Question about the Chinatown station on the Ridge Spur.

When the CEnter City Commuter Tunnel was built, was the Chinatown station on the Ridge Spur demolished and a new station was built at the same location after the Commuter rail Tunnel was completed.

Also, did the Ridge Spur run during the CEnter City Commuter Rail Tunnel construction, if not, how long was this line closed for.

If the Chinatown station was demolished, if anyone has pictures of this, please post up.

http://www.pennways.com/Commuter_Tunnel.html

The Commuter Tunnel construction did disrupt Chinatown, where the tunnel turns to the north. The city and contractor project engineers worked closely with the residents and business owners to solve ongoing problems, which included business disruption, parking problems, noise, dust, and traffic flow. The Chinatown Station of the Ridge Avenue Subway lay directly in the path of the Commuter Tunnel, and it had to be demolished and rebuilt on top of the new Commuter Tunnel. This point under the new Chinatown Station at Vine Street and 9th Street is the lowest point on the Commuter Tunnel, about 20 feet (6.1 m) below sea level.

That's all I've ever read about the station during the tunnel construction.

braves wrote:Also, did the Ridge Spur run during the CEnter City Commuter Rail Tunnel construction, if not, how long was this line closed for.

The Ridge Spur did not run during construction of the commuter tunnel, but not for the reason of construction of the tunnel. The reason why the Ridge Spur didn't run was because the old B-I, B-II, and B-III cars were dropping like flies (the same reason why express service was discontinued at the time). In fact, there may have been only 50 cars running, and the rest were being used in service dead (possibly the fisrt push-pull on a subway with the "good" car being the locomotive). Service on the Ridge Spur returned about a year after Market East opened (a full year and a half when the B-IV fleet was completed).

The structure underground is still there, the original electrical and mechanical rooms,etc are behind the doors.

BuddCar711 wrote:

braves wrote:Also, did the Ridge Spur run during the CEnter City Commuter Rail Tunnel construction, if not, how long was this line closed for.

The Ridge Spur did not run during construction of the commuter tunnel, but not for the reason of construction of the tunnel. The reason why the Ridge Spur didn't run was because the old B-I, B-II, and B-III cars were dropping like flies (the same reason why express service was discontinued at the time). In fact, there may have been only 50 cars running, and the rest were being used in service dead (possibly the fisrt push-pull on a subway with the "good" car being the locomotive). Service on the Ridge Spur returned about a year after Market East opened (a full year and a half when the B-IV fleet was completed).

The tunnel construction actually WAS part of the reason, however. If you'll observe the northbound track of the Spur from the head end, it received new flat concrete roadbed from the north end of Chinatown station for a distance just about equal to the with of the Commuter Tunnel where it crosses under the Spur. They had to hole through the floor of the Spur ROW at that point for some construction access. Chinatown station itself was rebuilt totally in the process, as an emergency exit from the commuter tunnel alongside Track 1 has its egress point onto the northbound Ridge-Spur Chinatown station platform.

If I hadn't lost my papers in a fire back in 2006, I could have dug up the exact closing date of the Spur and the Message For Riders leaflet that went out at that time, but I do remember the Spur was shut down at some point in 1981 and the leaflet mentioned Commuter Tunnel construction as the prime reason. Ridge-Spur service resumed in 1984 before the Commuter tunnel opened on the Reading side when the northbound track was restored to service, and by then, the B-IV fleet had been completed (last deliveries were in 1983).

I know that express service had been long discontinued (late 1970's) due to the car shortage; but somehow, even when things were at rock bottom during the winter of 1978-79 when only 24 cars were operational, they still kept a pair of cars working the Spur, albeit all trips only went to Girard Avenue. And whenever my mom and I rode the BSL, the running joke was "Smoking car or non-smoking car?" (a jab at two incidents where trains caught fire at Erie station).