Levittown Station
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LEVITTOWN STATION HISTORY TRENTON REGIONAL RAIL LINE LEVITTOWN STATION (1953-2016) (PAST AND PRESENT) Levittown Station (1953-2016) was designed by the Pennsylvania SEPTA’s Trenton Regional Rail Line runs almost parallel to Railroad’s Bridges and Buildings Engineering Office and constructed the Delaware River in eastern Bucks County. Constructed by Levitt and Sons at the foot of Levittown Parkway along the east side in 1834, it was originally part of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, the first railroad built in Bucks County. U.S. Route 13 in Tullytown Borough, Bucks County. The mid-century The line provided transportation between the Kensington Map of Tullytown, including Pennsylvania modern station was designed to include a veneer of local fieldstone passenger station in northeast Philadelphia, and Trenton, Railroad, in 1887. as tribute to the dozens of historic farmhouses and barns previously New Jersey – a distance of just over 26 miles. In 1868, the Exterior facing track Exterior facing US Route 13 Waiting Room Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad leased The Connecting located in the area. Railway that took the line to the Pennsylvania Railroad’s LEVITTOWN STATION West Philadelphia depot near the current 30th Street During the planning phases of the industries, and used personal vehicles Station and close to downtown Philadelphia. station in the early 1950s, a small station or buses to reach places of employment. located approximately one hundred Travel by train only occurred by those The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) leased the Philadelphia yards north of Levittown in Tullytown requiring regular access to Center City and Trenton Railroad in 1871 for 999 years. The PRR Borough had already been in operation Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Railroad, became the most active rail line in Pennsylvania with for over a 100 years. In response to the competing for automobile commuters a complex system of leased and connecting lines. The expected increase in population, the and bus users, constructed a highly- former Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad trackage became Pennsylvania Railroad tracks and farmland in 1949. Future site of the Levittown Train growing industrial climate of lower visible, modern-looking train station to part of the PRR’s mainline between New York and Chicago Station and Levittown’s commercial hub, Bucks County, and strong pressure from attract new riders. Levitt and Sons hoped and also formed part of the railroad’s busy corridor line Shop-a-Rama, a 60-acre pedestrian mall. developers Levitt and Sons, the railroad a modern train station would attract between Washington and New York. The term “Main designed a larger and more modern upper middle class families, where many Line” of the PRR refers the line between Philadelphia and station for the area. The station was of the primary workers were employed Pittsburgh. It was both the railroad’s initial mainline and called Levittown-Tullytown. Tullytown in Philadelphia. Track, platform and lighting plan (July 21, 1952) its predecessor was a state-owned system of canals and was dropped in 1983 when SEPTA took railroads known collectively as the Main Line of Public In early July 1952, the Levittown Times over operation. Works. The western suburbs of Philadelphia are known as reported that construction of Levittown the Main Line because they are located along this trackage Commuting by train from Levittown Station had been delayed due to labor (SEPTA’s Paoli-Thorndale line.) to Philadelphia or Trenton was never and steel shortages. However, it is the primary means of transportation believed the delays may have come from The Pennsylvania Railroad experienced financial difficulty for most lower Bucks County residents the ongoing contractual negotiations following World War II and merged with its one-time The original Pennsylvania Railroad Tullytown Station located approximately 100 yards in the 1950s. During the Dwight D. between the Pennsylvania Railroad rival, the New York Central Railroad, in 1968 to become north of Levittown in Tullytown Borough. Eisenhower administration (1953-1961), and Levitt and Sons. The Pennsylvania the Pennsylvania Central Transportation Company. Tullytown Station operated from the mid-1800s until the opening of Levittown the automobile became most popular Railroad’s Levittown Station eventually The merger went badly and in 1970, the Penn Central Station in 1953. mode of transportation, due in part to opened on April 20, 1953, with express declared bankruptcy, the largest corporate bankruptcy the expansion of the national Interstate commuter train services traveling Architectural Elevations (August 12, 1952) in US history at that time. Congress formed the National Trenton, NJ Highway System. Many Levittown between Levittown and Philadelphia’s Railroad Passenger Corporation in 1971 with the intention residents were employed by local suburban station. of providing national intercity passenger service with the system marketed nationally as Amtrak. In 1983, SEPTA began to lease the portion of Amtrak’s Northeast Levittown Corridor between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Croydon Rendering of Levittown Station published in the Bristol Courier in Trenton, New Jersey making local stops. Eddington Bristol 1952. The caption noted that the Cornwells Heights Levittown Civic Association was conducting a ridership survey. According to the results, 44% of Torresdale residents in over 1,300 homes surveyed Holmesburg stated they would use the train if the Junction schedules were more convenient. At Tacony ver the time of the survey, there were four Ri e trains traveling to Philadelphia in the Bridesburg ar morning and two in the evening from Longitudinal section of Levittown Station facing tracks August 12, 1952) North w a Here’s how Levittown Station, on the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad at the foot of Levittown Philadelphia l Parkway, will look in April, according to Levitt & Sons, Inc., builders. the existing Tullytown Station. The e Pennsylvania Railroad conducted their D The Trenton Regional Rail Line runs Described by Levitt as “the most modern suburban station in the nation,” the station will be finished in native fieldstone and brick and will house a waiting room, ticket office and baggage and rest rooms. own ridership survey that indicated 30th Temple between Center City in Philadelphia, Platforms will be 300 feet long, with 100-foot shelter sheds on both sides of the tracks. only approximately 140 residents were Street University and Trenton, New Jersey. The Levitt Civic Association is conducting a commuters survey to help the railroad in setting train commuting to Philadelphia via train schedules connecting Levittown with Phila, and New York. from Tullytown Station. Suburban Alexander Kopstein, 23 Linden Lane, is directing the survey. All aboard! Jeerson.