Elizabeth and I arose at the Doubletree Hotel in Wilmington, Delaware and after our morning preparations, we went across the road to the Bandywine Diner with Dan Meyer and Dawn Holmberg, where I had French Toast. After good conversations, the two of us left Wilimgton and drove to Reading for the only station of the day.
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Reading station built in 1929. The Franklin Street Station building was dedicated in 1931 by the Reading Company for use as a passenger station. It was a significant Reading transportation hub until it was closed in 1983 when ridership declined to unprofitable levels. Berks Area Regional Transportation Authorit took ownership of the extremely decayed and neglected building and spent years arranging federal, state and local grants and funding to restore it. Renovations were completed in 2013 and included a new roof, upper interior walls and heating and plumbing. The terra cotta walls, terrazzo floor and all windows are original to the building. The bench seating is a reproduction of the original benches. The renovated station was briefly used as a BARTA bus transportation center and closed around 2015.
In 2018, Saucony Creek signed a lease with BARTA to occupy the unused station and changes included removing one long bench, constructing the bar and installing a commercial kitchen in the former Lunch Room. They opened in August 2019.
We then drove over to Outer Station for their steam engine.
Canadian Pacific Railway 4-6-0 1098, ex. moved Steamtown 1985, exx. Bellows Falls 1966, exxx. F. Nelson Blount at North Walpole, New Hampshire 1961, nee Canadian Pacific Railway 1098, built by Canadian Locomotive Company in 1913.
The builder's plate. From here we drove to the Reading Railroad Museum in Hamburg.
Reading Railroad Heritage MuseumThroughout its 30-year history, the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society has acquired the largest collection of railroad rolling stock dedicated to a single railroad in the United States. Comprised of over 70 freight and passenger cars and locomotives, the Society's collection includes several historically significant examples of rail equipment, including the first production model of the General Motors GP30 diesel-electric locomotive, 5513. When you visit the Museum, you will have the opportunity to take a walking tour of our outdoor display yard with a Museum docent, during which you will learn about how the Reading had a leading role in the development of railroad technology. You'll also gain an appreciation for the challenges faced by the men and women who worked for the railroad.
The Museum's main Exhibit Hall contains a variety of artifacts from the Reading Railroad that showcase the impact the Reading had on the communities it served. The highlight of the Exhibit Hall is our 1930s Station Agent's Office. Before the paperwork and "business" aspects of railroading were taken over by computers and electronic technology, most stations along the Reading Railroad had an Agent who was responsible for keeping track of freight traffic and delivering orders from the dispatcher to passing train crews. Step back in time and see what life was like for railroad personnel outside of the locomotive cab - our replica office is a realistic depiction of a typical Reading station office from the early part of the 20th century, from the gate-arm telephone to the countless pieces of paperwork that had to be completed to keep the freight moving!
Visitors will continue to learn what it was like to work on the Reading Railroad by viewing our sizable collection of railroad artifacts. From tools to signs to the bass drum from the Reading Shop Band, we have a broad variety of artifacts on display that tell the story of life on the railroad, and how the Reading influenced everyday life - whether by bringing coal to heat homes in the early part of the 20th century, to the famous Reading Terminal Market - built by the Reading under its main passenger terminal in Philadelphia in order to increase business for the railroad. After exploring the exhibits at the Museum, you'll begin to see that the Reading Railroad is so much more than a space on the Monopoly board!
Our VisitWe paid the fare and started to explore this great museum.
Tools of the railroad.
Railroad track construction.
A Reading model railroad.
Reading Railroad 2100 cutout.
Museum scene.
Reading Railroad manuals.
Part of the extensive model railroad depicting the historic Reading Railroad.
Environment and Getting The Message From Station to Station display boards.
Reading engine 179 and trainset built by George Hoopes.
Getting The Message - Dispatcher to Engineer.
Getting The Message - From Station to Engineer.
Getting The Message - Conductor to Engineer.
Getting The Message - From Trains to People.
Model of private car "Naomi" built by George Hoopes in the 1960's and named for his wife.
Architectural details from the Reading Terminal, Philadelphia.
A Century of Progress In Rails.
Culture - Reading Terminal Market.
Reading Company freight station and model train.
Reading Lines 2186 and 2603 and Reading Crusader.
The Reading Company System map.
Reading photographs.
Labor display board.
Organizations display board.
Reading dining car china.
Travel Groups display board.
Rainmakers, a social group consisting of men of Reading Company management, met several times each year for retirement banquets, celebrations of promotions, honors of members, dinners to mark St. Patrick's Day and Groundhog Day, among others.
Wyomissing and Franklin Street signs.
Nicetown and Cold Run signs.
Caution Close Overhead Clearance.
Reading steam engines throughout their history.
19th Century locomotive oil headlight donated by the Neil Shankweller family.
A quintet of steam engine number boards.
One of the many display cases in the museum.
Railroad Technology and Bee Line Service display board.
Reading Railroad diesel locomotives throughout their history.
Reading Railroad Architecture.
Architecture display board.
Steam engine headlights, a locomotive bell and a Reading Company bulletin board. We then went outside to view the collection.
The museum's A5a parade locomotive built in 1974 in preparation for the bicentennial celebration.
The Reading emblem.
The Blakeville station from the former Munchkin Railway, named in honour of donor James Blake, who never saw the finished railway as he passed away in 2013. Made up of two loops at each end of the line, behind the museum, the Munchkin Railway was licensed by the state and inspected daily. The locomotives were hand-cranked and hand-powered and the line featured a transfer table to easily store the cars. It took about a year to build and included some unique re-purposing of old railroad spikes which became flowers and utility pole insulators became coloured mushrooms.
Reading grill car 2060, nee Reading coach 1337, built by Harlan and Hollingsworth in 1922. The grill car was once an important part of the Reading's long distance service, first serving on the Philadelphia-Pottsville "Schuylkill" before moving to the "Wall Street" between Philadelphia and Jersey City/New York. The car featured a kitchen for prepping small meals and both counter and table seating. After retirement, it became part of a restaurant and was later acquired by the museum. It is one of the few food service cars original to the Reading that survive, although some former Reading coaches have since been converted to dining cars on some tourist railroads post retirement from the former anthracite hauler.
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.
Maryland & Pennsylvania GP7 1506, ex. Maryland and Pennsylvania 86, ex. Conrail 621, nee Reading 621 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1953.
Reading GP30 5513, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1962. It was the first locomotive purchased by the Society, which 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.
Penn Central baggage car B60B, nee Pennsylvania Railroad, builder and year unknown. It also 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.
Reading Company coach 90847, converted to an engineer mobile training unit by the Reading in 1953 from coach 1405, built in 1913, to train crew members during the transition from steam to diesel. It was donated by Conrail in 1988.
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 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.
Conrail box car 282841, nee Conrail 260952, builder unknown but constructed in 1964.
Reading baggage car 1253 "Latrobe Inn", ex. Amtrak 1572, nee Union Pacific baggage-dormitory 6005, built by American Car and Foundry in 1949.
Reading caboose 92938, builder unknown but constructed in 1942.
Stockton Terminal and Eastern SW1200 678, ex. Stockton, Terminal and Eastern 9319, exx. Pacific Harbor Line 31:1, exxx. Pacific Harbor Line 9319, exxxx. Louisville & Indiana Railroad 9319, exxxxx. Conrail 9319, nee Reading 2719, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1963. It was donated to the museum in 2019 and will be restored as Reading 2719.
Reading Railroad Heritage Museum GP39-2 3412, ex. CSXT 4317, exx. CSXT 7412, exxx. Delaware and Hudson 7412, nee Reading 3412, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1974. This was donated by CSX to the museum on September 28th, 2009.
Reading steam engine tender 90691 built in 1901. In 1966, it was owned by the Wawa & Concordville, then later went to Wilmington & Western before being acquired by the museum in 2009.
Reading Company RDC1 9162, ex. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority RDC-1 9162, exx. South East Pennsylvania Transportation Authority 9162, nee Reading 9162, built by Budd Company in 1962.
Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern box car 4376, ex. Conrail 270497, builder and year unknown.
Reading Blue Mountain and Northern 40 foot box car 118141, builder and year unknown.
Reading Industrial Brownhoist 250 Ton Crane 90901, built by the company in 1956 and boom car 90805, built by the company in 1956.
Erie-Lackawanna "high roof" multiple unit trailer 4359, nee coach 707 built by Pullman in 1920.
Erie-Lackawanna "high roof" multiple unit trailer 2567 built by Pullman and General Electric in 1930.
Reading two-bay hopper 63921, built by the railroad in 1948.
Reading two-bay hopper car 66418, built by the railroad during World War II to conserve steel and is one of very few surviving composite cars (steel with wood sides).
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.
Patapsco and Back River Railroad DS4-4-1000 335:2, nee Reading 702, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1948.
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.
Reading baggage-railway post office car 1675, ex. Grand Trunk Western 8526, nee Grand Trunk Railways 789, built by Pressed Steel Car Company in 1914. It was once used by the museum as the gift shop at their previous site down the line in Leesport.
Conrail plug-door box car 17039, nee Reading 17039. built by the railroad, year unknown.
Reading maintenance-of-way camp car 90893, nee combine, number unknown, built by the railroad, year unknown. It was one of the rider cars used by workers on the wreck or relief trains and included an office, kitchen, lounge and restroom facilities. This particular rider car was from the relief train consist that the Reading based at the yard in its namesake Pennsylvania city.
Reading coach 9104, ex. Reading 1964, nee Reading combine 305, built by Harlan & Hollingsworth in 1931.
Reading coach 863, built by Harlan & Hollingsworth in 1932.
A shop switcher built from a scrapped locomotive.
Reading Railroad Heritage Museum RP-F6Y 9905, ex. Reading Blue Mountain and Northern 9905, exx. Norfolk Southern 9905, exxx. Norfolk and Western 9905, exxxx. Norfolk and Western 3592, nee Wabash H-24-66 552, built by Fairbanks- Morse in 1956. It was converted into a slug after the Norfolk & Western acquisition of the Wabash.
Reading 40 foot box car 109132, built American Car and Foundry in 1956.
Reading caboose 92832, built by the railroad in 1936.
Reading caboose "northeastern" 94074, built by International Car in 1948.
Reading caboose 94116, built by International Car Company in 1971, which became Delaware and Hudson 35797, in 1976.
Reading box car 24661, built by Pullman-Standard, year unknown. It was later transferred from Reading to Delaware and Hudson ownership in 1976 at the startup of Conrail.
Reading U30C 6300 built by General Electric in 1967. The locomotives were delivered with snowplough 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.
Museum view.
Reading combine 515, built by Bethlehem Steel in 1919. It is one of the few surviving combines and was last operated by Rail Tours Incorporated of Jim Thorpe.
Reading café-lounge 1189 "King Coal", nee parlour-diner 1189, built by the Pullman Company in 1926. It was rebuilt in 1932, air conditioning was added in 1935 and the car was modernized in 1948. Retired in 1966, it arrived at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 1970 and was acquired by the Reading Railroad Museum in 2018.
Reading coach trailer 774 1947, nee coach 1276, built by Harlan & Hollingsworth in 1925. It operated in the Philadelphia commuter district and was hauled by steam power. Rebuilding to a trailer car occurred for use with the electric MUs in the electrified suburban territory as a means to increase the number of available seats for passengers. After retirement during the Bicentennial year, it was acquired by Rail Tours for operations out of Jim Thorpe on the former Central of New Jersey mainline, a service it provided until Rail Tours was replaced by the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway in 2005.
Reading two-bay covered hopper 93533, built by Bethlehem Steel in 1953.
Reading coach "Blueliner" 9111, nee Reading coach 827, built by Harlan & Hollingsworth in 1931.
Reading NW2 103, ex. Ireco Incorporated 103, exx. Blue Mountain and Reading 103, nee Reading Railroad 103, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1947.
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority coach 9110, nee Reading 839, built by Harlan & Hollingsworth in 1931.
Reading 40 foot box car 108474, built by American Car and Foundry in 1950.
Museum view.
Delaware and Hudson 50 foot box car 24495, builder and year unknown.
Reading 50 foot box car 20003, built by Pullman Company in 1972.
Reading hi-rail truck 1085; we then returned inside.
Reading Lines - Society, Culture, Environment, Business and Commerce, Railroad Technology.
The agent's office.
A small model railway diorama in the break room.
The Reading Railroad Heritage Museum System display board. We bought some souvenirs and added several back issues of Railfan Magazine to our collection. We then departed and drove to Hagerstown, Maryland, stopping at Jersey's Mikes before checking into the Days Inn for the night.
10/14/2024 Elizabeth and I awoke and after our Internet duties, went to Bob Evans for breakfast then I drove us to Cracker Barrel in Springfield for dinner and Elizabeth drove the rest of the way to Indianapolis, where we stayed at the Drury Inn.
10/15/2024 The two of us had a hearty breakfast at the Drury Inn then I drove us into Illinois and then Elizabeth drove the rest of the way home. It was very good to be home and our car Chessie was happy to see us.
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