History & local legend
The old Reading Railroad Plymouth Branch ran behind Penn Oak Road in Flourtown, between residential backyards and the country club. After the rails were removed, its raised embankment remained. In places it stood high enough for someone on the old line to look down into neighboring yards.
Residents’ ghost stories describe the sound of a train traveling that empty corridor. People also reported a man walking along the former track and disappearing while they watched.
A child figures in the neighborhood accounts as well: a small boy with thick dark hair and clothing resembling styles of the 1950s. He was said to appear near a basketball hoop on Penn Oak Road and beneath the Route 309 bridge.
Sources
- The Shadowlands, Flourtown, The Tracks, including the phantom train, man and child
- Cresheim Trail Feasibility Study, May 2008, pp. 15–18, field photographs, embankment height, Plymouth Branch and adjoining homes
- Springfield Township Open Space Plan, connector to the former railroad by Flourtown Country Club
