3650 entering Lebanon Valley Jct., located on the west side of
Reading. READING COMPANY
This page will cover lines west of Reading, PA.
3650 entering Lebanon Valley Jct., located on the west side of
Reading.
Two trains about to head west to Harrisburg. First three images courtesy
of Paul Carpentino.
The first station west of Reading was Sinking Spring. The Lancaster and Columbia branch began here.
In a photo dated 1969, an eastbound coal train behind GP35 3634 passes the
Sinking Spring station. The branch is the foreground track swinging off to
the left. Photographer unknown.
Wernersville is the next station. A car dealership owned the building
for a long time. The canopy remained intact.
A small wooden structure served the town of Wolmensdorf. Photo courtesy
Gary Madden.
Sheridan, PA. Note the sign on the small shanty.
Myerstown, PA
Lebanon was one of the largest towns on this line, in fact the mainline
itself was known as the Lebanon Valley branch at one time.
The freight house and small yard are located on the west end of town. A
branch known as the Cornwall branch is here along with a station building.
A classic Reading station is located in Palmyra.
The next stop is Hershey. Home of the famous chocolate factory and amusement park.
Many thanks to Helene Elise Reneau for this very early picture. Her
grandfather seen on the right served as Chief Clerk until 1955. Sadly, the
station was demolished many years ago and replaced by, are you ready?, a parking
lot.
Hummelstown is the location of the junction with the Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad. This shortline operates the short former Reading branch to Middletown.
The main yard in the Harrisburg area was in Rutherford, PA, just east of the city. There cars from the Western Maryland interchange and cars from the Pennsylvania ( later PC ) were sorted and combined into trains heading east to Philadelphia, New York and New England. Of course, the most prominent landmark was the old concrete coaling tower.
An eastbound arrives in the yard behind a new GP-39-2. The engines are cutoff and head to the terminal.
The SW1001 yard switchers work the yard
5310 in storage, summer 1975.
By 1989 the yard had been abandoned by Conrail and sat unused for many years
until it was converted into a rail-truck terminal in a joint venture with
Norfolk Southern, the current owner.
A Conrail era picture of 'Capital' tower. Here was the connection to
the PRR main near the Harrisburg station.
The Reading crossed the Susquehanna River on a long concrete arch bridge.
Although this photo is a Conrail era shot, the coal train was very typical.
West of the river the line headed west toward a connection with the Western Maryland Railway.
A nicely restored station at Camp Hill. PA.
The Reading station at Mt. Holly Springs. Here is the junction for the
Gettysburg branch, now operated by the Gettysburg Railway. Tourist
passenger trains operate from Gettysburg.
The connection with the Western Maryland was located at Lurgan, just south of
Shippensburg, PA. Basically nothing more was here other than this small
concrete block tower and a set of signals. After Conrail took over the
Reading, they upgraded the former Pennsylvania Railroad line from Shippensburg
south to Hagerstown, MD to avoid having to use the CSX (ex-WM) track. Remember,
the PRR built branches parallel to the Reading almost everywhere. In later
years this came in handy, but most of the duplicated track was removed by
Conrail.
A set of Reading power moves through "Hager" interlocking to the
engine terminal at Hagerstown, MD.
This is where the PRR crossed the WM to reach their yard on the south side of town.
GP35 3624 is on the point of an eastbound coal train ready to depart Hagerstown
yard.
In the last light of the day, the coal train rolls thru "Hager"
enroute to Rutherford. A pair of WM GP40's were pushing this train.
It was dark by the time they went by!