Tracks to Elm: Narberth Historical Images

Tracks to Elm about 1861

Two train tracks on a gravel bed with telegraph poles on both sides recede into the background. A field with sheaves of corn is to the left and a small two-story house on the right. A man stands beside a siding looking down the tracks.

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Image source: "No. 139 Sample Track, Wynnewood Station" from Frederick Gutekunst, Scenery on the Pennsylvania Railroad (Philadelphia, 1875) Library Company of Philadelphia

modern view of the historical image seen from the same viewpoint — 8 Feb 2017

The Pennsylvania Railroad tracks looking towards Elm station, possibly before the 1870 construction of that station or the present station at Wynnewood. The photo is dated 1861 by John Hepp in The First 300 (Lower Merion Historical Society, 2000).

Notice the Haverford and Merion road crossing over the two tracks and running along their left in the middle distance. In 1879 the Pennsylvania Railroad engineered the "Great Fill" between Elm Station (as Narberth was then known) and Wynnewood, expanded to four tracks, and routed the street through the N. Wynnewood Ave. underpass. Zoom into this photo to see the dip in the tracks in the distance that predates the "Great Fill".

Although not photographed in Narberth, this view shows the future Narberth on the horizon.

The present Wynewood station was constructed in 1870, close by the building in the main photo. Ted Xaras Collection

Updated April 6, 2025.