Southampton (SEPTA station)

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Abandoned station in Southampton

Fiery crash at Southampton station in 1982. Station site is to the right.

Southampton is an abandoned train station located on Second Street Pike (PA-232) near Knowles Avenue in Upper Southampton, Pennsylvania. The station, built in 1892, was a stop on the Reading Railroad's Newtown Line. It later became a part of SEPTA's R8 Newtown Line. The station, and all of those north of Fox Chase, was closed in February 1983, due to SEPTA’s desire for all-electric rail operations (electrification ends at the Fox Chase station). Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was "temporarily suspended" at that time, and the Southampton station still appears in publicly posted tariffs. There are ongoing efforts to raise funds for the station's restoration.^[1]

[edit] Fire

On January 2, 1982, the crossing at Second Street Pike just south of Southampton Station was the site of a fiery crash between a train, a gasoline truck, and a car.^[2] Five people were injured and the accident caused flames to shoot fifty feet in the air and created a plume of black smoke visible for miles.^[2] Witnesses to the accident said that the crossing signal equipment had not been working properly.^[3] SEPTA general manager David L. Gunn ordered additional safety precuations, but service ceased just over a year after the accident. ^[4]

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

^ >"Train station's restoration to cost $350,000", Bucks County Courier Times, October 4, 2006.
^ ^a ^b Halsey, III, Ashley. "5 Hurt in Fiery Rail Collision", Philadelphia Inquirer, January 3, 1982.
^ Stecklow, Steve. "Clues Sought in Crash of Train, Truck", Philadelphia Inquirer, January 4, 1982.
^ Tulsky, Frederic N.. "SEPTA Stiffens Rail Safety Rules", Philadelphia Inquirer, January 7, 1982.