Owned by SEPTA Parking 15 spaces Electrified No Opened 1892 (Reading Company) Platforms in use 1 | Platform levels 1 Closed January 14, 1983 Owner SEPTA Level 1 Tracks 2 | |
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Location Second Street Pike and Knowles Avenue
Southampton, Pennsylvania Address 613 2nd St Pike, Southampton, PA 18966, USA Similar Churchville station, Newtown station, Fox Chase station | ||
Southampton station is a former railroad station in Southampton, Pennsylvania. Built by the Reading Railroad in 1892, it later served SEPTA Regional Rail's Fox Chase/Newtown Line. SEPTA closed the station along with several others in 1983. It is located on Second Street Pike (PA-232) near Knowles Avenue.
Contents
History
Built in 1892, Southampton station was a stop on the Reading Railroad's Newtown Line. It later became a part of SEPTA's Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line. The station, and all of those north of Fox Chase station, was closed on January 14, 1983, due to failing diesel train equipment (RDCs).
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 cancelled Fox Chase-Newtown trains. Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was cancelled at that time, and Southampton Station still appears in publicly posted tariffs.
Although rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999.
Fire
Three months after SEPTA assumed operations, on January 2, 1982, the crossing at Second Street Pike south of Southampton Station was the site of a fiery crash between a train, an ARCO gasoline truck, and a car. Motorman Donald Williams died from multiple burns. Five people were also injured; the accident caused flames to rise fifty feet in the air and created a plume of black smoke visible for miles. Photographs findicate the crossing signal equipment was working properly, with warning lights continuing to warn motorists after the collision occurred. SEPTA general manager David L. Gunn ordered additional safety precautions, but service ceased just over a year after the accident.