Darlington station (SEPTA)

Darlington station is a defunct commuter rail station on the SEPTA Regional Rail R3 West Chester Line, located at 612 Darlington Road in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania. Originally built by the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad, it later served the Pennsylvania Railroad's West Chester Branch, which finally became SEPTA's R3 line.

Darlington
Former SEPTA Regional Rail station
Former Darlington station site in March 2017.
General information
Location	Darlington Road, Chester Heights, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39.9039°N 75.4692°W / 39.9039; -75.4692
Owned by	SEPTA
Line(s)	West Chester Line
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Construction
Structure type	demolished
History
Closed	October 4, 1981[1]
Electrified	December 2, 1928[2]
Former services
Preceding station SEPTA Following station Glen Mills toward West Chester West Chester Line Wawa toward Suburban Station Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Glen Mills toward West Chester West Chester Line Wawa toward Suburban Station
Location

The station, and all of those west of Elwyn station, was closed in September 1986, due to deteriorating track conditions and Chester County's desire to expand facilities at Exton station on SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale Line. Service was "temporarily suspended" at that time, with substitute bus service provided. Darlington station still appears in publicly posted tariffs. Darlington station was named after the dairy located at that place. For years it was a flag stop, but was abandoned and then re-established. However, Darlington Station was demolished shortly after service ended. The concrete curb for the platform edge and the access road are all that remain.

• 
  Looking up the access road to the former Darlington station in 2017

Darling, Pennsylvania

A post office was established at the station in 1879, which led to the place name Darling being officially recognized.^[3] The GNIS classifies it as a populated place with "Darlington" recognized as a variant.^[4] The post office remained in operation until 1964.^[5] "Darling" was used to prevent confusion with the town of Darlington located in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

• 
  1896 Decision Card

References

1. Tulsky, Fredric N. (September 24, 1981). "Rail Cuts Approved by SEPTA". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 23. Retrieved October 30, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Electric Trains to Start Sunday". The Chester Times. November 30, 1928. p. 1. Retrieved August 21, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Moyer, Armond; Moyer, Winifred (1958). The origins of unusual place-names. Keystone Pub. Associates. p. 31.
4. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Darling
5. "Post Offices". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

External links

Media related to Darlington station (SEPTA) at Wikimedia Commons

• Existing Railroad Stations in Delaware County, Pennsylvania