Along with my visit to Franklin Music Hall,
a stone’s throw from Franklin Square and his namesake bridge, I planned a route
to find a few Philadelphia train stations. I’ve mentioned before on this blog
my side hobby of “collecting” stations, brought about not only by interest in
railroads but my love of architecture. Of course, the major structures like
30th Street Station or Grand Central in NYC are fantastic, but smaller depots also
have their own charm, and I have photos of nearly 700 railroad stations that I
have visited across the country.
The Railroad Station Historical Society
website is an invaluable resource to see what has been in the vicinity during
my travels. The site is organized by state, and the Pennsylvania and New York
sections are particularly helpful, as they are organized by county and include
photos, addresses and a bit of history on the structures, as well! There were
twenty-nine stations listed in Philadelphia, and I was missing six.
Knowing that the circuit to reach the
different destinations was going to be around fifty miles, I drove into
Manayunk to eliminate an additional ride distance to and from the city. A good
percentage of my ride was going to include bike lanes, and I started off down
Ridge Road and then cut across Lehigh Avenue to the Glenwood section of
Philadelphia. Just to the south of the intersection at Broad Street sits the
Reading Railroad’s North Broad Station – the platforms are still in service in
back, but the headhouse now serves as a homeless shelter.
I headed up Broad Street then turned east on
Glenwood Avenue, which eventually turns into Venango Street. At the northeast
corner of its intersection with B Street is a former Pennsylvania Railroad
freight house. It once was a boxcar transload facility, and the 50,000 square
foot building is now Amtrak property.
Ticket pick-up was my next stop, so I
pedaled down B, turned right on Allegheny and left on 6th Street, eventually
entering some of the neighborhoods I visited this winter on my City
Cycling 4 ride. The Guided By Voices show I want to see is actually at
Underground Arts, but use of the Franklin Music Center box office is shared
during daytime hours.
After the purchase, I continued down 6th,
passing the Constitution Center and Independence Hall. My Historic
Philadelphia rides, if nothing else, have really made me familiar with the
surroundings, and I was picking out sites around Washington Square that I had
visited previously. I made a right at Carpenter Street to reach a Philadelphia
Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad freight station that has been nicely
converted into a farmer’s market.
Reversing direction via Washington Street, I
made my way back across the city to reach Penn’s Landing and followed the
Delaware River Trail north. The trail is in development above Market Street, so
I was on and off segments near the Sugar House Casino, then I was back on the
bike lane up Delaware Avenue and Richmond Street.
The in-street trackage for Philadelphia’s
light rail system was being installed in the Port Richmond neighborhood, so I
briefly had to take to the sidewalk to get around all of the carnage. I made a
right turn on Allegheny Avenue, where a wide and nicely-paved trail paralleled
the streets through PhilaPort and the Tioga Marine Terminal. I wouldn’t say the
trail was “scenic”, but there definitely was a lot to see, with a dock busy
with truck traffic and container ship cranes, plus a few interesting industries
along Delaware Avenue.
I soon crossed Frankford Creek and passed
beneath the Betsy Ross Bridge. Here I noticed the path really became a Rails-To-Trails
project, as I was riding under the catenary towers that once carried the
overhead wires powering the Pennsylvania Railroad’s electric freight engines as
they brought trains to and from the Delaware River port area.
 |
| A pair of General Electric E44 locomotives pull a freight train in December 1968. |
Now in the Bridesburg section of the city, I
made a left on Orthodox Street, and zigzagged over to Torresdale Avenue via
Richmond and Bridge Streets. I had gone through my snacks in my jersey back
pockets, and the wonderful smells coming from the variety of little restaurants
in the Tacony neighborhood were making my stomach grumble. The road conditions
were perfect here as the wide avenue had been recently repaved and had a nicely
lined bike lane.
Turning right on Rhawn Street, I spied
Holmesburg Junction Station, which really looks like some passenger platforms
around an interlocking tower. Splitting here from the Pennsylvania Railroad main
line is the Bustleton Branch, now a lightly-used freight line, which runs up
along the Pennypack Creek to service a few industries around Northeast
Philadelphia Airport.
I made a little detour to see the Frankford
Avenue Bridge (also known as the Pennypack Creek Bridge, the Pennypack Bridge,
the Holmesburg Bridge, and the King's Highway Bridge), which was erected in
1697 and is the oldest surviving roadway bridge in the United States.
I was a little amused when my path down
Ashburner Street was blocked by fire engine activity, but I found my way over
to State Road and continued out along the railroad main line. There was a
fairly new road-separated bike trail here, but with plenty of parallel roads,
including I-95, for drivers to choose from, traffic was light, so I just stayed
in the shoulder for the few miles up to Grant Avenue and Torresdale Station.
On the return route, I cut back over to the
better cycling conditions of Torresdale Avenue, and rode about three miles to a
right turn at Tyson Avenue. I was now intersecting many busier roads in this
northwesterly direction, and my legs were starting to feel the burn from the
constant stops and accelerations at the traffic lights. In the back of my mind
I knew that I still had a little climbing ahead of me.
I was impressed to be in a bike lane most of
the return route, and the pedal-friendly conditions continued down Rising Sun
Avenue. Sue always says that she dislikes downhills, because the road always
has to go back up, and after a brief coast down Adams Avenue, crossing Tacony
Creek, I met a nasty little hill up Godfrey Avenue and a longer drag up Stenton
Avenue.
A left turn on Vernon Road led me to the
highlight stop on this trip, the charming stone Stenton Station (man, is THAT alliterative!)
in the east side of Mt. Airy.
I swerved along Sprague Street onto Belfield
Avenue to reach Johnson Street and pedaled a mile or so until it ended at
Wissahickon Avenue. Just a few blocks to the left was the Rittenhouse Lane
connection to the Wissahickon Trail. This route paralleled Lincoln Drive all
the way down to Ridge Road, just a short sprint to my starting point on this
ride.
A few weeks ago, I purchased a Chesini (kay-SEE-nee)
bicycle that someone had badged up as a Colnago Super – I don’t know why
someone would do that to a very respectable brand, especially one with
engravings that are an obvious giveaway to its true identity! However, I wasn’t
complaining too much, because it allowed me to get a pretty good deal on the
early-1980s Olimpiade model from one of my “connections” in the Netherlands.
I can’t say I’m a big fan of the neon pink
and black fade, but it is era-appropriate, and after I removed all of the
decals and rubbed down the bike to clean off all of the adhesive residue, I
turned to touching up some of the bad chipping areas. The enamel fluorescents
are a little thin, so I had to apply a white base to the bare spots first, but
the color ended up matching really well.
The bike came with a mix of Campagnolo parts
with some Shimano thrown in, so I going to go with the majority that is in
place and focus on Campy Gran Sport and Nuovo Record parts. Those modern tires
will go, as will the shabby saddle – unfortunate, because it WAS an excellent
Selle Italia Turbo many, many years ago. I ordered some Chesini decals from
VeloCals, and I’m going to take a crack at filling in the engraving with some
contrasting color, too.
After weeks of trying to find an affordable
set of Record brakes for the Casati Fibre, I finally lucked out with a
Campagnolo Centaur group that came to me “on the cheap”, with a mismatched pair
of Record calipers included. The bike had otherwise been complete and hanging
from my rafters, so I was able to put the final touches on it over the weekend.
The seat post may appear a bit long in the
photos, but I didn’t want to cut it down. I’d rather leave it to the new owner
to make his own custom fit. I’ll sign off with the Casati pics:
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