Newtown Square Branch Trail: Narnia
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Needless to say, there was never a station called "Narnia" on the Newtown Square Branch line. I don't know the original name of this station, but Narnia is a fitting name. You enter thru the gate and end up in a large, secret kind of area.
To reach this place, turn west from Manor Road onto Harvard Road. When you get to the end, there is a disused little road to the right.
The disused road at the western dead end of Harvard Road.
As far as I know, this is the only bridge on the entire Newtown Square Branch line which has not been demolished. Going under this bridge leads to Narnia.
Just inside Narnia. Hidden under the growth is a modern mechanism to open and close the gate automatically. I was surprised to see something so modern-looking on a train line where most of the remnants are so obviously old.
Looking west across Narnia from the gate. The scrubby plants are poking thru what was once an asphalt-paved lot. Maybe this was a station where trucks parked and loaded up from the train cars.
In the background is a track elevated on piers. I imagine that hopper cars once dumped coal into trucks parked beneath this elevated siding.
One of the station buildings. There is a tall antenna on the far side of the building; a wire connects the antenna to the building. This must have been some fairly important contact point on the train line.
The other station building. Both buildings are dilapidated.
The bridge. I felt safe walking out onto it, but a structural engineer would need to assess it to see if it can be safely used to carry the multi-use trail.
The bridge from below. The concrete is crumbling at the edges, and some of the rebar is poking out. Could the concrete simply be patched?
The right-of-way is pretty heavily overgrown near the bridge.
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