Lewistown station

For the historic station in Missouri, see Lewistown station (Missouri).

Lewistown station (also known as Lewistown Junction) is an Amtrak railway station located about 60 miles northwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at PA 103 and Helen Street in Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. The station is actually located across the Juniata River from Lewistown proper, a little less than one mile south of the center of the borough. It is currently only served by Amtrak's Pennsylvanian, which operates once per day in each direction, though until 2005, Lewistown was served by a second daily train, the Three Rivers (a replacement service for the legendary Broadway Limited), an extended version of the Pennsylvanian that terminated in Chicago. Upon its cancellation, the sole Pennsylvanian marked the first time in Lewistown's railway history that the town was served by just a single, daily passenger train.

Lewistown, PA
General information
Location	150 Helen Street Lewistown, Pennsylvania United States
Coordinates	40.5882°N 77.5803°W / 40.5882; -77.5803
Owned by	Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society
Line(s)	Norfolk Southern Pittsburgh Line (Keystone Corridor)
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	2
Construction
Parking	Yes
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: LEW
History
Opened	1849
Rebuilt	1985[1]–1999
Previous names	Lewistown Junction
Passengers
FY 2024	11,633[2] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Huntingdon toward Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian Harrisburg toward New York
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Huntingdon toward Chicago Three Rivers 1995–2005 Harrisburg toward New York Broadway Limited Until 1995 Huntingdon toward Kansas City National Limited Harrisburg toward New York or Washington, D.C. Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Granville toward Chicago Main Line Shawnee toward New York or Exchange Place
Location

A station building exists at the stop, which is open at least 30 minutes before scheduled train arrival and during train departure times. There is no ticket office at this station, as Amtrak closed the ticket office in 1977.^[3] The distance between Lewistown and the next station eastward, the Harrisburg Transportation Center, is the longest distance between stations (61 miles) anywhere along the route between Pittsburgh and New York.

The station building is the oldest structure built by the Pennsylvania Railroad which is still standing. The current building was constructed from 1848 to 1849 as the freight station, with a nearby hotel serving as the passenger depot. Train service to Leiwtown from Harrisburg start in September 1849. 1868. The hotels additional use as the passenger station stopped in 1868 after an expansion had been made to the existing freight station. The horal remained in opration along with a restaurant, and a Railway Express Agency. That building was demolished in the 1950s.^[4] "J" Tower, which was added in the 1870s as a two story-brick tower within the depot, was removed in the mid-1950s,^[3] During restoration of the depot, a replica of "J" Tower was installed into the building in the mid-1990's.^[1] After the merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads on February 1, 1968, ownership transferred to Penn Central. When Amtrak took over passenger train operations on May 1, 1971 ownership of the Lewistown Station was transferred to Amtrak. Amtrak sold the station and surrounding land to the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society in October 1985, with allowances to keep Lewistown as a stop for their daily passenger trains.

The PRRT&HS performed a complete exterior and interior restoration of the station, reconstructing it as it would have appeared in the early 1950's. The restoration of the interior had been siginificantly completed by 1999 so the building could be occupied for use. The bay window of the station was renovated for use as a passenger waiting room and is leased by Amtrak to be open for the use of passengers, with volunteers staffing the waiting room daily to assist passengers. The remainder of the station complex was renovated for use as an Archives Research and Storage facility for the extensive historical collection of records which have been donated to the PRRT&HS through the generosity of its members, former PRR employees, and goodwill of the corporate successors of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

External audio
Devoted Volunteers Keep History Of Pennsylvania Rail Company On Track, NPR[5]

In December 2019, the Mifflin County Planning Commission announced a two-phase transportation study on the improvements needed to the station and infrastructure, and the transportation and traffic flow. This would be a first step toward possibly improving daily Amtrak service to Lewistown on the Keystone Corridor to two trains in each direction daily instead of only one.^[6] After securing funding, the improvements are slated to begin by September 2025.

Notes

Track numbers: 1 & 2 (Amtrak), 1 & 2 (Norfolk Southern)

Image gallery

• 
  The Illinois Terminal Railroad heritage unit, EMD SD70ACe #1072, leads an eastbound intermodal on track 2
• 
  The Virginian Railway heritage unit, EMD SD70ACe #1069, running in an intermodal train on track 2
• 
  A view of the eastern end of the platform circa 2013.
• 
  The Reading Railroad heritage unit, EMD SD70ACe #1067, leads an eastbound intermodal on track 2
• 
  GE AC44C6M #4046 leads a manifest on track 2, with the Central of Georgia Railway heritage unit, GE ES44AC #8101, trailing
• 
  The Three Rivers boards at Lewistown in 2002
• 
  Material handling cars on the westbound Three Rivers circa 2002
• 
  The Pennsylvania Railroad heritage unit, GE ES44AC #8102, leads an empty coal drag on track 1.