Newtown (SEPTA station)

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Newtown
SEPTA regional rail

The Newtown Station site in October 2009. The platform and signage remains intact along with a portion of track.
Station statistics
Address Penn Street
Newtown, Pennsylvania.
Coordinates 40°13′36″N 74°55′52″W / 40.2266°N 74.9312°W / 40.2266; -74.9312Coordinates: 40°13′36″N 74°55′52″W / 40.2266°N 74.9312°W / 40.2266; -74.9312
Line(s)
Connections Terminal station
Structure type station shed (demolished)
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 3
Parking 20
Other information
Opened 1873
Closed January 14, 1983
Electrified no
Owned by SEPTA
Formerly Reading Railroad
Services
Preceding station   SEPTA   Following station
(closed 1983)
Fox Chase Line Terminus

Newtown is a closed station and terminus of SEPTA's Fox Chase/Newtown Line located on Penn Street in Newtown Borough, Pennsylvania.

History

In the railroad's original plans, the line was to continue to the north, but this expansion was never built. Newtown Station was built in 1873 and torn down in 1960. A new shelter was constructed in 1976. It later became a part of SEPTA's Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line. The station, and all of those north of Fox Chase, was closed on January 14, 1983,[1] due to failing diesel train equipment.

SEPTA experimented with the line by operating the Fox Chase-Newtown diesel segment as the Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line. SEPTA insisted on utilizing transit operators from the Broad Street Subway as a cost-saving factor, while Conrail requested that railroad motormen run the service. This was a result of a labor dispute that began when SEPTA inherited approximately 1,700 displaced employees from Conrail. 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 the Newtown station still appears in publicly posted tariffs.[3]

A Budd RDC train awaiting departure at Newtown Station, circa 1982

Although rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999. The Newtown Station shelter was torn down in 2004.[4]

References

  1. .newtownline.pa-tec.org/history
  2. Tulsky, Fredric N. (January 29, 1982). "Conrail Staff Must Run Trains: court ruling bars SEPTA takeover". Philadelphia Inquirer.  SEPTA must use Conrail workers rather than its own personnel to run trains over the region's 13 commuter lines, a special federal court has ruled in a decision that offers some job assurance for 1,700 Conrail employees next year. The special court, in an opinion issued Wednesday, ruled that SEPTA had acted legally in October when it replaced Conrail workers with its former subway operators on the line.
  3. SEPTA Tariff No. 154; effective July 1, 2009
  4. Bucks Views website, documenting out-of-service Newtown train line

External links

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