Roxborough, Chestnut Hill and Norristown Traction Company

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The Roxborough, Chestnut Hill and Norristown Traction Company was an intercity tram company in the US state of Pennsylvania . The total of 29.5 kilometers long network connected Wissahickon, Manayunk and Chestnut Hill, three suburbs of Philadelphia , with the city of Norristown .

history

On November 21, 1874, the Manayunk and Roxborough Inclined Plane and Railway Company opened a horse-drawn tram with a gauge of 1,588 millimeters along Ridge Avenue in Wissahickon. It began at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Wissahickon station and ran to the Roxborough Avenue intersection. The Wissahickon Electric Passenger Railway opened an electric tram from Wissahickon Station on October 20, 1894 through Manayunk Avenue, Green Lane, Ridge Avenue, Ridge Pike, Barren Hill Road, Harts Lane, Church Road, Germantown Pike and Germantown Avenue to Chestnut Hill, where the terminus was at the intersection with Northwestern Avenue at Chestnut Hill College . A branch line to Manayunk station was also built. The train ran on 550 volts direct current. In December 1894, a branch line from Barren Hill to Plymouth Meeting along Ridge Pike went into operation, which reached Norristown on May 19, 1895. This route was operated by the Chestnut Hill and Norristown Passenger Railway Company . In December 1895, these three railways merged to form the Roxborough, Chestnut Hill and Norristown Traction Company (RCH&N). Initially, a change had to be made at the level crossing in Hickorytown, as the tram was not allowed to cross the railroad tracks, but this was eliminated at the end of 1895 due to the construction of an underpass. The railway's depot and workshop were located in Roxborough, about eight kilometers from the terminus in Wissahickon. In Chestnut Hill there was a connection to the Philadelphia tram and an overland route of the Lehigh Valley Transit Company to Allentown .

In 1899, the United Power and Transportation Company acquired the railway, which shortly thereafter also owned the Schuylkill Valley Traction Company (SVT). The network of this railway connected in Plymouth Meeting and Norristown to that of RCH & N. The new owner formally leased RCH & N to SVT, which now also ran the business. The SVT in turn was leased to the Reading Transit Company , which also belonged to United Power & Transportation.

In 1924 the United sold the Reading Transit Company and all railways leased from it to the General Gas and Electric Corporation . In May 1930 the lease of RCH & N was terminated, which now functioned as an independent company again. In December 1931 it ceased all operations for economic reasons and the lines were closed and dismantled.

Line network

The railway company operated the following lines:

  • Wissahickon – Manayunk (6.5 km, every 12 minutes)
  • Wissahickon – Barren Hill (10 km, every 15 minutes)
  • Chestnut Hill – Barren Hill – Plymouth Meeting – Hickorytown – Norristown (8 miles, every 30 minutes)

literature

  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (1997): Pennsylvania's Street Railways West Chester PA: Traction Publications. Page 121.
  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (2007): Pennsylvania Street Railway Atlas West Chester PA: Ben Rohrbeck Traction Publications. Page 75.