From the interlocking at Arsenal, where the connection to Phil on the NEC heads off on the south side, the double track West Chester line turns from southwest to west, past a bridge over a street below, a two road bridges overhead, Intermediate Signals at MP 3.01, three road bridges overhead, the flagstop station with two side platforms at 49th Street (MP 3.2), a road bridge overhead, a bridge over a street, a footbridge overhead, Intermediate Signals, a road bridge overhead, the station with two side platforms at Angora (MP 4.4), a road bridge overhead at the west end of the station, and a bridge over a stream, turns west-southwest past the station with two side platforms at Fernwood-Yeadon (MP 5.4), with a road bridge overhead at the west end of the station, Intermediate Signals at MP 5.41, where a line to Newtown Square once left on the north side (a spur is still visible west of the signals), two grade crossings, the station with two side platforms and a depot to the south at Lansdowne (MP 6.3), Intermediate Signals at MP 6.31, a road bridge overhead at the west end of the station, and the station with two side platforms, and depots and parking lots both to south and north at Gladstone (MP 6.9).
The line heads southwest past a bridge over a road and stream far below, Intermediate Signals at MP 7.21, the station with two side platforms, and depots and parking lots on both sides at Clifton-Aldan (MP 7.5), a bridge over a road below, west of the station, a bridge over a street below with double track in it, a spur turning away on the south side, the station with two side platforms, and depots and parking lots on both sides at Primos (MP 8.1), Intermediate Signals at MP 8.11, a grade crossing west of the station, a grade crossing, and the station with two side platforms, shelters, and depot and parking to the south at Secane (MP 8.8), with a grade crossing at the west end of the station, west past the crossovers at Cane (MP 9.1), a grade crossing, a grade crossing with an intersection on the north side at the east end of the station with two side platforms, a parking lot to the north and a depot to the south at Moreton-Rutledge (MP 9.9), a grade crossing at the west end of the station (MP 10.01), a grade crossing, a spur on the south side, a grade crossing in a leafy suburb, and the eponymous college on the north side of the station with two side platforms and umbrella sheds, with depot and large parking lot to the south, at Swarthmore (MP 11.2), north-northwest past a road bridge overhead, a bridge over a valley, a bridge over a highway, Intermediate Signals at MP 12.01, a grade crossing, the station with two side platforms, and depot and parking to the south, at Wallingford (MP 12.3), a road bridge overhead west of the station, in another leafy suburb, and the station with two side platforms, parking and depot to the south, and a path heading away to the north, at Moylan-Rose Valley (MP 13.2), where there is a road bridge overhead west of the station.
The line turns west past a bridge over a road below, a road bridge overhead at the east end of the station with two side platforms and depot and parking to the south at Media (MP 14.0), where there is a spur on the south side followed by SEPTA car sidings on the south side, and southwest past a bridge over a street far below, signals at CP-N Elwyn (MP 14.8), Elwyn Station (MP 15.0), with two side platforms and a parking lot to the north, where SEPTA service ends, in 2006, and a switch where the two tracks become one just west of the station, used to reverse the trains.
The single track line continues past Elwyn (MP 15.3), Williamson School (MP 15.8), CP-S Elwyn (MP 16.0), Glen Riddle (MP 16.6) and Lenni (MP 17.3), where a line from Chester on the NEC once trailed in from the southeast, northwest, past Wawa (MP 18.0), where a line to Chadds Ford once left to the southwest, Darlington (MP 18.7), and Glen Mills, west past Locksley and north-northwest to Chevney. The line beyond MP 20.1 through Westtown to West Chester is out of service, as far as SEPTA is concerned.
The line west of Glen Mills is now run by the West Chester Railroad, a tourist line. From Glen Mills, where there is an ornate brick depot on the south side, now used by a historical society, and a private house close by on the north side, with a grade crossing immediately adjacent to both on the west side, it heads west past dewired wooden catenary supports, a bridge over a stream in the woods, an angled grade crossing, and a wooden shelter on the south side at Locksley, turning north-northwest, past a grade crossing, a wooded area, an angled grade crossing, and more catenary supports, adjacent to the small wooden depot on the south side at Chevney.
There are houses on the south side, two grade crossings, a wooded area, a small platform on the south side at a Christmas Tree Farm (near Westtown), a bridge over an angled road, a road bridge overhead, poles from the former electrification, a bridge over Chester Creek, a rocky valley, a bridge over a road, an embankment in the woods, a road bridge overhead, a street to the north, and storage tracks for the railroad's equipment to the northeast, before the line turns north, past a grade crossing, trees, , and a bridge over a street, to West Chester, where the platform is on the west side of the line. The line once continued across the street to the north, through an alley, and beneath the next street to the north, heading for the "main line" somewhere to the north of here.