Lines
The current line runs from 69th Street Terminal just west of the Philadelphia city line, west and north to Norristown, splitting from the original main line at Villanova Junction. Formerly, the P&W's main line went west to a terminus just east of Sugartown Road in Strafford, then later, another .47 mile further, on an extension providing transfer to the PRR Strafford station and a transfer track for freight trains. The Strafford Branch was abandoned in 1956; today, the Radnor Trail uses its old right-of-way from Radnor-Chester Road to Old Sugartown Road. Up until 1951, the P&W tracks connected with the Lehigh Valley Transit Company's Liberty Bell Route at Norristown, providing service straight through from Upper Darby to Allentown.
Interstate Commerce Commission valuation reports indicate that the railroad had interchange connections to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Millbourne Mills, Strafford and Swedeland.
The line was built as a double-track third rail line. Most structures on the line were designed to ultimately accommodate four tracks, but the added tracks were never built. The quality of the line was quite high, with no at-grade crossings, 2½% maximum grade, stone ballast, block signals, and 85 pound rail. The Norristown Branch, which opened on December 12, 1912, while only 6½ miles long, represented a significant construction challenge due to the high standards maintained on the line's design. The line had to cross 12 highways, the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Radnor, and ended in a single track steel bridge 3,800 feet long into Norristown. Some 400,000 cubic yards of earth, 200,000 cubic yards of stone, 25,000 cubic yards of masonry, and 2,700 tons of steel were used in its construction.
Read more about this topic: Philadelphia And Western Railroad
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