The Crusader, Reading's Premier Passenger Train

The Reading Railroad is not well remembered for its passenger services. The Reading, like many other Northeastern railroads, is best known for the vast tons of anthracite coal it moved from eastern/central Pennsylvania to the ports around Philadelphia and New York City. However, the Reading did have at least one notable passenger train, outside of it’s the daily commuter rail services it provided to Philadelphia, the Crusader. For at least a few decades this train proved to be successful serving the 90-mile corridor between Philadelphia (at the railroad’s Reading Terminal) and Jersey City (via the Central Railroad of New Jersey’s Jersey City Terminal), even though it had stiff competition from other railroads like the Pennsylvania Railroad.

One other interesting aspect of the Reading Railroad, especially for its main role in hauling coal, was the railroad’s extensive, and electrified, commuter operations around the Philadelphia regions. By the 1930s the railroad had electrified its lines, extending from its now-abandoned Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, to Norristown, Chestnut Hill, Doylestown, Hatboro, and West Trenton. Amazingly, even as late as the 1960s, the Reading was continuing to expand its commuter/electrified operations!

The Pacifics did not last long as they were replaced in 1950 by EMD FP7 diesels, which were adorned in the Reading’s catchy livery of black and green with yellow trim. While modest the train was very classy and well received by commuters as a secondary option to the somewhat mum services provided by the Pennsylvania Railroad. For instance, the Reading offered long-distance passenger train services aboard the Crusader, such as a full breakfast and tavern service (both of which were not normally available on commuter runs).

Such services allowed the Crusader to do fairly well for the Reading through the 1950s but by the 1960s in an already stiff Northeastern commuter market, coupled with increased competition from automobiles and airplanes, the railroad (on a tight budget anyway due to the increasing lack of demand for anthracite coal) cut back services on the train in a substantial way. In 1964 the entire streamlined train was sold off to the Canadian National and reequipped with heavyweight cars and later simply used the ubiquitous Rail Diesel Car.

Because the Reading already operated a significant commuter service between Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Jersey City, and the New Jersey coastline (through subsidiary Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines) the railroad was quite comfortable with using the RDC for continued service of the Crusader between Jersey City and Philly. While service continued through nearly the end of the Reading itself the classic amenities the Crusader had offered were gone when the train's was sold to Canadian National. To have a look at the Crusader's original promotional ad please click here.

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Also, for a superb general history of passenger trains consider the book American Passenger Train from Mike Schafer. Using plenty of colored photographs complemented with lots of good information, if you are interested in passenger trains or would like to learn more about them this book will get you started. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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