The Reading Railroad, "Bee Line Service"

The Reading Railroad (pronounced “Redding”), officially known as the Reading Company, was another of the many anthracite carriers of the Northeast and perhaps the most famous (it was even featured in Monopoly!). Unfortunately, while the Reading was the most famous anthracite carrier it was also relied the heaviest on the commodity and when demand began to disappear following WWII so did the Reading’s profits. While the railroad was one of several that collapsed in the wake of the Penn Central disaster to be absorbed into Conrail it was certainly one of the most interesting and colorful anthracite carriers of all.

(To see photos of Reading GP35 #3640's current restoration please click here.)

While the Reading has a history dating back to the 1820s, its true beginnings date to the creations of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad in April 1833 by the State of Pennsylvania to haul anthracite coal more efficiently to eastern ports than by either horse or canal. Six years later it had completed its main line between Reading and Philadelphia in 1839 and by the latter half of the 19th century was reaching towns such as Harrisburg, Pottstown, Norristown, and Bethlehem (by purchasing smaller lines such as the Lebanon Valley Railroad, Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad, Williamsport & Erie Railroad, North Pennsylvania railroad, and Delaware & Bound Brook Railroad).

The railroad also established connections with the Western Maryland, Baltimore & Ohio, and Jersey Central, the latter two of which would form a partnership amongst all three and help each other in terms of traffic and other means (the B&O also held control of the Reading for quite some time, which began in 1901).

The fall of the Philadelphia & Reading began with Archibald McLeod, which began president of the railroad in 1890. In an attempt to establish an anthracite empire and dominate the region he began to aggressively lease or purchase other railroads (including the Lehigh Valley; Jersey Central; and Delaware, Lackawanna & Western), and was even setting his sights on New England. Despite controlling nearly three-quarters of the anthracite market by the end of the century McLeod’s dreams fell apart when he pushed the railroad too far and it collapsed into bankruptcy. Shortly thereafter the Reading Company was established to takeover the P&R and its affiliates.

A quick look at its system map by the time reached its peak in the early 20th century and one can see why it relied so heavily on anthracite coal. The Reading Railroad itself, while having a system of over 1,200 miles, interestingly only held roughly a 90-mile main line between Philadelphia and Reading, Pennsylvania. The rest of its system was either branches or secondary lines, a virtual web of trackage!

Prior to World War II the Reading did fairly well, moving millions of tons of anthracite from western mines to eastern ports, a staple which was quite profitable, at least while demand held. And, despite a system that only connected the larger cities of Philadelphia and New York, the Reading did have one posh passenger train, the Crusader, a streamlined operation between New York/Jersey City (in conjunction with the CNJ at its Jersey City Terminal) and Philly. In its initial streamlining the train used a simple 4-6-2 Pacific (streamlined at the Reading Shops) and matched it to its lightweight consist of five cars (built by the Budd Company), bedecked in stainless steel.

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!

As the post-WWII traffic decline began, by the 1950s the Reading was hit especially hard from this downturn. As traffic declined demand for anthracite began to fall rapidly and the Reading began to find it harder and harder to remain profitable. Interestingly, despite the railroad’s problems in keeping traffic levels up it was almost always well managed and operated throughout most of its life.

As the 1960s unfolded the anthracite market had almost entirely dried up and the Reading Railroad depended heavily on bridge traffic to remain competitive and replace earnings lost from coal traffic (which was all but impossible). The straw that brought everything down for the railroad was the merger by the Pennsylvania and New York Central to form the disastrous Penn Central in 1968. Almost immediately the PC began to crumble and along with it most of the other Northeastern carriers as they relied on the massive carrier to funnel traffic back and forth to them.

On June 21, 1970 the PC declared bankruptcy and not long after so too did most of the other surrounding carriers, including the Reading on November 23, 1971. Things went from bad to worse as the PC was threatening total shutdown (which would also include the rest of the Northeast) if some assistance was not given.

Realizing the severity of the situation the federal government stepped and setup the Consolidated Rail Corporation, which comprised the skeletons of several bankrupt Northeastern carriers, including the Reading, and began operations on April 1, 1976. With federal backing Conrail began to slowly pull out of the red ink (it took many years) and by the late 1980s was a profitable railroad after thousands of miles of access trackage was abandoned and/or upgraded.

Notable Reading Railroad Passenger Trains

The Crusader

Harrisburg Special: (Jersey City - Harrisburg)

King Coal: (Philadelphia - Shamokin, Pennsylvania)

North Penn: (Philadelphia - Bethlehem)

Queen of the Valley: (Jersey City - Harrisburg)

Schuylkill: (Philadelphia - Pottsville)

Wall Street: (Philadelphia - Jersey City)

While some systems like the LV and Jersey Central were mostly scrapped after the creation of Conrail, interestingly, much of the Reading Railroad lives on today as Conrail’s initial system included many of the Reading’s former routes and lines. Today Reading's old lines are under the operation of Norfolk Southern and CSX, who purchased Conrail in 1999.

For more on the Reading Railroad you may want to consider Reading Railroad In Color from Jeremy F. Plant, which gives an excellent, and very colorful, pictorial history of the Reading (and being published by Morning Sun Books the images are of excellent quality). If you have any interest in the Reading you are sure to enjoy this book.