READING COMPANY

This page will cover the line from Jenkintown, site of the junction with the West Trenton line, to Lansdale, Doylestown and north to Bethlehem.  The lines from Jenkintown to Lansdale and the Doylestown branch are electrified while the Bethlehem branch from Lansdale to Bethlehem was not electrified.  Presently there is no passenger service between Lansdale and Bethlehem.   

  Jenkintown, PA    Train time at Jenkintown

Behind the single MU car is the junction with the West Trenton line.  The line to Lansdale swings off to the left.

  First station stop is Glenside       followed by North Hills

Oreland        Fort Washington         Ambler

  Penllyn passenger    Small freight house at Penllyn

  Gwynedd Valley  The unusual names are of a Welsh ancestry.

  North Wales

Lansdale is junction point for the Doylestown branch.  Another branch came up from Norristown to Lansdale, but was a lightly used freight only branch.

  Lansdale Station.  Note that most of the stations so far are built of native stone.

We will follow the short Doylestown branch first and return to Lansdale.

  Colmer    Chalfont 

Doylestown station          Freight House 1983               Freight House 1994                Layover yard, 1994

Up until 1981, there was regular passenger service between Philadelphia and Bethlehem.  The RDC cars were used primarily for this service.

On a dreary September 1979 day, trains to and from Bethlehem stop at Lansdale.

  Hatfield

  Souderton passenger station    Small fright house

  Telford passenger station    freight house

  Sellersville

  Perkasie.  Note the signal at the end of the double track.  A single track tunnel is just north of this town.

  The Perkasie freight station.

  The largest town between Lansdale and Bethlehem is Quakertown.

  A very large passenger and freight station were here.

  A Philadelphia bound Sunday afternoon train stops at Quakertown, September 1979.

What does Quakertown look like almost 30 years later?

A stop on July 18, 2008 found a shortline, East Penn Railways based here. Compare the second image to the RDC train above!
Thankfully, the station has been restored.  Now, how about restoring the RDC service, a shuttle between here and Lansdale might work.

In pictures taken in 1970, a train enroute to Bethlehem passes through Coopersburg, PA.  Photos courtesy Gary Madden.

  Passing the Bethlehem Steel plant

  Trains stopped at the remains of the joint Reading and Lehigh Valley station in Bethlehem.

  Thirty-five years later, in 2009, very little remains of the Reading in this area.  I am standing where the platform once was and the signal
post and a very short piece of track are the only remainders.  The station itself was refurbished for other purposes, but the Reading track from the former
LV crossing through the South Bethlehem area has been removed completely.  

To see more Reading pictures in the Bethlehem-Allentown area, CLICK HERE

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