Walnut Hill is a derelict station located along SEPTA's Fox Chase/Newtown Line, located on Moredon Road in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.

History

Walnut Hill, and all stations north of Fox Chase, was closed on January 14, 1983,^[1] due to failing diesel train equipment that SEPTA had no desire to repair.

In addition, a labor dispute began within the SEPTA organization when the transit operator inherited 1,700 displaced employees from Conrail. SEPTA insisted on utilizing transit operators from the Broad Street Subway to operate Fox Chase/Newtown diesel trains, while Conrail requested that railroad motormen run the service. When a federal court ruled that SEPTA had to use Conrail employees in order to offer job assurance, SEPTA canceled Fox Chase-Newtown trains.^[2] Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was cancelled at that time, and Walnut Hill Station still appears in publicly posted tariffs.^[3]

Although rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light. The traveling public never saw a bus service as a suitable replacement for a rail service, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999.

Resumption of train service

In the ensuing years, there has been interest in resuming passenger service to the long-dormant line.

In September 2009, the Southampton-based Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition (PA-TEC) began discussions with township officials along the railway, as well as SEPTA officials, about the realistic possibility of resuming even minimal passenger service to relieve traffic congestion in the region. Plans call for completing the electrification to Newtown, as originally planned in the late 1970s.

PA-TEC's efforts have received overwhelming bipartisan support by both Bucks and Montgomery County officials, as well as at the state level, despite SEPTA's overall reservations. However, SEPTA has also confirmed they are willing to reestablish regular commuter service if strong political support exists in both counties.^[4]

Track Removal, Private Interests and Controversy

Walnut Hill station was a popular stop for passengers visiting the adjacent Lorimer Park. Since the late 1970s, Abington Township Ward 2 had advocated the reuse of the railway as a recreational trail.^[5] In July 2008, this idea came to fruition at the insistence of township commissioner Robert Wachter, acting on behalf of constiuent Richard Stern^[6]; the section of track that passes through the Walnut Hill Station site was dismantled quickly in conjunction with Montgomery County Parks to make way for an extension to the existing Pennypack Trail. The trail is not officially a rail trail, as SEPTA did not railbank the line.^[7]

Enormous controversy surrounded the creation of the trail. Traffic congestion in the region grew to unimaginable heights throughout the 1990s and resumed passenger service was seen as a tool to battle the trend. Public transit advocates voiced their opposition to the removal of the tracks, which effectively severed the outer end of the Fox Chase/Newtown line from the national railroad network (much to the consternation of Bucks County public officials who have been waiting for SEPTA to reactivate train service since "temporarily" suspending it in 1983).

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia also agreed that while the trail serves its purpose, the railroad should take priority if both cannot coexist:

We believe that there is sufficient right-of-way available to support both future rail service and maintain trail usage. If there is insufficient right-of-way within the corridor to do both, then a relocation or rerouting of the trail to preserve the non-motorized route is necessary.^[8]

Conversely, wealthy constituents—seemingly unconcerned to the surrounding traffic congestion—stated the train will never return to the region; when interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer in October 2009, Richard F. Stern of Stern and Eisenberg, LLP in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania voiced his opposition to the resumption of train service:

...I would adamantly oppose it. To disrupt this gorgeous trail would be very upsetting to me and the residents of my community. I have applauded the commissioners for getting this (trail) done so quickly and so well...I want any issue of reopening a railroad to go away. It will never be supported by Abington Township or the County.^[9]

Stern is president of the Tall Trees Homeowners Association at the Tall Trees housing development in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Like many townhomes that abut the railway line, the Tall Trees housing development was built 1985, two years after service ceased on the rail line.^[9]

The section of the line currently occupied by the interim trail has historically been a hotbed for political upheaval. Population near this portion of the line in Montgomery County has always been sparse, and there were few stations (Walnut Hill, Huntingdon Valley, Bryn Athyn, Woodmont) that served passengers when trains operated. Despite small originating ridership, the county was assessed much of the route's operating cost. As such, opposition within official county circles to subsidize operation existed as far back as the mid-1970s. Proposals were floated around at that time to install a track connection where the line crosses the West Trenton route near Bethayres, and to abandon the stretch of track between Fox Chase and the West Trenton line. The existence of the trail essentially carried out this plan, minus the benefit of the West Trenton connection. This is unfortunate, as even in its dormant state, the Newtown Branch is the shorter and more favorable route to the West Trenton line junction, as rush hour rail traffic through the Jenkintown/Wyncote bottleneck remains heavy.^[10]

PA-TEC criticized SEPTA's haste in converting the railway into a trail:

If you try to run a railroad to benefit the many, SEPTA will give 101 reasons why it cannot be done. But if you are powerful, politically connected and want a rail trail to benefit the few, SEPTA rolls out the red carpet."^[11]

Trail criticism

Noted transit expert John Pawson, author of Delaware Valley Rails: The Railroads and Rail Transit Lines of the Philadelphia Area, has inquired why a transit agency like SEPTA is promoting trails instead of public transit. In an October 2010 communication sent to the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission Regional Citizens Committee, Pawson stated the following:

"The designation "Pennypack Trail" was placed on a section of the dormant Fox Chase-Newtown passenger rail line, and the rails were lifted for some 2.4 miles and a gravel path substituted. This relatively cheap and quick process may have been expedient, but cheapness is its only advantage. The trail as built essentially runs from nowhere to nowhere. In the lower half of its length, it is distant from the creek and the north end of the Philadelphia section of the trail. A relatively high-grade piece of infrastructure has been diverted (temporarirly, one would hope) to a relatively low-grade purpose. It's like taking over an expressway to use for someone's driveway. It would be much better all around to link the Philadelphia section at Pine Road via existing trails, sidewalks, and some new construction on publicly accessible property to form a continuous and scenic path near the creek over the full 18-mile length of the Trail as originally conceived. Montgomery County has the means to do so; it should not satisfy itself with the poorly located segment on the rail grade. There is no need to pull up any more track. This real creek-side Pennypack Trail through Montgomery County and the restoration of the rail line in that county and beyond could be considered as a single valid political issue. Various groups including rail and trail proponents and others should work together for a joint project.^[12]