Bryn Athyn, PA: Post Office/Reading Depot

(Satellite)

Street View, Oct 2023

Metrotrails posted two photos with the comment:

Metrotrails Then and Now Series: Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania station on the former Newtown Branch of the Reading Railroad.

The line was an important commuter connection between Newtown and Philadelphia, but SEPTA didn't want to run diesels any more, and let it go.

Now, it is part of the Pennypack Trail, with more sections under development. This station still serves as a post office.

Many argue that the trail wasn't needed because there is a trail immediately parallel with the entire route from Betheyres south, and closer to the creek. Still, the trail is more heavily used than the average rail trail.

Ed Bombaro: When SEPTA was forced to inherit the railroad division operations from ConRail in the early 1980s they were unhappy as they didn't want them. SEPTA thus had a slash and burn policy of any railroad services that required significant investment and or required diesel operations. Today the Philadelphia region suffers because of SEPTA's shortsightedness and the city is disconnected from growing northeastern and western suburbs.

Metrotrails shared

Sam Pickard: The old platform canopy was destroyed when a tree fell on it last summer. The station house’s roof was also severely damaged, but has been repaired.

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Doug Leach commented on Photo 1
And an in-between:

Gene Gibbons commented on Metrotrails post

A little bit of history:

"The Bryn Athyn train wreck occurred on December 5, 1921, when a head-on collision occurred on a single line of track near Bryn Athyn station in Pennsylvania. The collision resulted in a fire and claimed 27 lives while injuring 70 others." (Source: Wiki)

Full story on Wiki ... PLUS, a very interesting video by Tom Lynskey on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_TD9bgCrSo

Charles Banks, Sep 2024

Bryn Athyn does have a SEPTA station, but it is south of town on an east/west Reading route.

1950 Frankford and 1952 Hatboro Quads @ 24,000

Henry The Collector, Jan 2021

It seems that SEPTA still owns most of the depots along the abandoned Reading track. The first station I found along the trail was Huntingdon Valley Station (SEPTA).