Cornwells Heights
Eddington is the only flag stop left along the entire Northeast Corridor! A flag stop means passengers must be either visibly standing on the platform to board the train or tell the conductor they want to get off a train otherwise the train won't stop (it will pass through slowly through so the engineer can check for passengers). In addition, it is the only stop on the Trenton Line that is regularly skipped by many trains, not just the few rush hour express trains.
The station is extremely simple, and I find it amazing that it hasn't been closed. Each side of the tracks contains a single brick with a concrete roof shelter structure that is painted green and covers a single bench for waiting passengers.
The station basically lacks proper platforms, just some decaying concrete ballast with most trains just opening a single door (there is slightly more of a platform on the Philadelphia-bound side). To board trains each platform contains a single wooden boarding pallet (it looks like a double wide-pallet) that allows trains stop on both tracks on each side of the four-track Northeast Corridor electrified mainline. The Philadelphia-bound platform contains two short steps up that are closer to the bottom step of a train's vestibule.
Passengers boarding on the Trenton-bound side must step up from their wooden crossing directly at the same level as the track. This is because through the station is a parallel fifth track that is not electrified and used by freight trains, there is no wooden boarding crossing, just ballast piled-up to make crossing this track easier.
To leave the station, each platform has a path. The path on the Trenton-bound platform leads down a few steps to reach the path to the staircase passing a concrete wall and crumbling concrete in other places that is clearly the foundation of a former station building. These paths both lead to staircases that lead up to the overpass of Street Road. Street Road's sidewalk ends just before the entrance to the Trenton-bound platform but continues from the Philadelphia-bound side to connect with a sidewalk and crosswalks through an interchange with I-95 and to a staircase down to Bristol Pike and the surrounding sidewalk network.
The stations poor sidewalk connections (there is a lot of industrial just south of the station, but without sidewalks to them) and lack of any SEPTA parking makes it unclear to me why this station hasn’t been closed and abandoned.
Photos 1-48: March 27, 2013;
