20-05-01 PHOTOS: Elwyn Media

Many transportation systems used the COVID shutdown period to perform normally disruptive capital projects and SEPTA was no different, performing work in the ARSENAL interlocking area to create a turnback of University City so that some trains that normally terminate at 30th St, could instead serve University City with minimal added cost. Unfortunately work in this area presented the risk to the classic amber PRR Position Light signals at WALNUT interlocking north of the University City station so I made a special trip to document the signals and nearby attractions such as the West Philadelphia High Line. Later in the same time period I made my first ever visit to Elwyn, PA, current southern terminus of SEPTA's R3 line, to get some photos of the station, interlocking and operations. You can view the full set of these photos here ( mirror ).

The University of Pennsylvania sports complex located between the Maryland Division SEPTA tracks and the Schuylkill River is dominated by the West Philadelphia Elevated, also known as the Real High Line. This viaduct was built by the PRR in 1903 to allow main line freight movements to bypass the 30th St passenger terminal area and is still used today by CSX as a second main track on it's east coast corridor through downtown Philly and for access to Greenwich Yard at the Port of Philadelphia. 

SEPTA's WALNUT interlocking was previously part of the PRR's ARSENAL interlocking plant located to the southern end of the philadelphia terminal complex and currently consists of a full crossover on what was once the PRR's "Maryland Division" tracks number 5 and 6 that utilize the center platform on the 30th St Station suburban level. Today these tracks are used by SEPTA's Regional Rail R1 Airport, R2 Wilmington and R3 Elwyn lines. The two track PRR position light signal features the northbound signals for WALNUT interlocking and the southbound Milepost 1.5 automatic signals. Here we see the track #5 signal displaying an Approach Medium indication for a Stop signal at the northern end of the 30th St station suburban platforms.

This part of University City is now dominated by the Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation headquarters building built over Amtrak property south of 30th St station.

Because of the Pandemic SEPTA was running a skeletal service with only about one train passing by per hour, which in my case was a single 4-car set of Silverliner IV's.

This roughly matched the frequency of CSX freight trains on the adjacent High Line, with CSX ES44AC #874 and AC4400 #584 passing by with a southbound train of doublestacks.

All of this can be seen from the glass sided pedestrian walkway that passes over the SEPTA tracks and under the High Line.

Moving on, the SEPTA Elwyn Station has been the terminus of the R3 service since 1986 when service to West Chester was "temporarily" suspended. Located at the end of the double track, terminating trains advance onto the single track segment and then pull forward for the return trip to Center City. Until recently the wire was intact to Lenni, PA where a training center was located, but with the ongoing project to re-extend the line to Wawa the track and wire has been "temporarily" ripped out just past the current Elwyn terminal. Here we see SEPTA SL-IV #439 on the tail track at Elwyn.

The 4-car train pulled forward to the station platform with Silverliner IV #114 on the rear. Despite the low ridership, 4-car trains were used to allow passengers to spread out.

SEPTA #439 again as seen from the elevated roadway adjacent to the inbound platform.

Here we see the 4-car train as it departs the Elwyn terminal, 15 miles from Suburban Station.

Some of the elements from the Elwyn Station's 1980's reconstruction are still evident.

Moving a few miles down the line, the former Glen Riddle station has been largely obliterated by the right of way reconstruction. Three stations, Williamson School, Glen Riddle and Lenni, previously located between Elwyn and Wawa were not included in the service restoration plan.

The Lenni Substation, built by the PRR in 1928, was rebuilt by SEPTA around 2019. The substation is supplied with 25hz power via one 138Kv circuit running along the West Chester Line to Amtrak's Arsenal substation and a second 138Kv circuit running on its own right of way directly to Amtrak's Lamokin frequency converter on the NEC near Chester. Although SEPTA maintains the substations, 25hz power is supplied and dispatched by Amtrak.

Although SEPTA could have restored service to Wawa using the existing infrastructure, they instead decided to spend two decades and many millions of dollars to rebuild the line from scratch, including this new bridge over Lenni Road right near the location of the old Lenni Station.

Nearby, the former PRR Chester Creek Branch to Lamokin has been converted into a bicycle trail.  This line intersected with the West Chester Branch at WAWA interlocking that was located about a mile to the south at the old Wawa station.

That's the end of my trek along the West Chester Branch. Next week join me as I head out for some outdoor recreation along the Enola Branch in Columbia, PA.