West Chester station, formerly Market Street Station, is a train station in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Located at Market Street, it currently serves as a stop on the

West Chester Railroad The West Chester Railroad is a privately owned and operated tourist railroad that runs between Market Street in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in Chester County, and the village of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, in Delaware County. It operates on of ...

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

. The location was previously used as a stop on the Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR)

West Chester Branch The West Chester Branch is a railway line in southeastern Pennsylvania. At its fullest extent, it connected with the Philadelphia–Washington Main Line (Northeast Corridor) at Arsenal Junction near the University of Pennsylvania and the Philade ...

, and later became a part of

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 ...

's R3 West Chester Line. SEPTA discontinued regular passenger service in September 1986, due to deteriorating track conditions,

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee Chester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, th ...

's desire to expand facilities at Exton station on SEPTA's

Paoli/Thorndale Line The Paoli/Thorndale Line, or R5 commonly known as the Main Line, is a SEPTA Regional Rail service running from Center City Philadelphia through Montgomery County and Delaware County to Thorndale in Chester County. It operates along the far eas ...

, and the existence of faster and more frequent bus service on SEPTA Route 104 along

West Chester Pike West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

69th Street Terminal The 69th Street Transportation Center is a SEPTA terminal in the Terminal Square section of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just west of the city limits of Philadelphia. The terminal serves the Market–Frankford Line, Norristown High Speed Line, and t ...

. Heritage service was restored by the

in 1997, a privately owned and operated

tourist railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

that operates between Glen Mills and West Chester.

Station history

The West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad opened Market Street station in 1875.U.S. National Park Service.

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

(1979)
"Pennsylvania Railroad Station, Market Street, West Chester Borough, Chester, PA."
Survey No. HABS PA-246. It was rebuilt following a major fire in 1885. The main building was razed in 1968.

later used the stop for the R3 West Chester Line. In 1986, SEPTA discontinued service due to deteriorating track conditions, the expansion of Exton station, and the improvement of bus service on SEPTA Route 104. The frame building erected in place of the older station was closed and razed. In 1997, the

(WCRR) constructed a new station for its

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physica ...

line running to Glen Mills. Except for the concrete platform, nothing remains of the former station; however, the foundation outline from the former building is visible. WCRR erected a one-room station on site that serves as a ticket office and gift shop.

Service restoration efforts

In 2014, the Chester County Planning Commission's long-term public transportation plan envisioned the return of SEPTA service to West Chester."Chester County Public Transportation Plan - Draft April 2014"
/ref> In 2018 a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation report estimated rebuilding to cost $380M USD. In July 2022 the West Chester Borough Council formed a ''Railroad Retoration Committe'' to explore the use of battery-operated rail cars as a lower cost alternative to a full rebuilding of an electrified line.

References

External links

West Chester Railroad Restoration Committee
, Borough of West Chester, Pennsylvania {{DEFAULTSORT:West Chester (Septa Station) Railway stations closed in 1986 Former SEPTA Regional Rail stations

West Chester University West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University of Pennsylvania) is a public research university in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the Middle ...

Former railway stations in Chester County, Pennsylvania West Chester, Pennsylvania 1986 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Railway stations in the United States opened in 1875 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1997

Station history

Service restoration efforts

References

Further reading

External links