Ghost Rider | Scene Through the Lens

I’ve been working in Philadelphia for four decades now, but like the majority of train riders here, I’ve only known the PATCO Franklin Square subway stop as a “Ghost Station.”

Until this month.

Like many passengers I have peered out the window trying to shield my eyes from the train cabin’s bright interior lights to better see as we zoomed past the darkened station.

Sometimes I’d catch a glimpse of a worker, but mostly if anything, all I ever saw was equipment being stored on the platform.

Then a few years ago, as they started the $29.3 million renovations, I could see it getting brighter, and even the original Depression-era classic green and white subway tiles starting to shine.

I was only there vicariously (I can’t get ALL the fun assignments!) when it re-opened on April 3rd, as colleagues Thomas Fitzgerald and Monica Herndon reported on the first passengers to disembark at the station in more than 45 years.

I did get to visit a few days later, buying a one-way ticket at the kiosk, but not going anywhere. I wandered back and forth between the east and westbound platforms making “after” photos to go with the older images provided by PATCO.

I’ve done before/after combos before, but this was the first time, working with business editor Erica Palan, I ever did a “slider.”

» READ MORE: Franklin Square Station: before and after

Previously when doing similar combos I would make prints of the “before” photos as reference to line up with the current scene.

This time around I sent the “older” photos to my phone so I could compare them instantly, toggling between them and one I’d just made. When I was happy with how they registered, I would make the picture with my real camera.

So why the tree in the middle of the headhouse photo? if you didn’t already, go back and look at the sliders.

Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color: