Chelten Avenue station

Chelten Avenue
Chelten Avenue station, facing the Chelten Avenue bridge in October 2012
General information
Location359 Chelten Avenue
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°01′48″N 75°10′52″W / 40.0300°N 75.1812°W / 40.0300; -75.1812
Owned bySoutheastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
ConnectionsBus transport SEPTA City Bus: 26, J[1]
Construction
Parking24 spaces[2]
Bicycle facilities10 rack spaces[2]
AccessibleNo[1]
Other information
Fare zone1[1]
History
OpenedJune 11, 1884 (1884-06-11)[3]
Rebuilt1915
ElectrifiedMarch 22, 1918[4]
Passengers
2017359 boardings, 307 alightings (weekday average)[5]
Rank75 of 146
Services
Preceding station SEPTA Following station
Tulpehocken Chestnut Hill West Line Queen Lane
Former services
Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station
Tulpehocken Chestnut Hill Line Queen Lane
Tulpehocken Fort Washington Branch
Location
Map

Chelten Avenue station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located on West Chelten Avenue in the Germantown neighborhood, it serves the Chestnut Hill West Line. The concrete station structure, part of a Pennsylvania Railroad grade-separation project completed in 1918 in conjunction with electrification of the line, was designed by William Holmes Cookman.[6]

A station has been at this location since June 11, 1884. Known initially as Germantown, the 1918 station was named Chelten Avenue to avoid confusion with the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad's Germantown. The original station building was a two-story stone structure at street level on the outbound side. Retained in that general location after the 1918 grade separation, it was demolished circa 1958, replaced by a small brick ticket office on the inbound side which remains in use today.[7]

The station is in zone 1 on the Chestnut Hill West Line, on former PRR tracks, and is 8.1 miles (13.0 km) from Suburban Station. It contains concrete-arch-covered staircases on all four corners of the Chelten Avenue Bridge over the tracks leading to the station platforms. In 2004, this station saw 441 boardings on an average weekday. Despite having high-level platforms, the station is not ADA accessible, as it lacks ramps or elevators from the street down to the platform level.

  1. ^ a b c "Chestnut Hill West Line Timetable" (PDF). Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. April 16, 2023. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Queen Lane Station". Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  3. ^ "Steam Roads: Opening of Pennsylvania's New Branch Line". The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 11, 1884. p. 2. Retrieved November 10, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ "Electric Train Has Trial Trip". The Harrisburg Telegraph. March 23, 1918. p. 10. Retrieved August 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ "Fiscal Year 2021 Service Plan Update". SEPTA. June 2020. p. 24. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
  6. ^ "Chelten Avenue Station". Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. The Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  7. ^ Lynch, James J. D. Jr. (1982). The Chestnut Hill and Fort Washington Branches. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. pp. 10–11, 22.