| Ardmore Amtrak station SEPTA Regional Rail commuter rail station |
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| Station statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Address | Station Road and Lancaster Avenue Ardmore, PA 19003 |
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| Lines | Amtrak: SEPTA: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Connections | SEPTA City Bus: 44 SEPTA Suburban Bus: 103, 105, 106, 115 |
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| Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Parking | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bicycle facilities | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1870[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1950s | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrified | September 11, 1915 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Code | ARD | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Amtrak | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Traffic | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Passengers (2010) | 53,245[2] 11% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Ardmore Station is an above-ground commuter rail station located in the western suburbs of Philadelphia at Anderson and Coulter Avenues in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.[3] It is served by Amtrak Keystone Service trains, Pennsylvanian (westbound trains only), and most Paoli/Thorndale Line trains with the exception of several express runs.
The station is a one-story brick building with a flat roof built in the 1950s. It replaced an 1870 building that burned down. There are plans to build a new transit-oriented development in the area, and this would include a new station building.
The ticket office and waiting room at this station are open weekdays 6:10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. excluding holidays. An Amtrak QuikTrak machine is available when the station is open. SEPTA permit parking is available at the station, and the township provides additional metered parking in nearby lots.
This station is 8.5 track miles from Suburban Station. In 2003, the average total weekday SEPTA boardings at this station was 822.
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Lower Merion Township has considered plans to replace the station as part of a larger economic revitalization plan for the neighborhood. However, the plan relied on using eminent domain to force the purchase of private property, which would then be transferred to a private developer. For this reason, it met significant opposition among some members of community.[4] As of 2005[update], the project seems unlikely to come to fruition.
Nearby attractions include the Suburban Square shopping center, Ardmore Farmers Market, Brownie's 23 East, and other businesses in the downtown Ardmore shopping district along Lancaster Avenue.
A popular place to eat, across the street from the station, is the Ardmore Station Cafe. Another popular place, Peace a Pizza, is also located across the street.
This station was the nearest station to the home of Stuart T. Saunders, the final CEO of both the Pennsylvania Railroad and Penn Central. Despite his proximity to the station, Saunders preferred to travel to his Philadelphia office by chauffeur-driven private car rather than riding his own trains; his detractors used this as an indication of both the inhospitable conditions of the train cars and management's detachment from the riding public.
The old station at Ardmore was designed by the firm of Wilson Brothers and Company of Philadelphia as a two story stone structure with a slate roof.[5] The walls were built of gneiss stone laid irregularly with sandstone lintels. It had a daylight basement by virtue of the land sloping to the rear, which served as housing for the agent, containing a bedroom, dining room, kitchen, and living room. The ground floor waiting room measured 20x35 feet, a ladies' room measuring 14x18 feet, a gentleman's smoking room 11x12 feet, a baggage room 8x12 feet, a telegraph office and ticket office of 9x18 feet, and a bedroom. The second story had three bedrooms and the signal tower.[5]