PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE

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PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Jersey Mike on Sat Mar 21 01:29:32 2026 Philadelphia has had an on again, off again, on again, off again, on again, off again, on again relationship with transit access to Franklin Square. Opened as part of the 1936 Bridge Line between Center City and Camden, NJ, the Franklin Square station was built under Franklin Square at the east end of the 1926 ~~Delaware River Bridge~~ Ben Franklin Bridge. Closed in 1939 due to low ridership the station was briefly re-opened in 1952 when ferry service to Camden was concluded, only to close that same year. With the proximity to the new Independence Mall complex, the bicentennial celebration of 1976 triggered another re-opening, but after the celebration ridership plummeted again and the station was closed for the third time in 1979. Fifty years later, changing residential patterns along the Philadelphia waterfront prompted the Delaware River Port Authority to give Franklin Square another chance and after a protracted renovation project the station re-re-re opened on April 3rd, 2025. Of course I was going show up to get some photos of the new facility. My plan had been to turn out for whatever opening day festivities that were going to take place, assuming of course that the station would open on a weekend, Friday or Monday. Unfortunately the opening was ultimately scheduled for the middle of a Thursday, making my attendance impractical from a scheduling point of view. Therefore I pushed my trip to the following Sunday. Here is PATCO car #1032 at Haddonfield, which would take me into the city. Although far from perfect, PATCO has done a pretty good job preserving the 1930's tilework in its stations with Franklin Square leaning into this since it has more wall area than the other downtown stations that use island platforms. The initial concept for Franklin Square was to pair the station to a major streetcar terminal similar to Essex Street in New York City where streetcars would cross the bridge then link riders with Philly's high speed rapid transit system. Unfortunately the South Jersey streetcar network collapsed not long after the completion of the bridge, but the space for it still exists between the current PATCO tracks just east of Franklin Square. A concourse passageway connects both platforms to the central headhouse via stairs and escalators. The new glass headhouse took up the bulk of the $29 million restoration budget. It contrasts sharply with the other downtown stations which rely on compact stairways descending from the sidewalk. The headhouse was built with all the modern features such as bird friendly glass and a green roof. It presents an interesting contrast with SEPTA's 1970's brutalist headhouse serving the Broad Ridge Spur's Chinatown station just a block away. The split platforms are an outcome of not only the bridge approach, but also how the old Bridge Line featured a hidden flying junction with today's Broad Ridge Spur west of Franklin Square. PATCO even maintained an interlocked connection with the Ridge up unto the 1990s. The signals for that connection still remain and are visible from the west end of the eastbound platform. One unfortunate anti-feature was the conversion of the eastern platform exits into emergency exits. The station itself is not very deep and the well vents let daylight down into the tunnel spaces. Although trains were running every 30 minutes I managed to catch multiple headways by taking a break for lunch and then returning to meet up with some transit friends. Here we see car #1069 shown here discharging a healthy number of passengers on an eastbound run. There are far more attractions in the area compared to the 1970's and station ridership will further benefit from the Semiquincentennial in 2026. The new station cuts off about 4 to 5 blocks of walking compared to 8th and Market. Another unfortunate measure was fencing off the extreme ends of each platform. The BFB portal is visible from the eastern end of the track #1 platform. Here we see car #1069 again, only this time dropping me back off at Haddonfield. About the same time I stopped by GRACE interlocking in Havre de Grace, MD as an alternative to the more typical viewing spot of Perryville. Although the sight lines weren't nearly as good due to the overhead catenary, I managed to get some reasonable photos in like this northbound Amtrak Regional with ACS-86's #609 leading and #605 on the rear. A bigger problem was how quickly trains can sneak up on one here due to the curves causing me to miss photos of two Acelas. Amtrak has been running push-pull Regionals due to multiple NEC megaprojects forcing trains to turn on the station platforms instead of looping in the yards. The following southbound Regional was also in this configuration with ACS-86 #630 leading and #606 on the rear. Heading back to I-95 one passes under this 1890's stone arch bridge carrying the old B&O Philly branch over Maryland State Route 155. I also had a DC Metro trip out to Reston, VA where I caught a mix of 6000 and 7000 series cars at the Wiehle-Reston station. Getting off 6k car #6129 at Greenbelt. I'll wrap things up at Greenbelt where the 3W signal was displaying a Medium Clear signal out of the station track for the next westbound MARC Camden Line train. Tune in next time as I head to Dallas to ride the other Dallas Streetcar.
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Connecticut-Astoria* on Sat Mar 21 10:22:14 2026, in response to PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Jersey Mike on Sat Mar 21 01:29:32 2026.* Thank you for posting these! A few weeks ago I did an online investigation into the Philly transit system and was intrigued by this station. Your photos added much visual reference to my study.
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Q65A* on Sat Mar 21 12:47:32 2026, in response to PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Jersey Mike on Sat Mar 21 01:29:32 2026.* Excellent pix, as always! Is PATCO the only US heavy rail transit agency operating railcars with LH operators' positions?
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Njcl2308* on Sat Mar 21 14:19:32 2026, in response to Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Q65A on Sat Mar 21 12:47:32 2026.* The SEPTA Norristown so-called High Speed Line is LH Operation
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Wallyhorse* on Sat Mar 21 15:37:32 2026, in response to PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Jersey Mike on Sat Mar 21 01:29:32 2026.* That station was as I remember originally supposed to re-open in October or November of 2024. I wonder what delayed the re-opening 5-6 months?
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Jackson Park B Train* on Sat Mar 21 15:53:57 2026, in response to Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Njcl2308 on Sat Mar 21 14:19:32 2026.* If memory serves, the Baltimore subway/elevated does also with all island platforms.
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by randyo* on Sun Mar 22 01:52:12 2026, in response to Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sat Mar 21 15:53:57 2026.* So does LA and since the original rolling stock for Miami was identical to Baltimore’s I assume Miami also had left handed operators’ positions.
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Jackson Park B Train* on Sun Mar 22 02:00:39 2026, in response to Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by randyo on Sun Mar 22 01:52:12 2026.* And all opto
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Jersey Mike* on Sun Mar 22 23:53:46 2026, in response to Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Connecticut-Astoria on Sat Mar 21 10:22:14 2026.* Glad to help.
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by Jersey Mike* on Sun Mar 22 23:54:35 2026, in response to Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Wallyhorse on Sat Mar 21 15:37:32 2026.* COVID jumped everything back.
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Re: PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE
Posted by terRAPIN station* on Mon Mar 23 02:47:13 2026, in response to PHOTOS: FRANKLIN SQUARE, posted by Jersey Mike on Sat Mar 21 01:29:32 2026.* Excellent.
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