Port Richmond Branch and Operations

Does anyone have photos/layouts of the old Port Richmond terminal? I'm curious to see how it looked in its heyday and how it changed over the years. The branch itself is still open today with a petroleum tank farm and a building materials/concrete recycler being the primary customers. Unfortunately, it only amounts to a few trains a week, with 2 tracks on what used to be 10+? Not much left of the many piers that used to be.

Also, from what I've read, I think the branch was rerouted, but I'm not sure when. I think it used to come off the mainline near SEPTA's Fern Rock Station. You can see the overhead powerlines and remnants of old bridge supports. Today, I think it swings off the B&O line near Roberts Ave yard.

Any information/photos would be appreciated.

I can't help with the track diagrams but the routing is the same today as it was in the past. The Richmond branch splits off at Nicetown Junction just east of the Septa ex-Reading passenger main. The connection that you speak of at Fern Rock was Tabor Junction which led to the old Second Street branch and ran down to the Erie Avenue shops. I believe there was a connection between the 2nd street and Richmond branches called Fairhill Junction but most of the traffic and certainly all of the coal traffic reached Port Richmond yard and the Delaware through Falls and Nicetown. The Bethlehem Steel ore trains also followed this route to the freight main and then up the Stoney Creek and Bethlehem branches into the Lehigh Valley.

I lived on the Port Reading Branch, during the 50's-60's-70's. One of the more unusual sights was once when a westbound loaded coal train came out of Port Reading. I called the Yardmaster and he told me that a Port Richmond train was sent to Port Reading to be dethawed.... seems the heater house at Port Richmond was not working. This was in 1962 or early 1963.

GlennK419,
The ore extras to Beth Steel didn't use Stony (No "e") Creek. Those trains were far too heavy to navigate that little used branch line. I grew up in Lansdale and saw many, many, RDG ore extras coming up the Bethlehem branch from Philly. . . never one on the Stony Creek. There was a daily freight from Philly/Norristown that came up the Stony Creek back in the 60's. It usually had a high car or two. If no high cars were in the consist, they came up the Beth. branch and avoided Stony Creek, much like CSX does today. Many times the local freight had a GP7 as power. That was a pleasant change from all the Alco action in the area.

Rick,

Thanks for the clarification. I thought I had a photo somewhere of an ore train coming off the branch at Lansdale. From a list of Reading freight symbols from January 1976, it's looks like Abrams - Bethlehem BX23 and XB3 were the only scheduled runs remaining on the branch by that time.

We now return this thread to its' regularly scheduled topic.

Just happened to find this old thread.

So assuming the ore trains to Bethlehem came from the Richmond piers
and went up the Bethlehem Branch, and did not use the Stony
Creek Branch, as explained above, just how did they get to the Bethlehem Branch?

Today, from the Richmond Branch, the only connection at Nicetown is to go west to Falls, and if you don't use Stony Creek I don't see how to get to the Beth. Branch. Today's CSX trains going to Lansdale from Falls don't have that problem.

So was the old 2nd Ave line (original North Penn RR?) still in, and the trains took it from Fairhill Junction to Tabor junction to get on the Beth. branch? Or was there an extra alignment at Nicetown so that from
the piers you could then go north towards Jenkintown and Lansdale and didnt' have to go west towards Falls? Or something else?

Thanks, JS

pumpers wrote:how did they get to the Bethlehem Branch? was the old 2nd Ave line (original North Penn RR?) still in, and the trains took it from Fairhill Junction to Tabor junction to get on the Beth. branch?

You have it. (However, the line that hugs 2nd St. is the old beginning of the Newtown Branch, the North Penn is the next line West of there.)
Erie Ave. Engine House near 2nd St. was a major steam freight servicing facility, so the locos for the Pt. Richmond trains probably used that connection at Fairhill Jct., back before Diesels started using the facility at Lehigh Ave. & Amber St. on the Pt. Richmond Branch.

Thanks. When did the North Penn between Tabor and Fairhill come
out? Early days of Conrail, or more recently. JS

If you ever ride the Reading Main line between Jenkintown and Wayne, you'll notice the old ROW branching off immediately south of the new Fern Rock Transporation Center. SEPTA uses part of that now to store MOW equipment.

On the street level you'll notice some of the old bridge abutments still in place.

I'm guessing the line came out in the late 70's after Erie closed and Conrail started their realignments, plus the death of the Port Richmond Terminal.

JS, the 2nd St. branch was separate from the Beth. Branch, since it split off at Erie Ave., went behind the roundhouse and up to the connection with the NY Short Line at Olney.

Fairhill Jct. was the direct connection between the Richmond and Beth Branches. There were connecting tracks in the NE and SW quadrants which used ramps to get up to the Beth Br. It crossed over the Richmond Br. on a 4-track thru girder bridge. The bridge still exists, although I think the tracks were pulled up in the CR Era.

CR used the 2nd St. Br, renamed the Olney Running Track, to access the old Kelsey-Hayes (Heintz Div) Mfg. Plant just west of the Olney station, as well as the Bond Bakery at the start of the Frankford Br.

CR used some of the S. end of the Beth Br (on American St.) below Fairhill Jct., until the early 80's and the yard at Erie Ave was a Trailvan terminal for a few years. I think that use died out in the early 80's also.

The City of Phila purchased the American St. portion and rebuilt it with a single track down the middle of the street with a few passing and industrial sidings in hopes of reviving the industry in the area. Didn't work too well, as the line is cut off at both ends- Tabor Jct and Willow & Noble St. Yard. American St. hosted 4 tracks plus sidings on both sides during the Reading Era, but it was horrible to try and navigate the 'roadways' on each side of the tracks.

The 2nd St. Br. was dismembered in the late 90's when the bridges over Tabor, Mascher, Fischer and two other streets (whose names escape me at the moment) were removed and scrapped. It had been OOS for at least 10 years before this happened.

Jfrey, Rdg467, JimB, thanks for the details. Now that you jogged my memory, I'm pretty sure I read once that the 2nd St line (Newton Branch) was originally part of the PRR, and connected to what now is the NEC mainline near the corner of Erie and 2nd St. (1870 or 1880 timeframe) This was independent of the North Penn RR. (not sure which was first). It was part of some scheme (along with the Mercer and Somerset in NJ) to block what later became the Reading line to NJ from being being built as competition to the PRR. After the Reading line succeeded anyway, the PRR gave up on the Newton Line and the Reading took it over and then I think connected it on its south end to the North Penn RR line (near Erie Ave) instead of to the PRR. JS

I too have read that at one time the Newtown line was run by the PRR and that the Newtown trains connected to what is now the northeast corridor at the location where the Old North Penn branch goes under. The Newtown trains use to get to the old North penn line by way of the Old Olney Branch which came off the Newtown line at Olney Station.Im guessing theres nothing left where the Newtown trains wouldve connected to the Northeast corridor now. I do have a quicjk question though. Was Fairhill Junction an actual interlocking and who controlled it if it was or was it just hand thrown switches?

BuddSilverliner269 wrote:Im guessing theres nothing left where the Newtown trains wouldve connected to the Northeast corridor now. Was Fairhill Junction an actual interlocking and who controlled it if it was or was it just hand thrown switches?

Look at the West side of the tall warehouse on the South side of Sedgely Ave. where it splits from Erie Ave. There may still be an oval yellow "Close Side Clearance" sign for the connecting track.
In some years, employee timetables mentioned a Fairhill Jct. switch tender whose directions had to be obeyed.

I could be dead wrong about this but I think the Fairhill Jct was to allow PRR trains to access their line that ran north to the Naval Depot on Martin's Mill road.As a kid I seem to remember trains working the depot, crossing Oxford Ave. to a small yard and laying over there. Perhaps someone from the PRR site would know this.

I found a map that has both a PRR connection (from the current
NEC) to the Newtown line as well as one from the Reading North Penn RR.
http://www.davidrumsey.com/detail?id=1- ... ladelphia.
The map is from 1891, published 1897.
If you click on the map in the link and have the right viewer you can see these connections at the very top. The PRR (current NEC) comes across horitzontally, and in the neighborhood of N 5th st (highlighted in red on the map) you see a branch off of the PRR going north which goes to the Newtown line (which itself is just off the north end of the map). On the North Penn RR (which runs north/south in this part of the map just east of the PRR junction mentioned above) there is a connection going to the Newton line just north of Erie Ave St'n. Note there is also a connection in the NW quadrant between the PRR and the North Penn RR, and this area on the PRR is labelled North Penn Jct.

---------
I could be dead wrong about this but I think the Fairhill Jct was to allow PRR trains to access their line that ran north to the Naval Depot on Martin's Mill road.As a kid I seem to remember trains working the depot, crossing Oxford Ave. to a small yard and laying over there. Perhaps someone from the PRR site would know this

The PRR Oxford Ave brach seems not to have been built when this map came out -- it would also branch north off of the PRR, about 2 blocks east of where the Newtown connection is.
As mentioned in other posts, I think "Fairhill junction" is a bit further south where the Reading Port RIchmond line crossed the North Penn RR, not where the PRR Oxford Rd branch (which I think might also have another name) came off the PRR.

Look at the West side of the tall warehouse on the South side of Sedgely Ave. where it splits from Erie Ave. There may still be an oval yellow "Close Side Clearance" sign for the connecting track.

On a "1916-1929" Sanborn insurance map, the PRR connection is broken, with the stub ends from north and south leading to industry sidings in the area. One goes right past the west side of what appears to be this building referred to above. The Reading connection is still in place.
I also found more about the Newtown line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelph ... k_Railroad
It opened in 1878 connecting to the PRR (The "Connecting RR" is the current NEC in this area), but by 1879 the Reading North Penn RR had already taken over, so presumably the connection to the North Penn RR dates from then already.