Spur tracks in King of Prussia

I was staying at a hotel near the Valley Forge Convention Center, and I noticed a strange rail spur nearby. There's a grade crossing on First Ave. about 3/4-mile east of the Radisson. The spur looks like it hasn't seen any action in a while, as evidenced by the fact that there are small trees growing between the rails and that one of the crossbucks is missing on American Ave.; the other is obscured by trees.

A look at a map indicates that the spur connects to the (Reading?) main running along the Schuylkill River to the north. But what could these industrial tracks possibly be used for? The business in the area seems to be little more than office parks and hotels, and the line's routing seems to be hemmed in by the PA Turnpike and the exit ramp.

Is this spur surviving because it's a proposed routing (roundabout route via Norristown?) for SEPTA service to the KofP mall? If so, they'd have to figure a way to get across the Turnpike, unless a grade separation or culvert exists that I'm not aware of.

This might belong in the PA Railfan forum but I'll be happy to answer it.

That line is the BFI Industrial Track that branches off the NS Harrisburg Line in Bridgeport and runs under the SEPTA Norristown HSL and US 202 then parallel to 202 then across 202 parallel to Saulin Blvd to BFI. There is also a lead out of that to the Dale Secondary of the PRR Trenton Cutoff.

I hope that helps.

Actually the line that Mike is describing is the Abrams industrial track. It branches off of the mainline at Abrams yard, crosses Rt 23 next to what used to be the Sears warehouse and continues into the industrial park. The line has been largely unused since the warehouse closed back in the 90's. It also has a spur that runs up behind what was once Conrail's computer center. The operations manager used to boast that if the data center ever lost power, they could roll a loco up behind the building and use it to power the computers. That one I would have loved to see.

It is doubtful that this ROW would be feasible for a connection to the mall due to all of the highways and commercial property it would have to traverse, not to mention all of the townhomes that have just been built along its' edge.

I agree that this should probably be moved to the PA Railfan, Conrail or NS board.

Or the occupants of the townhouses would provide potential passengers for a new service?

The Sears warehouse was completely rehabbed and converted to an office building in 2002-2003. I work there now!

Agree that the spur track is probably useless for any kind of commuter service. It runs behind our facility, across First Ave., then turns to parallel First Ave. out to a point near Allendale Road where it disappears. If it were extended further it would run into the middle of a housing development.

At one point the now-dead plans for the P&W extension looked to using at least some of the spur but grade crossings were considered unacceptable. SEPTA came up with the idea of a multimegabegabuck "flyover", essentially a giant viaduct that would take the tracks over the roads and then drop back to ground level near the Valley Forge Towers Apts. But at the current rate of inaction, the only route that'll run will be in our dreams.

The only good side to this is that the township is looking to acquire the ROW for a walking and biking trail to connect the communities near Allendale with the industrial parks along First Ave. and Moore Road, and with the Valley Forge Park trails. At least I'll be able to bike to work safely then (no joke, I do ride now, it's just not very safe since I have to go with traffic).

Ah, the North Abrams Industrial Track. If you get a chance to go to the pizza shop a hundred yards up the hill from the Abrams yard office on Henderson Road, there's a township map on the wall that actually shows the industrial track in some detail. And the pizza's not bad either.