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Moderator: AlexC
SCB2525 wrote:That map that Alex C posted a link to really amazes me how dead some of the localities listed on it are in name. I've lived in Richboro and I've NEVER heard of Traymore, Breadysville, Johnsville, Bonair, Davisville (besides the road of course), or Cornell in a colloquial sense. I think there's some business called the Johnsville whatever but besides that, they NEVER come up. Side effect of zip codes?I know we're wandering way off topic but many of those areas were named after early land owners. While some of the names may be more obscure, Johnsville was home to its' namesake Navy base for many years, later the Naval Air Development Center (Ann's choice now sits where the hangers and runways were) and Davisville is well known as the area around Street and Davisville Roads. Traymore and Grenoble also saw stations by the same names prior to the Reading's cutback of service to Hatboro (then the end of electrification)on the New Hope branch in the mid 50's (IIRC 1954).
iamapokemonlegend wrote:i was searchin through a website about the pennsylvania railroad. apparently there were two stations on the Trenton Line called grundy and edgely that mustve never made it to Septa. Anyone kno any information about them. Any is appreciated.The C. T. 1000 of 1945 shows Edgely at milepost 63.3, between Tullytown and Bristol. Grundy is an interlocking just east of Bristol, but the C. T. 1000 -- I never noticed this before -- shows a "Greene" interlocking and block station at MP 64.2 (the Bristol station being at MP 65.4), with no mention of Grundy.
SCB2525 wrote:The Trenton Cutoff itself never made it to the SEPTA era.What do you mean? The Trenton Cutoff is still in existence as NS' Morrisville Line, and runs 6-8 trains a day. If you are referring to passenger service, there was never passenger service on the Cutoff. It was specifically designed to avoid the passenger-heavy Philadelphia area.
nickrapak wrote:I was always under the impression that parts of the Cut-Off did see passenger service. Didn't the Fort Washington Branch swing off onto it between the Reading's Fellwick and Fort Washington stations so it could terminate?SCB2525 wrote:The Trenton Cutoff itself never made it to the SEPTA era.What do you mean? The Trenton Cutoff is still in existence as NS' Morrisville Line, and runs 6-8 trains a day. If you are referring to passenger service, there was never passenger service on the Cutoff. It was specifically designed to avoid the passenger-heavy Philadelphia area.
rbreslow wrote:No, If I heard you correctly the line that takes you to the Trenton Cut-off actually originates from the Chestnut Hill West Line right after Allen Lane Station at the now abandoned Creshim Interlocking. I e try to snap a pic on my commute homeCorrect, my good sir. The Fort Washington Branch spits (split) from the Chestnut Hill Branch at Cresheim, passed under the Reading's Chestnut Hill Line, came through Laverock, turned quickly northwest and roughly paralleled the Reading Main until it terminated at or on the Trenton Cut-Off. If I'm not mistaken, the last station was located on or around the bridge over Bethlehem Pike/Camp Hill Road/Church Road. Hence my question about whether or not the Cut-Off actually saw limited passenger service.
tgolanos wrote:I've read that there might have been passenger service but the only thing I'm sure of is freight. I think it was built so freight could avoid the reading mainline?rbreslow wrote:No, If I heard you correctly the line that takes you to the Trenton Cut-off actually originates from the Chestnut Hill West Line right after Allen Lane Station at the now abandoned Creshim Interlocking. I e try to snap a pic on my commute homeCorrect, my good sir. The Fort Washington Branch spits (split) from the Chestnut Hill Branch at Cresheim, passed under the Reading's Chestnut Hill Line, came through Laverock, turned quickly northwest and roughly paralleled the Reading Main until it terminated at or on the Trenton Cut-Off. If I'm not mistaken, the last station was located on or around the bridge over Bethlehem Pike/Camp Hill Road/Church Road. Hence my question about whether or not the Cut-Off actually saw limited passenger service.
rbreslow wrote:I've read that there might have been passenger service but the only thing I'm sure of is freight. I think it was built so freight could avoid the reading mainline?The PRR built the Trenton-Cutoff so that freight from Harrisburg and points west could get to New York without going through Zoo and the Connecting railroad.
AlexC wrote:Hmmm I was looking around that area on google maps and saw that the Trenton cut-off gos right through the R5 after Oreland? Is this right?rbreslow wrote:I've read that there might have been passenger service but the only thing I'm sure of is freight. I think it was built so freight could avoid the reading mainline?The PRR built the Trenton-Cutoff so that freight from Harrisburg and points west could get to New York without going through Zoo and the Connecting railroad.
I made a Google Map of the Ft Washington Branch years ago.
You can find it here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... c033c&z=13
All of the stations are listed. I believe the Whitemarsh station was on a long siding parallel with the main two track cut-off.
One of the Triumph books (III?) has a picture of the passengers on the "last" commuter run at Whitemarsh station.
See also this thread: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3359
rbreslow wrote:Do you know is there were any definite passenger rail stations on the cut-off?There were none.
Franklin Gowen wrote:um do you know why it branched off from the chestnut hill west line?rbreslow wrote:Do you know is there were any definite passenger rail stations on the cut-off?There were none.
The only partial exception to that is Fort Washington. The very lightly-used Fort Washington Branch simply ended there - there was no regularly scheduled passenger service on the Trenton Cut-Off for anyone to connect to, and no stations to support any. Indeed, the Ft. Wash. station was actually adjacent to an electrified siding rather than one of the two main (through) tracks, so technically not even that structure was really on the Cut-Off.
Every once in a blue moon, a derailment or a major wreck someplace else on the PRR system would cause trains between New York and points west of Philadelphia to be detoured over the Cut-Off. Remember that this route was once fully electrified, so any GG1-hauled coach train could traverse it without needing to change locomotives.
At least one National Railway Historical Society railfan charter trip operated over the entire length of the Trenton Cut-Off.
