Train Station

A deal signed yesterday between SEPTA and the Berwyn Devon Business and Professional Association will make parking in Berwyn a lot easier this year. The agreement gives patrons of businesses in the area between Woodside Avenue and Knox Avenue free after-hours parking in the Berwyn train station parking lot. "We're trying to alleviate the problems of doing business in Berwyn and Devon," said Matthew DiDomenico Sr., president-elect of the business association. "Now we have use of the entire Berwyn train station lot. " The move is the first success in the association's four-month-old effort to revitalize the business district, he said.

After 100 years of watching trains pass without stopping, Philadelphia Zoo officials are trying to restore passenger rail service to the zoo. A new study proposes a SEPTA station at 34th Street and Mantua Avenue, a short walk from the zoo's south entrance. Although the zoo was built on its West Philadelphia site in 1874 partly because of handy rail access, the original Zoological Garden station at 34th Street and Girard Avenue closed in 1902, a victim of Pennsylvania Railroad expansion.

GETTYSBURG - Tourists trickle through the Gettysburg Train Station's burgundy door, some to escape the heat, others to pick up battlefield maps. Only a few come to trace Lincoln's path through here to deliver the two-minute speech that defined the Civil War and began to reunify a nation. When Walter Powell walks through, his eyes don't register the racks of picked-over tourism brochures or the weary travelers resting achy feet on 150-year-old benches. Rather, he sees what the station could be: a bustling railroad museum that gives visitors a fuller picture of the Civil War and draws tourists to downtown businesses.

The Pocopson Planning Commission learned last week that the former Pocopson train station may become a bed-and-breakfast inn. John Thomas presented informal plans for the building to the commission Wednesday. He needs approval of the Zoning Hearing Board, however, before he can proceed further. Township ordinances allow bed-and-breakfasts only as a conditional use, said Planning Commission secretary Suzanne Williamson. Commission members re-elected Hans P. Van Heyst to be chairman, and Williamson as secretary, during their reorganization meeting.

Jean Shiber is a member of the Sharon Hill Historical Society. That qualifies her as a dreamer. The society was formed two months ago with the sole purpose of saving the borough's 118-year-old railroad station from the wrecking ball. The one-story structure, closed since 1983, is slated for demolition around the end of this month. The only thing that could stop the wreckers would be an order from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission saying the station was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Depending on who was testifying before the Lower Gwynedd Township Zoning Hearing Board Tuesday night, the operation of a gourmet food store at the Gwynedd Valley commuter train station would be an asset to the community or a source of trash, odor and traffic. At issue was the Trueblood Construction Co.'s appeal of a stop-work order issued by the township in July when officials learned that the firm was renovating a building that once was the train station's ticket office so it could be used as the food store.

Coatesville City Council this week appointed a seven-member committee to develop plans to construct a new commuter train station. City manager Wayne "Ted" Reed said that the committee will help with plans and financing for the station. The city wants to buy a 4-acre site along the Main Line tracks between 10th and 11th Avenues for the station. The site, which at one time was occupied by a concrete plant, is owned by Trans-Material Inc. of West Chester, according to Reed.

I was the architectural lighting designer for the historic restoration of the interior and exterior of the Amtrak 30th Street Station (Inquirer, July 19). In the 10 years since that project was completed, our firm has continued as lighting designer for most of the renovation work in and around the station. The angel was not overlooked when we conceived the new lighting. It is a beautiful statue but it is one of many elements that make 30th Street Station a unique architectural treasure.

The Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors passed three ordinances Monday night that run the gamut from preserving a historic train station to prohibiting lead pipes to carry drinking water. The legislation was passed unanimously by the supervisors after three public hearings that lasted a total of 20 minutes. The SEPTA train station in Strafford was added to the township's list of buildings of historical significance. Ann Cook, a planning commission member and chairman of the historic commission, said the station was constructed in 1867 as the Wayne train station and was moved to Tredyffrin in 1876 as part of an exhibition marking the U.S. Centennial.

Cooks grilled filet mignon and salmon on portable propane stoves in the vault space on the second floor. On the first floor, bartenders served mixed drinks through the teller spaces where customers normally sign the backs of their checks. Their guests, more than 200 people dressed in tuxedos and flowing evening gowns, had paid $150 each to attend the grand affair in, of all places, blue-collar Coatesville. But those peculiarities aside, "The Lukens Blast" - a fund-raising event for the Coatesville Third Avenue train station - was, well, a blast.

SECAUCUS, N.J. - New Jersey bid farewell to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a strong advocate for the state's public transportation system, Wednesday afternoon with a brief ceremony at the train station that bears his name. Family and dignitaries, including Gov. Christie, gathered at the upper rotunda of the Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Rail Station, as police played "Taps" and "God Bless America" on bagpipes. Lautenberg, a five-time Democratic senator, died Monday of complications from viral pneumonia.

Vice President Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez will eulogize Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg on Wednesday in New York City, Lautenberg's office said Tuesday. Lautenberg, the last World War II veteran in the Senate, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, after one last stop at the train station bearing his name in Secaucus, next to the New Jersey Turnpike. Lautenberg, the Senate's oldest member at age 89, died Monday of complications of viral pneumonia.

A jackknifed tractor-trailer spilled its cargo of cooking fat on the Schuylkill Expressway near 30th Street Station late Tuesday, prompting a major cleanup that lasted until after Wednesday's morning rush hour. PennDot reported that the last section of roadway affected by the accident - Exit 344 at the I-676 Vine Street Expressway - reopened about 10:30 a.m. Officials said the rig jackknifed about 11 hours earlier on the stretch of I-76 that runs under the train station. The trailer hit a pillar and was ripped apart, spilling its cargo of boxes of shortening.

AN OFF-DUTY Philadelphia police officer was in stable condition after being stabbed during an attempted robbery last night in Northeast Philadelphia, authorities said. The stabbing happened on Grant Avenue near the Torresdale train station shortly after 10 p.m. Police described the robbers as two white men, one wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt. It was unclear if anything was taken. The officer was transported to Aria Health's Torresdale campus for treatment. His name was not released.

The atmosphere is thick with the aroma of pasta sauce and lasagna from the Italian buffet, and across the room, a guitar player and an aspiring opera singer are performing. It's evocative of the Billy Joel song "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," but the venue in this case is SEPTA's Wayne Station in Radnor Township, for many years little more than a prosaic commuter shelter bracketing a ticket window. Fabio & Danny's Station Cafe, on the Philadelphia-bound side of the Main Line tracks, now hosts Friday-night BYOB dinners with free music.

HILLSBOROUGH, N.J. - A missing College of New Jersey senior whose purse was found on a walkway of the George Washington Bridge had been feeling a lot of stress, said her father, who worried her disappearance may have had something to do with her birthday. Paige Aiello, whose 22d birthday was Thursday, was reported missing two days earlier by her family in Hillsborough after she apparently took her mother's car without permission, authorities said. That night, a passerby reported finding her purse, cellphone, and car keys on the south walkway of the bridge.

Workers are nearing completion of a $36 million, multilevel Pennsauken train station to connect the Atlantic City Line and the River Line, and passengers are expected to be able to use it by fall. The Pennsauken Transit Center, near Derousse Avenue west of River Road, will allow direct transfers between trains on the east-west Atlantic City Line and the north-south River Line. The connection will provide additional access for area residents to 30th Street Station, Atlantic City, and the River Line's service between Camden and Trenton.

Plans show zoo's going places As a Fairmount Park Conservancy board member, I was pleased to read about the Philadelphia Zoo's new parking garage and traffic improvements ("Zoo wants a SEPTA stop," April 2). Given that the zoo has experienced record attendance during the past four years, it is commendable to see the organization realize its impact and plan for its future and that of the community. It is also tremendous that the zoo is exploring the long-term possibility of a train station in this much-needed area of West Philadelphia.

Cedar Park Cafe was a pillar to those around 49th Street and Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia, with hearty, budget-priced breakfasts and lunches and cheery service. But a Christmas Eve fire forced it out of Cedar Park. Last month, it resurfaced with the same food and the same name in lovely, more spacious quarters near the Overbrook train station. Pay particular attention to the fluffy, veggie egg-white omelets ($6.95). - Michael Klein Cedar Park Cafe, 2035 N. 63d St., 267-292-2715.

After 100 years of watching trains pass without stopping, Philadelphia Zoo officials are trying to restore passenger rail service to the zoo. A new study proposes a SEPTA station at 34th Street and Mantua Avenue, a short walk from the zoo's south entrance. Although the zoo was built on its West Philadelphia site in 1874 partly because of handy rail access, the original Zoological Garden station at 34th Street and Girard Avenue closed in 1902, a victim of Pennsylvania Railroad expansion.