We continue our coverage of the former Reading Company East Penn Branch connecting Reading with Allentown, Pennsylvania, today’s busy Norfolk Southern Reading Line a favorite location for my photography. The trackage was built by the East Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859 and became part of the Philadelphia & Reading in 1865. The line became part of Conrail on April 1, 1976. With the breakup of Conrail in 1999 the railroad became part of Norfolk Southern. Today it remains an important link for NS funneling traffic from the south and west toward New Jersey.
ABOVE: Norfolk Southern GEVO 9224 is westbound at the Richmond Street crossing in Fleetwood on April 12, 2014. The former Fleetwood automobile plant provides an excellent prop for westbound trains at the grade crossing. Southeastern Pennsylvania had several fledging automobile manufacturers at the beginning of the 20th century.
What has always fascinated me about this 35- mile line is its rural nature; most of the region was settled by Pennsylvania Dutch farmers attracted to its fertile land, a fact that remains largely true today, despite creeping suburbanization and the sprawl of warehouse distribution centers, particularly around Alburtis.
ABOVE: NS 4116 leads a former BNSF GEVO and Illinois Terminal heritage unit 1072, shown crossing Deka Road with train 29G, April 26, 2024. This mid-section of the East Penn Branch has retained its rural nature. Aerial View
My photography of the line began in the early 1970s in time to catch the final years of the Reading Company, which has always been my favorite railroad. I have continued photographing the line through its changes of operators to the present. The photographs in this installment pick up where we left off last month in Blandon, and continue east through the most scenic and easily accessible segment of the line to Alburtis…