Reading Timetables (August, 1952)

Published: March 3, 2024

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R), also known as Reading Company, was chartered in 1833 to transport anthracite coal from Pennsylvania coal mines located near the Panther Creek Valley at Tamaqua to Port Clinton and eventually on to Philadelphia.

The firm's initial purpose was to counter transportation monopoly by canals. By 1842, it owned a 93-mile long railroad line. The P&R was the largest company in the world by revenue in the 1870s, due to the high demand for anthracite coal in the US.

In 1871, under President Franklin B. Gowen, P&R instigated the Long Strike, using tactics like cutting wages and forming coal monopolies to devastate small coal miners. This led to the infamous Molly Maguires violence and subsequent trials.

In 1893, it became one of the first railroads to go into receivership after an economic depression. The P&R was restructured as the Reading Company in 1896. It prospered in the early 20th century, acquiring other railway companies and diversifying operations into real estate and utilities.

However, after World War II, emphasis on roads and the decline of coal consumption led to its downfall. The bankrupt Reading was folded into Conrail in 1976, thus ending its existence as an independent entity, though its legacy lives on in public memory and history books.

Public Timetables (August, 1952)