32nd & Market Streets Station: (3D Satellite, note in the 1920 topo below all of the tracks terminating at a black square in the northeast quadrant of Market and 32nd Streets. Did Drexel university reuse the headhouse?)
46th Street Railyard: (Satellite, it was west of Belmont Ave. See 1949 topo map below.)
46th Street Roundhouse: (Satellite, see 1949 topo map below.)
Powelton Avenue Railyard: (Satellite)
The 32nd & Market Street Station was built in 1876. [HiddenCityPhila] It was replaced by the 1881 Broad Street Station.
But through passenger trains had to do a backing maneuver to access Broad Street Station. And the capacity of Broad Street Station was being stressed, so Pennsy built the West Philadelphia Station to handled the intercity trains between New York and Washington. (Pennsy trains between New York and Pittsburgh had already been moved to a station near the New York-Pittsburgh Subway.) [HiddenCityPhila]
Evidently, West Philadelphia Station was near what became 30th Street Station instead of near the West Philadelphia Railyard.
 |
| Danield Hogan posted West Philadelphia Station postcard 1910 - "Contains image of the Pennsylvania Railroad's West Philadelphia Station built in 1893 before the construction of 30th Street Station. Includes exterior view of the old station, and a view of the railroad yards., The West Philadelphia Station should not be confused with the Pennsylvania Railroad station erected at 32nd and Market Streets in 1876 to accommodate large crowds visiting the Centennial Exhibition." (Brightbill, LCP) Tony Verrecchio: That's POWELTON AVE YARD I was just shifting there this morning as I have for almost 37 years David Andrew Wieting: Railroad line in the trench is the Grays Ferry Branch aka Junction Railroad, which runs under 32nd Street south of Market Street. It is still in use for the SEPTA Wilmington/Newark, Media/Wawa, and Airport Line services south of Market but north it was slowly abandoned and finally removed for good by Amtrak when they did some outdoor housekeeping in the area around 2007-8 ish. Was the original north south mainline as was used as such as the primary station for those trains as they didn't line up well for Broad Street Station. The awkward arrangement and the need for faster running through Philly finally led to the construction of the NY-Pittsburgh Subway by 1904, which directly links the mainline from NY to the mainline from Pittsburgh. Ed Johnson shared |
 |
| Dennis DeBruler commented on Tony's comment Thank you. I could not reconcile the curved tracks in the photo with the layout of what used to be a railyard west of Belmont Ave. The curved tracks make a lot of sense down by Powelton Ave. 1920 Philadelphia Quad @ 62,500 |
 |
| Daniel Hogan commented on David's comment David Andrew Wieting, here is the 1910 Philadelphia Atlas showing the station at 32nd and Market. Tom Simpson The Grays Ferry aka Junction Railroad is shown left of the station emerging from the trench under 32nd and Market streets. |
 |
| 1943 Philadelphia Quad @ 62,500 |
 |
| 1949 Philadelphia Quad @ 24,000 |
 |
| Charles Crawford posted The Philadelphia Improvements 1930-1933. 30th St. Station construction and the former temporary 32nd St turntable and roundhouse demolition bottom center right. The Philadelphia steam facilities of the PRR were moved to the 1930 expanded 46th St. 26 stall roundhouse and yards in West Philadelphia. |
 |
| Richard Shulby commented on Charles' post roundhouse (building) located at that turntable. The open air garden tracks shown were added to the existing turntable during the renovation of the yard and servicing areas just to the north. See the 1922 Sanborn map showing the turntable w/o the 6 garden tracks. |
 |
| Charles Crawford commented on his post PRR Philadelphia 1870's before Broad Street Station and 30th St. Station, there was the 32nd St. Station and steam facilities (see photo of PRR roundhouse above). - original map in my collection |
 |
| Charles Crawford commented on his post A 1920 aerial view of the massive PRR roundhouse that serviced the steam needs of Broad Street Station in Philadelphia before electrification was expanded to include electric road engines. Electric MU commuter service had already started... |
 |
| Charles Crawford commented on his post The same area during the 30th St Station construction. |
 |
| Charles Crawford commented on his post The same area in 1902, but looking west. |
 |
| Trevor Hipperson commented on Charles' post An interesting comparison courtesy Google Earth ? Charles Crawford: Trevor Hipperson Looking east. The 1933 PRR Philadelphia Pennsylvania 30th Street Station stands prominently in the photo. This through station eliminated any PRR passenger N/S train from having to back into the stub ended Broad Street Station and then reverse, saving time for the timetable. The large building to the right of the station is the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Post Office building, built at the same time as the station. I was also the photographer for the marble restoration company that restored the Post Office during the 1980s. They were only permitted to work after Post Office closing hours, I did my photography during late hours, sometimes until 1 or 2am on high scaffolding. The marble restoration company had also applied for the 30th Street Station restoration job but did not get it. I also did several other jobs for him including a beautiful pink marble bank flooring building in Philadelphia near the Art Museum, and another job that was a beautiful brick 1930s Georgian style home in the ritzy suburbs of Philadelphia that was the former private home of a notorious Philadelphia mobster that I won't name. Marble floors and staircase throughout, the kitchen was the size of an apartment! Huge in ground pool out back. |
No comments:
Post a Comment