The PRR Pottstown line AKA Present day Cynwyd Line

[rbreslow]

Anyone have any intel on this past Ivy Ridge?

[ekt8750]

Not really. Most of it didn't survive passed the 1950s. It was cut back to Norristown then and then back to Manayunk in 60s. When SEPTA took over they reopened Ivy Ridge and then in the late 80s (I'm going to say 1986) they condemned the Schuylkill River bridge and cut the line back to Cynwyd.

[rbreslow]

Not really. Most of it didn't survive passed the 1950s. It was cut back to Norristown then and then back to Manayunk in 60s. When SEPTA took over they reopened Ivy Ridge and then in the late 80s (I'm going to say 1986) they condemned the Schuylkill River bridge and cut the line back to Cynwyd.

Thanks very much!

[rbreslow]

Not really. Most of it didn't survive passed the 1950s. It was cut back to Norristown then and then back to Manayunk in 60s. When SEPTA took over they reopened Ivy Ridge and then in the late 80s (I'm going to say 1986) they condemned the Schuylkill River bridge and cut the line back to Cynwyd.

Thanks I actually was walking on the bridge over Schuylkill and by Mannayunk station and I'm going to say your right about not that many things surviving.

[DeltaV]

Curious, where was the PRR Norristown station? What other stations did it have (I've ridden the trail, and haven't seen any evidence of stations)? Were they right next to the RDG stations?

[tgolanos]

Curious, where was the PRR Norristown station? What other stations did it have (I've ridden the trail, and haven't seen any evidence of stations)? Were they right next to the RDG stations?

PRR Norristown was at Haws and Washington, I'm pretty sure. The only other station I know of was PRR Conshohocken, which I think was at Harry & Elm. It's the orangish building that's now a deli or something. You can see it clearly from the current Conshy station- it looks just like an old train station.

[Pacobell73]

PRR Norristown station was right beside the RDG (current SEPTA) station, with electric. This photo from 1947 shows the PRR on the left and the RDG on the right.


There was also a station further north at Haws Avenue. Here is a before and after

July 20, 1957


2001



The PRR Conshohocken Station is now home to an excellent restaurants, The Outbound Station Cafe
http://www.outboundstationcafe.com/

Good picture of station at this link (the image was too big to link)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 2761208872

[tgolanos]

Something I just found in another RR.net forum:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 72&t=31626

This forum has a pretty cool map of the old PRR lines with mile posts from Suburban. Norristown Line is included, along with an inlay of the line up to Pottsville. Here's the link to the map from the above forum:

http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas ... /large.jpg

[edbear]

There was an article either in TRAINS or CLASSIC TRAINS within the past 3 years or so that told about several Boy Scout Jamborees that were held in the 1950s. One or two were at Valley Forge and while the RDG got most of the business, some of the Scouts, their Scoutmasters and gear came in via PRR on the Schuylkill Branch. GG1s did get to Norristown as did Pullmans. Find the article. It is illustrated too.

[2nd trick op]

Up until the early 1940's the PRR maintained direct passenger service between Philadelpha and Wilkes-Barre, with the help of a dozen-or-so miles of Lehigh Valley trackage rights in the Hazleton area. Freight service between the two cities was diverted via Harrisburg around the same time, but local freight service continued between Wilkes-Barre and Pottsville, via Nescopeck and Hazleton, until Hurricane Hazel flooded the line in the late summer of 1953. Around that time, the LV and PRR traded responsibility for local service in that area, although I believe PRR retained formal owndership.

[JimBoylan]

The "Anthracite Express" looked rather funny in Lehigh Valley timetables running with parlor car and food service between New Boston Jct. and Tomhicken via Hazleton with no hint of service beyond those points on another railroad!