| Whitford SEPTA regional rail |
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| Address | Whitford Road & Spackmans Lane Exton, Pennsylvania |
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| Lines | ||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 side platforms | |||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| Parking | Yes | |||||||||||||||||
| Bicycle facilities | Yes(2 Racks) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Opened | 1880 | |||||||||||||||||
| Electrified | 1915 | |||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | SEPTA | |||||||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||||
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Whitford Station is a commuter rail station located in the western suburbs of Philadelphia at South Whitford Road and Spackman Lane, Exton, Pennsylvania.[2] It is served by most Paoli/Thorndale Line trains.
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Whitford Station is best known for the somewhat eerie abandoned railway trestle that sits directly above the station site. The current station sits along the once-busy former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) four-track Main Line, which, in its prime, hosted a constant flow of commuter and long distance trains. To circumvent constant bottlenecks near Philadelphia, the PRR constructed a low-grade double-track electrified line in 1906 to host its freight traffic. This was done to bypass the steep grades and busy Philadelphia suburbs. Known as the Philadelphia and Thorndale Branch (or the "High Line"), the line ran alongside the current Paoli/Thorndale Line, crossing (or "flying") over it via a massive trestle directly above the Whitford Station. After the sharp decline in rail traffic in the 1970s, the freight line was abandoned outright by Conrail in 1989. In addition, the current passenger line was reduced from four tracks to three in the 1960s.[3]
In its heyday, the PRR produced a series of calendars that included paintings of scenes throughout the extensive rail system. Artist Grif Teller captured a busy moment at Whitford in his "Main Lines—Freight and Passenger" painting from 1949, when the overhead trestle was still in use.
On August 2, 1984, the station house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[4] There is no ticket office at the station. There are 280 parking spaces at the station, some which sit on the abandoned freight line that crosses over the station site.
This station is 28.7 track miles from Philadelphia's Suburban Station. In 2003, the average total weekday boardings at this station was 230.
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