Nostalgia & History > PRR 30th Street Station

Is anyone aware of the historic peak in traffic through 30th Street Station. Was it during World War II (that always seems to be the answer...)? Any references to how high that volume was?

It was the busiest Amtrak station in 2013. It is listed as the busiest station in the country just after Penn station. (location, location, location that is why) Today it is a key station for Amtrak. For the record it is the William H Grey III station named for some senator. They should have stuck with Ben Franklin station. As for its past. I am seeing conflicting numbers. Some say just before the war when the elevated lines and surface trolly lines all converged there. Before cars really took off. Others say just after the war up to mid 50's citing the same reasons. So basically you could say 1935 to 1955 was the busiest time frame.

Bill Gray was a widely respected political leader and civil rights hero. Well known in Philadelphia, although is connection to Amtrak is tenuous.

We had a trainorders thread on the issue a while back.

HB90MACH Wrote:
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> For the record it is the William H
> Grey III station named for some senator. They
> should have stuck with Ben Franklin station. As
> for its past. I am seeing conflicting numbers.
> Some say just before the war when the elevated
> lines and surface trolly lines all converged
> there. Before cars really took off. Others say
> just after the war up to mid 50's citing the same
> reasons. So basically you could say 1935 to 1955
> was the busiest time frame.

i'll stick to the initial street named station ... i'm not a proponent of renaming bldgs, streets or anything else for politicians ...

Posted from Android

An article about the PRR in WWII in the PRRT&HS Keystone several years ago said the largest one-day passenger volume "between Washington and Philadelphia" was 178,892 on December 24, 1943.

As an aside, 24 miles of electrified third main on the NEC in Maryland were laid after the U.S.'s declaration of war to handle the anticipated rise in traffic.

HB90MACH Wrote:
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For the record it is the William H
> Grey III station named for some senator.

The late William Gray was a Congressman.



Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Bill Gray was a widely respected political leader
> and civil rights hero. Well known in Philadelphia,
> although is connection to Amtrak is tenuous.
>
Bill Gray played a major role in securing funding to renovate 30th Street Station.

RuleG Wrote:
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> (snip)
>
>
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Bill Gray was a widely respected political
> leader
> > and civil rights hero. Well known in
> Philadelphia,
> > although is connection to Amtrak is tenuous.
> >
> Bill Gray played a major role in securing funding
> to renovate 30th Street Station.

I knew he was involved, but I didn't realize he was a major player in the renovation.

The station looks great now, much better than 20 years ago.