Walnut Hill station (SEPTA)
Walnut Hill station is a defunct SEPTA Regional Rail station in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Located on Moredon Road, it served the Fox Chase/Newtown Line. SEPTA closed the station in 1983.
Walnut Hill | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Former railroad station | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | 200 Moredon Road Abington Township, Pennsylvania. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40.0970°N 75.0744°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | SEPTA | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disabled access | No | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | January 14, 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrified | no | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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History
Walnut Hill, and all stations north of Fox Chase, was closed on January 14, 1983, due to failing diesel train equipment that SEPTA had no desire to repair.[1]
In addition, a labor dispute began within the SEPTA organization when the transit operator inherited 1,700 displaced employees from Conrail. SEPTA insisted on utilizing transit operators from the Broad Street Subway to operate Fox Chase/Newtown diesel trains, while Conrail requested that railroad motormen run the service. When a federal court ruled that SEPTA had to use Conrail employees in order to offer job assurance, SEPTA canceled Fox Chase-Newtown trains.[2] Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was cancelled at that time, and Walnut Hill station still appears in publicly posted tariffs.[3]
Although rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999.
References
- "Newtown Branch History". Southampton, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition. 2010. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
- Tulsky, Fredric N. (January 29, 1982). "Conrail Staff Must Run Trains: court ruling bars SEPTA takeover". The Philadelphia Inquirer.SEPTA must use Conrail workers rather than its own personnel to run trains over the region's 13 commuter lines, a special federal court has ruled in a decision that offers some job assurance for 1,700 Conrail employees next year. The special court, in an opinion issued Wednesday, ruled that SEPTA had acted legally in October when it replaced Conrail workers with its former subway operators on the line.
- "Tariff No. 154 - Supplement No. 37" (PDF). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. March 6, 2009. pp. 4–7. Retrieved June 28, 2011.