23-12-28 PHOTOS: Claymont

The Claymont Station on SEPTA's R2 Wilmington Line has had an interesting life, being closed in 1983 after SEPTA suspended Delaware service in 1983 then reopened with brand new infrastructure in 1990 only to be rebuilt and reopened again in 2023. As 2023 wound to a close I decided to pull off I-495 and see what the new new Claymont station was all about ( mirror ).

The old new Claymont station existed on a curve about a quarter mile to the south of its replacement Built before the ADA took full effect, the old new station was able to get away with low level platforms and a traditional stairway underpass.

One strange feature of the DART First State SEPTA stations at Claymont and Churchman's Crossing was the presence of full time on-site security that would quick on their feet to shoo away any railfans that turned up. Today, while the old new station is probably a greater target of malfeasance, the security booth sits empty.

My arrival was unfortunately a minute too late to get proper photos of both a northbound Acela and a southbound SEPTA R2 local with Silverliners IV.

Ironically, the walkway over I-495 that connects the actual residents of Claymont to the rail station was closed as part of the project, but I heard that it has since reopened along with a dedicated walking path to the new station.

The new $90 million replacement station was built on the site of Claymont Steel, an operation dating back to 1917 that eventually turned into a scrap steel mini-mill type operation in the 1970's and 80's. Constantly under financial pressure as the steel industry went into decline, the Claymont site found itself being passed between a string of owners between 1983 and 2007 when it wound up as part of the Russian Oligarch owned Evraz group. Ultimately American investors had the last laugh as the plans ceased operations in 2013. The site was purchased in 2016 for transit oriented redevelopment with the new station preceding retail and housing.

Construction for the new station began in 2019 and was completed in 2023 with 8+ car high level platforms and an overhead walkway for accessing the far track. The walkway currently provides excellent views of the NEC, however I expect the windows to fog over time. The traditional DART security guard was present, but I figure they got some retraining as instead of kicking me out he just gave me the stink eye while I took photos.

While on the northbound track #1 platform I got photos of a southbound SEPTA R2 with Silverliners IV #287, #178, #179 and #407, along with a southbound Amtrak Regional with ACS-86 #611.

Here we see a video of a northbound Acela Express trainset with power cars #2028 and #2016 followed by an overhead clip of Roanoke Regional Train 176.

The new Claymont station location provides unobstructed to the Milepost 19.2 PRR vintage intermediate signal bridge, which was previously located behind the steel mill. The MP 19.2 signals are distants to HOOK interlocking in Marcus Hook, PA and will typically display approach signals on northbound track 1 and 2. Because of the short distance between HOOK and HOLLY interlockings, the northbound and southbound intermediates need to be staggered.

The signal bridge has the PRR position lights in a stepped arrangements with the upper head on top of the gantry and the lower head mounted to the front. This arrangement was popular in the late 1920's before being replaced by the caged style mounting in electrified territory.

SEPTA loves its transportation centers and technically that is what the new Claymont facility is, serving as a hub for DART First State buses. If the R2 ran more than hourly off peak and weekends the new Transportation Center might actually become a popular alternative to I-95.

The facility has over 700 spots of garage and surface parking with riders having the choice of barrier free access to southbound trains or the overhead walkway.

In true everything bagel fashion the station comes equipped with EV charging and a natural gas backup power generator. Still, the $90 million price tag is pretty reasonable given all the work that went into the facility including all the approach roads.

That's all I have to say about Claymont, so let's jump across the river to New Jersey's attempt at Transit Oriented Development with the Cherry Hill Atlantic City Rail Line station built on the site of the former Garden State Racetrack that is now a megamall split in two by the rail line. Here we see NJT GP40PH-2B #4204 pulling over to serve Cherry Hill's single high level side platform with Comet V cab car #6078 on the rear.

Despite the presence of a Costco, Wegemans and hundreds of housing units on the east side of the tracks, there is no official way to walk from any of those destinations to the station / Shoprite on the west side of the tracks in what I assume must be an intentional action to exclude anyone without a personal vehicle. Unsurprisingly locals had created their own path through two fencelines north of NORTH RACE interlocking, seen here displaying a Medium Clear indication for an approaching southbound train.

When the ACRL was opened in 1989, NJT service terminated at Lindenwold and trains used the RACE siding to turn back. When NJT service was extended to 30th St and the new Cherry Hill station was built a few years later, a new crossover, was constructed near the north end of the siding to allow NJT trains to "pull over" and access the station platform. Here we see a southbound NJT train with GP40PH-2B #4207 pulling over to the station platform while facing another Medium CLear signal at the RACE crossover to pull back onto the main. If trains are running late the south end of the siding can still be used as a passing point.

I'll finish up with this sunset as seen from the Christiana River Bridge on I-495 in Delaware, south of the Claymont station.

Next time I head to Northern Virginia to try and find some surviving N&W CPLs.