The photo above shows the train either approaching or leaving the Huntington Valley station on the Newtown line. The “train” looks like a single Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC), built at the Budd plant in Philadelphia.

If you’re of a certain age, you remember a time when you could take the train from Center City all the way to Newtown. Along the way, you’d pass by the Bryn Athyn station, which today serves only as the community’s post office. That part of the line is now the Pennypack Train extension.

SEPTA closed down the line north of Fox Chase in 1983 after a labor dispute involving Conrail. Read more about the history of the line here.

The line began as an effort by the Pennsylvania Railroad to block the Reading Railroad’s plans to extend a line towards New York City. Construction stopped at Newtown and the line eventually ended up as another branch of the Reading system.