Eastern Railroad Discussion > SEPTA Sunday with a question

I was a recent attendee at the East Coast Santa Fe Modelers annual meet in Doylestown, PA. I was invited to come east and give 3 good old fashioned railfan presentations on the Santa Fe. The event was held at Delaware Valley University (DelVal for short) a small private institution which is tucked away in Doylestown, which itself is situated north of greater downtown Philadelphia. Being the quintessential Midwestern hick-from-the-sticks I found navigation around the Philly area to be a bit daunting. And it didn’t help that the weather was overcast 90% of the time I was there. I couldn’t use the sun to attain my usual N-S-E-W orientation. But it seems this ‘digital dinosaur’ has actually made peace with GPS and can actually use this cell phone app to advantage on most occasions.

I wasn’t able to do very much area railfanning, although I was intrigued to hear semi-distant horns from the DelVal campus. I asked around and was informed that SEPTA had a line that stub ended in Doylestown. On the Saturday morning of my visit I got a chance to go investigate. What I found was a very interesting commuter station squeezed into a very small neighborhood along S Clinton St. With surprising sunshine I did a short photo study, doing my best to shoot around the usual obstacle course of utility poles, wires and other attendant “stuff” in the immediate area. But I did get a relatively clear shot of an interesting building adjacent to the passenger depot. “The Station Taphouse”* has all the markings of having been some sort of freight depot. If this is indeed the case, whose was it? And if it was a freight depot this would seem to indicate the current RR line didn’t always stub end in Doylestown. If this is indeed the case, where did it run to and when was it stub-ended?

I find this kind of history of an area I have seen in person to be very interesting. So TIA for any historical, RR flavored help on this subject…

1. & 2. Alternate views of resting SEPTA equipment at the passenger station at 130 S Clinton St.

3. SEPTA 159 faces the morning sunshine, which has been a RARE commodity the past few days!

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One more intriguing photo needs some historical fill-in for yours truly:

4. *Former freight depot(?), now advertised as a ‘laid-back’ imbibing & culinary establishment at 194 W Ashland St.
(4 photos taken May 11, 2019 in Doylestown, PA)

Thanks for any help provided!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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The freight house was built in 1871 by the North East Pennsylvania Railroad.  In 1879 this railroad was absorbed into the Philadelphia & Reading which became the the Reading Company in 1896.

If you know the county in which a particular station is located, a good reference for train stations in Pennsylvania is: http://www.west2k.com/pastations/pastations.htm

Doylestown is in Bucks County.

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/19 10:56 by RuleG.

RuleG Wrote: > ...  which became the the Reading ...

Thank you, sir! After posting my thread I took a closer look at the info provided in the Google Maps view. It showed an interior photo that had a "Reading" emblem on one of the walls, so this would have been a logical guess for "whose was it". Did this line always stub end in Doylestown? I didn't have time to explore the area east of Clinton St for any tell-tale signs of former RR right-of-way...

Lance/199

Lance; 
From the stub end at Doylestown, the line goes in the opposite direction to Lansdale and then to center city Philadelphia.  Not too far from Doylestown is New Hope PA where another former Reading Co branch is operated by the New Hope & Ivyland.  They have an active 2-8-0 originally from the Lancaster & Chester in South Carolina.  That line goes to Warminster PA where the electrified SEPTA commuter line then continues to Hatboro and Glenside where it joins the same line as above to Jenkintown and center city.  With the underground tunnel connecting former Reading lines to ex-PRR lines, the commuter trains can continue west along the "Main Line" to Paoli and a few stations beyond.  Amtrak uses those rails to run to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.
I once went for a hot air balloon ride and the trip took us directly over the Doylestown station.  The scene, from that altitude, looked like a model railroad.
The university had its beginnings as The Farm School and later became Delaware Valley Agricultural College.
jb

It was always stub end

Posted from iPhone

RDG630 Wrote: > ...  always stub end ...

Thanks for that info tidbit! Now that I think about it there really shouldn't be any surprise at having a freight house at the end of a given line. I'm sure it was put to ample use in a neighborhood that undoubtedly looked a LOT different when the line was first built...

Lance/199