Riding the Train

On Monday holiday October 11th all of us, Katie, Todd, Henry, Clara, Becky and me walked down the street to the Sedgwick Station to take the train downtown for a Center City Adventure. We also walked by that station and under the bridge to get to Clara's pre-school and also to Henry's school.

The kids loved the train ride and enjoyed looking out of the window as the city passed by. They especially liked passing through the Wayne Junction station where there were many old trains along the sidings and others in various states of repair.

Wayne Junction was my local station for me using the Philly commuter train system when I was growing up and also later when I lived there with Becky on Seymour Street. I would often walk down Greene Street to Wayne Junction to take the train downtown and later in the 60's I used it to get to work at Brandywine Products in North Wales. Later still I would sometimes take it to get down to Temple University both for the main campus and also occasionally when I took a class at the Center City campus.

The other day as we passed through the Junction I pointed out my old neighborhood to Todd and we could see the old Saint Francis church. I also showed him the Point tavern that I spent a lot of time at and is now a daycare center. As a teenager we also hung out at the Wayne Junction Diner.

We took the train down to the Jefferson Station which is the new name for the Market East Station. A lot has changed with the Philly train system since I rode it regularly in the 1960's and 1970's. I've only been on the train a very few times since the major reorganization of the system in the 1980's but have been riding it regularly on our visits since Katie and Todd moved to Philly four years ago. One time we also rode it from the airport to the Sedgwick Station down the street. Very convenient except for the luggage issue. Going to the airport had traditionally been a very long and stressful drive. It was a wonderful improvement when the trains began running between the airport and center city. However, because of our large bags we've recently been taking Lyft rides to and from the airport. 

We arrived at the Jefferson Station and I was surprised again at how beautiful the station was and how different things were from when I was regularly there. In 1984 the City and SEPTA completed the Commuter Tunnel that was started in 1978 and connected all the rail lines into one system. The Market East Station also went into service in 1984 replacing the Reading Terminal Station. The whole SEPTA rail system suddenly became much more efficient.

I was very much aware of the old system as a kid using the train because of the two lines going up to Chestnut Hill. There was the Chestnut Hill East line that was part of the old Pennsylvania Railroad and then there was the Chestnut Hill West line that was part of the old Reading Railroad. Both Chestnut Hill stations were within a couple of blocks from my grandmother's house and both lines went through Germantown. The Germantown Station was on the Pennsy line which went to 30th Street Station and the Suburban Station in Center City. Wayne Junction was on the Reading line and would take me downtown to the Reading Terminal. The real difference was where the two lines took us to the suburbs and beyond which really didn't matter to me until the summer of 1968 when I was taking the train to work. Later when we moved to Harleysville I would sometimes take the train in Lansdale down to the Reading Terminal.

So we walked through the station with the kids and Clara was excited about the escalator. Then we had our Center City Adventure. We had a wonderful day and when it was time to go back home we walked to the train station and got tickets from the kiosk. I should note that if we lived in Philly riding all of the SEPTA train, subways and busses would be free because we are over 65. Back on the train the kids once again were glued to the windows watching the city pass by as we headed back to Mt Airy.