1986 due to low ridership and unsafe track conditions but the area has since grown in population and has few transportation alternatives. The study concluded that restoration was feasible but the projected ridership was not high enough to qualify for capital funding. In September 2021 local officials proposed a short-term plan to upgrade the trackage in order to provide a shuttle service between the line's Market Street station in West Chester and SEPTA's new

Wawa station 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 Railr ...

. The WCRR's sub-lease of the tracks expires in April 2023. As of December 2022 the boro was considering a renewal for only one year while the railroad argued that it needed a long term in order that have a business plan for necessary maintenance and upgrades.

References

External links

*
6ABC Action News - Preserving the West Chester Railroad
{{DEFAULTSORT:West Chester Railroad Heritage railroads in Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Chester County, Pennsylvania West Chester, Pennsylvania

Locomotives

Notes

Proposed commuter rail reactivation

See also

References

External links