The Broad Street grade crossing right by the station was closed by the railroad in 1926, due to numerous accidents, and an underpass was built on Chestnut Street, along with a pedestrian tunnel near Broad street. But the Chestnut Street route got too congested and in 1967 after some legal wrangling, the county forced the railroad to reopen the crossing at Broad Street. Supposedly the pedestrian tunnel was closed in the mid 1970's. Details here: https://casetext.com/case/pa-puc-v-souderton-boro-et-al
Interesting traffic stats from 1967: "Present rail traffic includes 14 passenger trains and 6 freight trains, or a total of 20 trains a day. This compares with 50 trains a day in 1925, with 3,100 pedestrians and 2000 vehicles traversing the crossing daily. The commission estimates that 5,000 vehicles would use the proposed Broad Street crossing each day."
|
Thank you Mitch and James on the history. I love how substantial Reading built their stations along this line as compared to lesser lines like the Newtown line or the New Hope line for example.
|
|