I attended the second Community Meeting in Germantown last night regarding the Wayne Junction project, and while it was not announced publicly, apparently there is now a determination on the part of SEPTA to demolish the Wayne Junction Head House as part of its plans for the area. While I don't minimize the challenge that upgrading the site may present, the idea of destroying a building on the national register of historic places (its not on the local register...) in an effort to revitalize a community is - at best - counter-intuitive. Much of the planning to date looks good and bodes well for the area, but removing part of the fragile history of Germantown for the sake of expediency/budgetary concerns - in a $20 million dollar project - is something the public needs to know about at this stage. Plans for the project are only at 40% of completion.

Importantly, it is my understanding that demolition of buildings on the national registry cannot be allowed in projects that are supported, even in part, by Federal money and Federal money is involved here.

I hope that everyone who is concerned about the mounting losses of historic structures in and around Germantown will watch this process carefully and make their feelings known. As soon as I get the appropriate contact at SEPTA I will post it.

I'm not a G'town resident, but I pass through Wayne Junction twice a day.

The kind of reconstruction the train station and interlockings need is probably more complex than SEPTA is proposing, but I'd appreciate any detail you can provide on what's being considered, or a link to sites where I might learn more.

__________________
Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia
“Basically I figure guns are like gays: They seem a lot more sinister and threatening until you get to know a few; and once you have one in the house, you can get downright defensive about them.” --Theresa Neilson Hayden

Which building is the headhouse? Are we talking about the structure that houses the Germantown avenue stairs? Or the falling-down thing on Windrim where the pedestrian tunnel terminates?

I pass through Wayne Junction several times a week and I can't think of anything that I would describe as a headhouse.

There is a photo on the phillyskyline.com website along with a posting on the Wayne Junction community meeting.

Wissahickon and East Falls both lost their train station buildings (one designed by Furness) in the 1970's. I thought we were past that era. Now Wissahickon has nothing and East Falls has a FEMA trailer.

After waiting all these years for development of this historic and important transit inerchange, anything less than the best possible utilization of its already dedicated history along with a 21st century approach to public transit should not be tolerated.

Next to Old City, no section of Philadelphia has more surviviing examples of the early history of this nation than Northwest Philadelphia that needs to become a tourist destination coordinated with ease of access. Germantown history in particular is the best kept secret in the nation - - but not for long.

This junction must be developed as a combination transit center, visitor center, and interchange facilty with all surface SEPTA lines that run nearby so residents and visitors can get all the information they need and access to all of the northwest with facilty. Demolition of any of the remaining turn of the 19th century structures is unthinkable - - quite the opposite the site must be developed around them.

Another portion of the latest "on the cheap" SEPTA plans will most likely make the Chestnut Hill commuter line less efficent in the process.

We don't need an uninviting and utilitarian concrete block gateway to the Northwest.

Jim Foster

Okay, so looking at the picture on phillyskyline.com, the headhouse is the structure containing the stairs from the northbound platform to Germantown avenue.

cliveden, I agree with all that you say about the need to develop Wayne Junction and its surrounding area. Wayne Junction is a well-kept secret-- most northwest residents are unaware that there is a nearby transit hub where they can catch 5 regional rail lines, conveniently accessible by the 23 and 53 buses.

The headhouse is a falling down eyesore. I do hope it gets preserved and restored. But in the big picture of what needs to happen to make Wayne Junction better, I'm not sure that's the most important goal.

I took the R bus to Wayne Junction recently from my house to get to Pennlyn. I believe that every Regional Rail line but the R6 goes through Wayne Junction. That would make 6 lines, not 5.

That area of Southwest Germantown is in the process of gentrifying, and making Wayne Junction less scary will accelerate the process, but it is not necessary, as it is an inexorable process. The old station should not be sacrificed to accelerate a process whose end result will be to build a constituency which will either bemoan an unnecessary loss or support the restoration of the station.

Six train lines do "go through" the station, but for the practical information of train commuters, it might as well be five. Only two R3 trips per weekday stop at Wayne Junction. That would probably change if the station were revitalized. (The R3 does stop at Wayne Junction on weekends).

Good point-- as the neighborhood improves the demand for historical preservation will increase.

How close does the R get to Wayne Junction? Hunting Park and Clarissa is a bit of a hike.

My wife works in Blue Bell, so my son goes to preschool out that way. My daughter and I spend our days in the city, so when there is a school-related event (in this case, a party), we take SEPTA either directly to the event (hard to do out there, but we're walkers) or get picked up. It is actually kind of fun, figuring out what ways to go. I was racking my brain how to get from East Falls to Wayne Junction (I was considering walking the whole way) and I decided to use SEPTA's website. It told me to walk two blocks to the R and get off at Clarissa, then walk to Wayne Junction. We probably should have transferred to the 53, as one passed on our hike, and the neighborhood is fairly intimidating. It was interesting though. It would probably make sense to reorient some lines to hit Wayne Junction on an east-west axis, as now it is only hit by north-south routes.

I will repeat the irony: the train stations at Wissahickon and East Falls were demolished in the 1970's because the neighborhoods were declining. The decline stopped and now the neighborhoods, especially East Falls, are fairly fancy, and getting fancier, making the lack of a station house glaring. I thought that kind of stupidity was ancient history. Wayne Avenue will at some point clean up. Pulaski Avenue already has. Good things are happening on Greene Street. Some of the side streets are gorgeously built and well-kept. It is (I think) 8 minutes to Market East, stopping at Temple U on the way (6 minutes). Germantown would be the most historic town in Pennsylvania (a very historic state) if not for Society Hill and it is more intact than Society Hill was before the regeneration. Germantown should roll off of the tongue with the same ease as Georgetown or Nantucket. It's only a matter of time before this upside down world rights itself, especially with good leadership at the state and city level (finally).