Gap Station - Gap, Pennsylvania
N 39° 59.253 W 076° 01.263
18S E 412826 N 4426874
Constructed of brick in 1850, this freight station was likely built by the Columbia-Philadelphia Railroad.
Waymark Code: WM5QW0
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 02/03/2009
Views: 12
The building appears to be owned by Amtrak. It is located on Amtrak's Keystone Corridor, the Philadelphia to Harrisburg line that carries high speed electric trains at up to 110 mph on a railroad that used to haul trains with horses. This track was originally the legendary Columbia & Philadelphia Railroad, a component of ‘The Main Line of Public Works’ constructed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to connect Pittsburg and Philadelphia with canals and railroads. Gap, at 600 feet above sea level, is the highest point on the line between the Schuylkill River and the Susquehanna River, and is a low point or ‘gap’ over Mine Ridge, enabling the railroad to traverse between Chester Valley and Conestoga Valley.
Some of the above information is derived from the highly recommended booklet ‘The Columbia-Philadelphia Railroad and Its Successor’ by William Hassel Wilson, CE, first published in 1896 and reprinted by Morris M. Green, Jr., his great-great-grandson. The booklet is published by the American Canal and Transportation Center (
visit link)
From Dan West’s website ‘Pennsylvania Railroad Stations Past & Present’ (
visit link) The subject building is actually a freight station. The passenger station was located about 100 feet to the east (track direction) but was removed. This freight station is in very poor condition (a tree is growing through part of the roof!). It was built in 1850 in the style of the other very early brick railroad buildings on this line and may be a leftover of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad era.