{{Short description|SEPTA commuter rail station}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{use mdy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox station | name = Strafford | style = SEPTA | style2 = SEPTA Regional Rail | symbol_location = septa | symbol = septa | image = Strafford Pennsylvania Train Station.jpg | image_caption = | address = 97 Old Eagle School Road | borough = [[Wayne, Pennsylvania]] | country = United States | line = Amtrak [[Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line]] ([[Keystone Corridor]])<!-- the physical "line" is not the same as "services" which are detailed below --> | connections = | structure = | platform = 2 [[side platform]]s | depth = | levels = | tracks = 4 | parking = 289 spaces (115 daily, 103 permit, 71 remote permit) | bicycle = 4 racks (8 spaces) | closed = | electrified = September&nbsp;11, 1915<ref>{{cite news |title=Electric Service Begins on the P.R.R. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57807526/paoli-electric-september-12-1915/ |accessdate=August 22, 2020 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=September 12, 1915 |page=4|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> | accessible = yes | code = | owned = [[Amtrak]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/RRDev/key_vol_1.pdf |title=Transportation Planning for the Philadelphia–Harrisburg "Keystone" Railroad Corridor |publisher=Federal Railroad Administration |accessdate=9 January 2013 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521112835/http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/RRDev/key_vol_1.pdf |archivedate=May 21, 2011 }}</ref> | operator = [[SEPTA]] | zone = 3 | former = | passengers = 780 boardings<br/>621 alightings<br/>(weekday average)<ref>{{cite web | title=Fiscal Year 2021 Service Plan Update| publisher=[[SEPTA]] | date=June 2020 | url=https://planning.septa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FY-2021_Service_Plan_Update.docx | page=24 | access-date=March 11, 2022}}</ref> | pass_year = 2017 | pass_percent = | pass_system = | pass_rank = 25 of 146 | services = {{Adjacent stations|system=SEPTA|line=Paoli/Thorndale|left=Devon|right=Wayne}} | other_services_collapsible = yes | other_services_header = Former services | other_services = {{Adjacent stations|system1=Pennsylvania Railroad |line2=Paoli Line|left2=Devon|right2=Wayne |system3=Philadelphia and Western Railroad |line3=Strafford Branch|right3=Wayne|note-mid3=Until 1956 }} | nrhp = {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Strafford Railroad Station | image = | caption = | location = [[Strafford, Pennsylvania|Strafford]], [[Pennsylvania]] | mapframe = yes | mapframe-custom = {{Infobox mapframe |shape=none |line=none |marker=rail |marker-color=#{{rcr|SEPTA|Paoli/Thorndale}} |zoom=14 }} | coordinates = {{coord|40.0496|-75.4038|type:railwaystation_region:US-PA|display=inline,title}} | area = | architect = Joseph M. Wilson and Frederick G. Thorn | architecture = Stick/Eastlake | added = 1984<ref>[http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/pa/Chester/state6.html Chester County Listings at the National Register of Historic Places]</ref> | refnum = 84003226 | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | governing_body = }} }} '''Strafford station''' is a [[commuter rail]] station located in the western suburbs of [[Philadelphia]] at Old Eagle School Road and Crestline Road,<ref>[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Old+Eagle+School+Rd+%26+Crestline+Rd,+Strafford,+PA+19087&hl=en Google map]</ref> in [[Tredyffrin Township]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tredyffrin.org/home/showdocument?id=7060|title=Community Facilities|publisher=[[Tredyffrin Township]]|accessdate=2019-09-01}} - Also see [https://www.tredyffrin.org/home/showdocument?id=7066 Land use map]</ref> and it is served by most [[Paoli/Thorndale Line]] trains.

The ticket office at this station is open weekdays from 5:50&nbsp;a.m. to 1:15&nbsp;p.m., excluding holidays. There are 289 parking spaces at the station, including SEPTA permit parking in nearby lots.

This station is 15.4 track miles from [[Philadelphia]]'s [[Suburban Station]]. In 2017, the average total weekday boardings at this station was 780, and the average total weekday alightings was 621.<ref name=passenger>{{cite web |url=https://septa.org/strategic-plan/reports/FY%202020%20Annual%20Service%20Plan-update.WEB.pdf |title=Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Service Plan |publisher=SEPTA |page=43-46}}</ref>

==History== From 1873 to 1883, the building served as the railway station for [[Wayne, Pennsylvania]]. In 1883, the building was moved to its current location in Strafford, which was then called Eagle. The name was changed to Strafford in 1887. The landmark building was constructed in the "[[Queen Anne Style architecture (United States)#Stick Style|Eastlake]]" or "Stick" architectural style popular from 1855 to 1877.<ref>John Milnes Baker, A.I.A. (1994) ''American House Styles'' p.86.</ref> In 1911 the [[Philadelphia and Western Railroad]] extended their Strafford Branch to the station;{{cn|date=August 2022}} this line lasted until 1956.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mocarski |first1=Monica |title=Tracking the history of Radnor's trolleys |url=https://www.mainlinemedianews.com/2006/03/01/tracking-the-history-of-radnors-trolleys/ |access-date=5 August 2022 |work=Main Line Times & Suburban |date=1 March 2006}}</ref> The train station was added to the [[List of Registered Historic Places in Chester County, Pennsylvania|National Register of Historic Places]] in 1984.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998293 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Pennsylvania SP Strafford Railroad Station|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author= Robert M. Goshen and Anne Haon Cook|date= n.d.| access-date=December 13, 2025 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>

Beginning in the mid-20th century, multiple sources stated, without providing evidence, that Strafford Station was built for the 1876 [[Centennial Exposition]], variously saying that it was used as the Catalogue Building or Japanese Pavilion.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Weller|first=Cordelia|url=https://www.tehistory.org/hqda/html/v14/v14n1p002.html|title=The Strafford Railroad Station|journal=Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society History Quarterly|publisher=Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society|date=April 1966|volume=14|issue=1|pages=2–4}}</ref> No primary sources have been found to corroborate these claims, and in fact significant documentary and physical evidence suggests otherwise, including the station's architecture being similar in form to other Pennsylvania Railroad passenger stations of the 1870s including [[Wynnewood Station]] on the same line.<ref>{{citation|last=Prichard|first=Greg|title=Strafford Station at the Centennial: Fact or Fiction?|journal=Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society History Quarterly|publisher=Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society|date=April 2014|volume=51|issue=1}}</ref>

[[SEPTA|The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority]] (SEPTA) restored the station between 1999 and 2002 after damage from a June, 1999 fire. Work included restoring the historic station building as well as the outbound shelter. The station was made accessible-compliant with ramps to the platforms. Mini-high-level platforms will be installed after the Amtrak Keystone Corridor project is complete.

==Station layout== Strafford has two low-level [[side platform]]s with pathways connecting the platforms to the inner tracks.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commonscat-inline|Strafford (SEPTA station)}} * {{SEPTA links}} * [https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.04925,-75.40373&spn=0.003909,0.013679&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.049268,-75.403841&panoid=75TB-QMjAnc1uR-WkomwEA&cbp=12,355.94,,0,-1.49 Station House from Google Maps Street View]

{{SEPTA Regional Rail stations}}{{Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania}} {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:SEPTA Regional Rail stations]] [[Category:Former Pennsylvania Railroad stations]] [[Category:Stations on the Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line]] [[Category:Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Railway stations in Chester County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1873]] [[Category:Relocated buildings and structures in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Chester County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania]]