Darlington station is a defunct

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

station on the SEPTA Regional Rail R3 West Chester Line, located at 612 Darlington Road in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania. Originally built by the

West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad The West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad (WC&P) operated in the greater Philadelphia area from 1848 to 1881. It became the West Chester Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). It has been operated as the Media/Wawa Line on the SEPTA system ...

, it later served the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as 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. At its ...

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

, which finally became

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

's R3 line. The station, and all of those west of Elwyn station, was closed in September 1986, due to deteriorating track conditions and Chester County's desire to expand facilities at Exton station on SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale Line. Service was "temporarily suspended" at that time, with substitute bus service provided. Darlington station still appears in publicly posted

tariffs A tariff or import tax is a duty imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods or raw materials and is ...

. Darlington station was named after the dairy located at that place. For years it was a flag stop, but was abandoned and then re-established. However, Darlington Station was demolished shortly after service ended. The concrete curb for the platform edge and the access road are all that remain. File:Looking up the access road to the former Darlington station in 2017.jpg, Looking up the access road to the former Darlington station in 2017

Darling, Pennsylvania

A post office was established at the station in 1879, which led to the place name Darling being officially recognized. The

GNIS The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the associated states of the Marshal ...

classifies it as a populated place with "Darlington" recognized as a variant. The

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

remained in operation until 1964. "Darling" was used to prevent confusion with the town of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

located in

Beaver County, Pennsylvania Beaver County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 168,215. Its county seat is Beaver, and its largest city is Aliquippa. The county is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region of the commonw ...

. File:Decision Card 04293 Darling, PA.pdf, 1896 Decision Card

References

External links

Existing Railroad Stations in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
{{SEPTA Regional Rail stations Former SEPTA Regional Rail stations Stations on the West Chester Line Demolished railway stations in the United States Former railway stations in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Railway stations in the United States closed in 1981