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Reading Railroad Heritage Museum 6/20/2010

I found the Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg and after a few minutes, was allowed to see the equipment of this wonderful railroad museum.

The Reading Company Technical & Historical Society was incorporated on July 16, 1976 to preserve the rich history of the Reading Railroad. The group is an all-volunteer, non-profit, educational corporation that keeps alive the memory of this railroad as a repository of knowledge, artifacts and memorabilia of the Reading Railroad. Today it has over 1,000 members in the USA and aboard.

The group which met in the former Reading Company Passenger and Freight station in Elverson, Pennsylvania began publishing a magazine called the "Bee Line". The group then removed the Reading Company papers and photographs from the company's mechanical offices on Sixth Street in Reading. In 1982 the group helped in the restoration on Reading equipment at East Strasburg. The group's first modular HO scale layout was construcated in 1983, the same year it held its first banquet to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad.

Today the group maintains a railroad museum in Hamburg at the former Pennsylvania Steel Foundry complex in that town which opened in 2008.

Reading C630 5308 built by American Locomotive Company in 1967. It is one of the largest locomotives preserved from the former anthracite carrier and also the only surviving member of the Reading's fleet of twelve. 5308 was assigned to mainline freight service between the railroad's terminals at Philadelphia, Reading, Harrisburg, Allentown and Jersey City, New Jersey. Acquired by the museum in the 1980's after a stint on Conrail, the unit has been restored to the railroad's 1960's look, complete with Bee Line Service logos.

Reading NW2 103, ex. Ireco Incorporated 103, exx. Blue Mountain and Reading 103, nee Reading Railroad 103 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1947.

Reading caboose 92926, ex. Conrail 18748, nee Reading Railroad 92926 built by the railroad in 1941.

Reading baggage car 1253 "Latrobe Inn", ex. Amtrak 1572, nee Union Pacific baggage-dormitory 6005 built by American Car and Foundry in 1949.

Reading FP7A 900 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1950. It powered their first Reading passenger train, the Wall Street, on June 6, 1950. The Reading acquired two more units in 1952, and all eight continued in use until the mid-1960's. Due to declining ridership and smaller trains, the pairs were often broken up and used as sole power on a run, except on the Crusader and Wall Street, which still rated two units.

The acquisition of RDC's by the Reading and their increased use on passenger trains allowed the Reading to start to dispose of its FP7As. Two units, 904 and 905, were retired in 1965 and traded in to ALCO for C630's. The remaining units were used in push-pull service on the Reading to Philadelphia run, with one unit kept as a backup. This service continued after SEPTA took ownership of the train in 1974, and after Conrail assumed operation of the train in 1976. In 1977, SEPTA had "SEPTA OWNER" stenciled on the side of the units, and they were renumbered on paper into the Conrail numbering system.

In February 1978, SEPTA decided to apply a new paint scheme to the train, and the infamous red, white and blue "Circus Train" was born. The plan was to rotate the equipment out individually so as not to interrupt service. But later that month, the train derailed in Norristown, and it was decided that the entire train would be pulled and replaced by RDC's while it was repaired and repainted. The complete "Circus Train" debuted in June 1978. During its service under SEPTA, the train was also often used on the Bethlehem Branch in between its runs to and from Reading.

In 1981, with the anticipated opening of the Commuter Rail Tunnel in Philadelphia, SEPTA decided to cease all non-electrified rail service, and the train was retired and stored at SEPTA's Wayne electric shop. The future of the equipment was unknown, but fortunately fate would be much kinder to the remaining units than it had been to their sisters. The Philadelphia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society purchased 900 from SEPTA in 1983, with intentions of donating it to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, where it was sent for storage in September of 1983. But negotiations fell through, and instead the unit was leased and finally purchased by the RCT&HS. It has since been partially cosmetically restored and is planned for a complete restoration.

Reading Locomotive Engineer Mobile Training Unit 90847 built from a coach by the railroad.

Reading baggage car 1675, nee Grand Trunk Western 8526.

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority coach 9123, nee Reading 867 built by Harlan and Hollingsworth in 1932.

Reading baggage car 9051, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 9051. It operated on the High Iron Company's 1969 Golden Spike Centennial Limited from New York to Utah in commemeration of the 100th anniversary of the golden spike ceremony at Promontory Point. During this two week excursion, 9051 served as Exhibit Car 3, housing displays of railroading and its contribution to the growth of our nation.

Green Bay and Western C424 322, ex. Conrail 2493 1976, nee Reading C424 5204, built by American Locomotive Company in 1963. The Museum purchased it in 1994 and a year later, it was briefly moved to the Winchester & Western's New Jersey Division at Bridgeton for maintenance. Still in its modified Green Bay and Western scheme, 5204 will eventually be repainted back to its original Reading yellow/green.

Reading GP30 5513 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1962. It was the first locomotive purchased by the Society and acquired the unit from Conrail in 1985, after a lengthy storage at Rutherford Yard in Harrisburg. It was restored to its original appearance at the former Reading Locomotive Shops in 1985, making it is one of only a handful of GP30's preserved around the country.

Maryland & Pennsylvania GP7 1506, ex. Maryland and Pennsylvania 86, ex. Conrail 621, nee Reading 621 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1953.

Reading GP35 3640, ex. RCTH 3640, exx. Conrail 3640, nee Reading 3640 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1964. It was the last GP35 from that railroad's fleet that had not been rebuilt and the only one to wear the Reading's dark green and gold paint scheme.

Lehigh Valley caboose 95116 built by the railroad in 1945.

Reading U30C 6300 built by General Electric in 1967. The locomotives were delivered with snowplow pilots and were the very first Reading locomotives to carry the "Bee LIne Service" slogan on the sides of the long hood. They were used on most parts of the Reading System with the exception of the Wilmington & Northern or Perkiomen Branches. The U30Cs were the heaviest single-unit diesel locomotives ever operated by the Reading. In April 1976, the five Reading GE's became part of Conrail's locomotive roster and 6300 was re-numbered 6579. Retired in 1982, it was sold to the Chicago & North Western Railroad but they did not operate it. It was acquired by the museum in 1991 and has been partially restored to stabilize the locomotive from further deterioration. A full cosmetic and mechanical restoration is planned for the future to return 6300 to operating status.

Reading gondola 31405 built by the railroad in 1956.

The remains of a locomotive, identity unknown.

Norfolk Southern RP-E6Y slug 990 built by the railroad in 1982.

Andrew Merrilees RS-3 68, ex. Domtar Packaging 68 1978 to 1987, exx. Roberval and Saguenay Railroad 30, exxx. United Railway Supply Company 485 nee Reading 485 built by American Locomotive Company in 1952. After some confusion and turmoil involving a Canadian historical group which also wanted the locomotive, the museum finally acquired it in 1993. It arrived at Reading on October 28, 1997, exactly one year after its initial inspection.

Conrail plug-door box car 17039, nee Reading 17039 built by the railroad.

Reading box car 24661, builder and year unknown, painted as Delaware and Hudson.

Patapsco and Back River Railroad DS4-4-1000 335:2, nee Reading 702 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1948.

Reading maintenance-of-way tool car 90685, nee baggage car number unknown built by the railroad.

Reading maintenance-of-way camp car 90893, nee combine number unknown built by the railroad.

Yard view.

Reading baggage car 1715 nee combine 1715 built by Standard Steel in 1925. It was acquired in 1998 from the North Carolina Transportation Museum and before that, operated on the Southwest Virginia Scenic Railroad and the Quakertown and Eastern Railway.

Reading coach 863 built by Harlan and Hollingsworth in 1932.

New York Central six double bedroon-lounge 10629 "Mountain Stream", nee New York Central 4423, built by Budd in 1949.

Reading caboose 92909 built by the company in 1941.

Reading caboose 94116 built by International Car Company in 1971, which became Delaware and Hudson 35797 in 1976.

Reading caboose 94074 built by International Car Company in 1948 which later became Conrail 18857.

Reading caboose 92832 built by the railroad in 1936.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority RDC-1 9152, ex. South East Pennsylvania Transportation Authority 9152, nee Reading 9152 built by Budd Company in 1962. This was the last RDC that the Budd Company built and was also one of two on the Reading that was equipped with a special device to shunt crossing circuits, allowing it to operate as a single unit while in service.

Erie-Lackawanna "high roof" multiple unit trailer 4359, nee coach 707 built by Pullman in 1920 and Erie-Lackawanna "high roof" multiple unit trailer 2567 built by Pullman and General Electric in 1930.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority RDC-1 9162, ex. South East Pennsylvania Transportation Authority 9162, nee Reading 9162 built by Budd Company in 1962.

Reading steam engine tender 90691 built in 1901. In 1966, it was owned by the Wawa & Concordville then later went to Wilmington & Western and was acquired by the museum in 2004.

Reading two-bay hopper 63921 built by the railroad in 1948.

Reading two-bay hopper car 66418 built by the railroad and is one of very few surviving cars built as composite (steel with wood sides) car during World War II to conserve steel.

A family getting an excellent tour of the museum.

View of the grounds.

A pair of buses. I thanked the museum for allowing me to take pictures before I drove east on Interstate 78 to Pennsylvania 143, which took me to Kempton and my next train ride.

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