| Huntingdon Valley SEPTA regional rail |
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Dormant tracks and a private residence near the former site of Huntindgon Valley station. |
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| Station statistics | |||||||||||
| Address | 796 Welsh Road Lower Moreland, PA |
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| Lines | |||||||||||
| Structure | station shed (demolished) | ||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 0 | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Closed | January 14, 1983 | ||||||||||
| Electrified | No | ||||||||||
| Owned by | SEPTA | ||||||||||
| Formerly | Reading Railroad | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Huntingdon Valley is a closed train station located along SEPTA's Fox Chase/Newtown Line, located on Terwood Road near Old Welsh Road (PA 63) in Lower Moreland, Pennsylvania, not far from the Pennypack Creek.
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Huntingdon Valley Station, and all of those north of Fox Chase, was closed on January 14, 1983, due to failing diesel train equipment SEPTA had no desire to repair.[1]
In addition, a labor dispute began within the SEPTA organization when the transit operator inherited 1,700 displaced employees from Conrail. SEPTA insisted on utilizing transit operators from the Broad Street Subway to operate Fox Chase-Newtown diesel trains, while Conrail requested that railroad motormen run the service. When a federal court ruled that SEPTA had to use Conrail employees in order to offer job assurance, SEPTA cancelled Fox Chase-Newtown trains.[2] Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was cancelled at that time, and Huntingdon Valley Station still appears in publicly posted tariffs.[3]
Although rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light. The traveling public never saw a bus service as a suitable replacement for a rail service, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999.
In the ensuing years, there has been interest in resuming the long-dormant passenger service. In September 2009, the Southampton-based Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition (PA-TEC) began discussions with township officials along the railway, as well as SEPTA officials, about the realistic possibility of resuming even minimal passenger service to relieve traffic congestion in the region. Plans call for completing the electrification to Newtown, as originally planned in the late 1970s.
PA-TEC's efforts have received overwhelming bipartisan support by both Bucks and Montgomery County officials, as well as at the state level, despite SEPTA's overall reservations. However, SEPTA has also confirmed they are willing to reestablish regular commuter service if strong political support exists in both counties.[4]
Currently, the stone driveway of a car wash infringes upon the line at the site of the former station. SEPTA dismantled all trackage, signals and station platforms in the area. The classic station shelter—dating back to the 1950s—was demolished by SEPTA in the late 1980s. The SEPTA "lollipop" station sign, installed in 1984, was removed in March 2011.
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