23-10-16 PHOTOS: Exton

SEPTA's Exton Station on the R5 Thorndale portion of the old PRR Main Line is arguably the most important station west of Paoli. The station is served by both SEPTA and Amtrak, and was recently upgraded with high level platforms and a new station building. With service steadily expanding in the 21st century and a vintage PRR signal location adjacent to the parking lot I made the effort to stop by in the fall of 2023 where I generated this set of photos ( mirror ), which also includes a bunch of Baltimore area MARC and light rail photos.

New rebuilt Exton station features two high level platforms and a station building with a waiting area and rest rooms. The new amenities opened in 2018 replacing low level platforms with a mini-high for ADA access. For years crews on the line used the concept of time consuming ADA process at Exton to cover up for small delays that may have been their own fault. The magnitude of ADA-linked delays may have actually accelerated the high level platform project.

The parking lot serving the westbound platform is sandwiched between the PRR Main Line proper and the Low Grade Extension of the Trenton Cutoff that was built around 1906 to extend the alternate freight route from the original junction at Glendale to Thorndale. This extension was abandoned around 1980 as Conrail discontinued electric operation and through freight left The Main Line, however its impressive right of way is still intact.

To the west one can see the famous Whitford Flyover where the Low Grade Extension crosses the Main Line. The SEPTA Whitford Station is located under the flyover and due to its close proximity to Exton and much less parking it sees substantially less ridership. The 1981 construction of Exton was also instrumental in the demise of R3 service to West Chester. With 635 parking spaces, the city of West Chester fell within the new station's driving catchment and offered travel time to Philly that was 30-60 minutes faster than old curvy R3 with its many stops and 40mph top speed. To this day the presence of Exton is the largest barrier to SEPTA West Chester service restoration.

In the western direction one finds the Milepost 27 intermediate signal location looking towards Paoli. At Exton, the center track #2 is only used by the daily regional freight to Coatsville and a few SEPTA deadheads running in to the rear of the SEPTA yard and Frazer.

A westbound R5 Thorndale arrives at Exton. The station has seen a roller coaster of service patterns over the last 30 years. In 1990 most SEPTA service ended at Paoli with some continuing to Parkesburg, supplementing Amtrak Keystone service that also served all the stations west of Paoli. In 1996 SEPTA cut back service to Downingtown, but also moved its yard to Frazer, making Malvern the final stop of regular "Paoli" trains. At this point Amtrak dropped service to Whitford and Malvern. In 1999 the R5 was extended to its current terminus at Thorndale.

There wasn't much train traffic while I was getting my signal photos, but I did spot this Red Tailed Hawk scanning for prey.

Jumping back down to Baltimore, hI caught CSX ET44AC #3252 and #3262 along with AC4400 #237 between them stopped short of the Hollins Ferry Road crossing. A special "Crossing Indicator" signal informs the crew that a route is lined through Zepps Bridge to avoid blocking the crossing.

 

Rebuilt MTA Maryland LRV #5034 at North Linthicum and Mount Royal.

Rebuilt MTA Maryland LRV #5017 at Cultural Center and North Linthicum.

Down at SAVAGE interlocking on the CSX Capital Sub here is a southbound MARC Camden Line train with MP36PH-3C #30.

Next was an eastbound single level Camden Line train led by MP36PH-3C #32 with single level cab car #7761 on the end.



Here we have another westbound single level MARC Camden Line train led by single level cab car #7762 and MP36PH-3C #28 doing its best to imitate a steam locomotive.



Waiting for the next northbound, the dispatcher boldly ran a manifest freight ahead of it. The Cap Sub is surprisingly straight and trains can pretty much maintain the 50mph track speed all the way tp Elkridge and the Thomas Viaduct.



The northbound MARC was pretty much on time 10-15 minutes after the freight. It was triple headed with MP36PH-3C's #23, #18 and #16. This sort of thing is not uncommon on Camden Line trains as MARC's diesel maintainence facility is off the Camden Line route in Locust Point, Baltimore, so engines in need of attention are swapped onto eastbound Camden Line trainsets at Washington Union Station in the middle of the day.

That's everything I have for today, next time I'll once again be headed out to HARRIS tower by way of Lancaster.