Edited by David Wartell
The Newtown Square Branch left the Octoraro Branch at Fernwood, MP 5.5. It then headed into East Lansdowne to Pembroke Ave at MP 6.1 where a small 4 track yard existed. After leaving the Pembroke Yard the Cardington Branch leaves the Newtown Square Branch at MP 6.5. The Newtown Square Branch then traveled through Upper Darby, Havertown, and Merion to its terminus at Newtown Square, MP 15.6. Today, the only remnant of the Newtown Square Branch remaining is the tail track at Fernwood which serves as a freight siding.
The Philadelphia and Chester County Rail Road was formed in 1872 to provide passenger and freight service to the rural areas of Delaware and Chester counties. The Philadelphia and Chester County Rail Road had trouble finding finacial support and was reorganized in 1877 and again in 1885 to form the Philadelphia Midland Rail Road Company. The original line was supposed to run from the Angora station of the Philadelphia and West Chester Rail Road on a line west through Newtown Square in Delaware County into Chester County. A branch was then to split off near West Chester and proceed to Downingtown.
The railroad was never completed beyond Newtown Square. The railroad also never made connection to the Philadelphia and West Chester Rail Road at Angora station.
In 1882 the line was completed from Fernwood to Garrettford in Upper Darby Township, this was about a three mile section. The line branches off from the Philadelphia and West Chester Rail Road just past Fernwood and heads west northwest towards Newtown Square a distance of 9.2 miles.
The Philadelphia Midland Rail Road Company was not able to complete the line and another reorganization took place in 1890 forming the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad Company. Construction began in October 1893 and was completed in July 1895.
Operations began on June 30, 1894 with 10 stations along the right of way. The initial time table showed five trains daily, four 1st class trains and one 2nd class train, and four trains on Sunday. Thhi was reflected in the time table that went into effect on July 3rd, 1894. By April of 1895, the number of trains increased to seven trains daily, all first class, and four trains eastward, to Philadelphia, and five trains westward, to Newtown Square, on Sunday. Passenger service then declined rapidly because of the competition from the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company. The November 15, 1896 time table shows that even though an eleventh station was established, Arlington, the number of trains had dropped to three weekday trains in each direction and all but Llanarch, Grassland and Fernwood were now flag stops. By 1906, there was only one passenger train on weekdays and the passenger service was finally dropped in 1908.
The Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company competed directly with the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad and stole away the passenger business. The building of the traction line included the so called "Battle of Llanarch Crossing." This series of incidents revolved around the attempted crossing of the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad Company line by the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company at Llanarch. The "railroad and trolley construction crews confronted each other at Llanarch, and there were many curses exchanged and occasional fist fights and some threatened shootings." The railroad blocked the proposed crossing with steam engines to prevent the traction construction crews from laying the crossing. Eventually a court injunction expired and the crossing was laid.
The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company operated the line until November 1, 1902, when the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company took over. Looking at the annual reports of the PW&B RR and the PB&W RR, the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad was marginally profitable at best and often lost money. The Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad was never able to repay the Pennsylvania Railroad for the cost of completing the line, so in December 1913 the entire stock of the railroad was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in lieu of payment and from that time forward it was operated as a branch of the PRR.
Excerpt from 1900 CT1000
Excerpt from 1913 CT1000
Excerpt from 1923 CT1000
Excerpt from 1945 CT1000 E
Achtert, Al, Personal Communication
DeGraw, Ronald Red Arrow: The First Hundred Years 1848-1948, Glendake: Interurban Press, (1985) ISBN 0-916374-67-X
Klaus, Philip W. "The Newtown Square Branch" The High Line, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, vol. 7 no. 2 (1987).
Klaus, Philip W. "The Newtown Square Branch Part II" The High Line, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, vol. 7 no. 4 (1987).
___ "The Pennsylvania Railroad C.T. 1000 July 1, 1900" Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Railroad, (1900)
___ "The Pennsylvania Railroad C.T. 1000 January 1, 1913" Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Railroad, (1913)
___ "The Pennsylvania Railroad C.T. 1000 November 1, 1923" Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Railroad, (1923)
___ "The Pennsylvania Railroad C.T. 1000 E. May 1, 1945" Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Railroad, (1945)
Copyright 1996 - 2008
Last modified: November 24 2007.
Keystone Crossings has served 4991285 pages since June 1, 1997.