If you’re a Reading Company, fan or a fan of railroads in general, the following links should be of interest. Jump to a category by clicking below, or just browse through the list. e-mail us at webmaster@readingrailroad.org to clue us in on any Reading Company-related links that we might have missed or have yet to hear about!
Reading Railroad-Related
- Anthracite Railroads Historical Society: The ARHS is devoted to preservation of the history of the Reading, Central RR of New Jersey, Lehigh Valley, Lehigh and New England, and other anthracite haulers.
- Berks County Historical Society: Excellent historical resource on Berks County, featuring info/photos on the The Reading Railroad Massacre, Mt. Penn Gravity Railroad and Neversink Mountain Railroad.
- Black River & Western RR: BR&W operates steam and diesel excursions and freight over surviving Reading Co. trackage near Ringoes, NJ, and along the Delaware River. This is their official website.
- The BlueComet: Great shots taken during the mid to late 70’s of many retired and stored locos at the Reading, PA shops.
- Catawissa Railroad Company: Maintained by owner of ex-Reading Catawissa station. Converted cabooses (including RDG) available for rent as hotel rooms.
- Conrail Caboose Website: Info on Conrail’s cabooses.
- Danbury Railway Museum: The Danbury Railway Museum is currently in possession (on loan from the Connecticut Department of Transportation) five ex-Reading homebuilt passenger coaches which were used last used with FP7 units #902/#903 on pull-pull service from Reading to Philadelphia.
- Fallen Flags and Short Line Railroad Photos: George Elwood’s extensive site chock full of photos and info for just about every railroad you can think of including the Reading.
- The Hagley Museum, Wilmington, Delaware: The library of the Hagley Museum retains extensive company records and personal correspondence from the Reading Co. and its presidents.
- Lehigh Valley Railroad: One site covering this railroads’ history. Links to many other sites with info.
- Livonia, Avon, and Lakeville RR: LALRR owns two ex-Reading ALCO C424’s.
- National Model Railroad Association-Philadelphia Division: Philadelphia Division of the Mid-Eastern Region (MER) of the National Model Railroad Association. A number of its members are also RCT&HS members, modeling the Reading and other anthracite roads.
- New Hope & Ivyland RR: NHIR operates steam and diesel excursions and some freight over 17 miles of surviving Reading Co. trackage.
- North Carolina Transportation Museum: Rosters 5 operable ex-Reading coaches used for Museum excursions.
- North East Rails: Clint Chamerlin’s excellent resource of northeastern Pennsylvania railroading, including photos, maps, rosters, schedules. Includes Reading photo roster.
- Pennsylvania Convention Center: The convention center’s Grand Hall is the former Reading Terminal trainshed.
- Pennways: Highway and Transportation website for the Delaware Valley and Phildelphia. Includes articles on Regional Commuter Rail and the Center City Commuter Tunnel, which connected Reading Terminal with the Pennsy’s Suburban Station.
- Philadelphia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society: Owner of sister FP7 unit #903.
- Railfan.net Reading Co. Forum: Reading Railroad on-line discussion board.
- Railfanning Reading: Scanner frequencies, hotbox detector locations, schedules and maps for the Reading area along with photo locations that are rated by their ease of accessibility, train density and photogenic quality. Also has a fallen flags section that includes archival Reading shots from the mid 70’s.
- Railpix: Stan Feldman’s Railpix photo gallery includes numerous pictures of Reading equipment. Some of the photos are of our equipment and some of SEPTA’s ex-Reading stuff.
- Railroading in St. Clair: Great info about the history of railroads in the St. Clair, PA area. Also features a separate section on the Reading’s once extensive St. Clair yards.
- Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania: Home of Reading shop switcher 0-6-0T #1251, Reading café-parlor car #1189, Crusader trainset observation-coach car #1 and other misc. RDG Co. artifacts.
- Railroad.net Reading Co. Forum: Another Reading Railroad on-line discussion board.
- Railroad Signaling and Communications: Mike Bednar’s personal collection of CTC machines, signals, model boards, relays, etc. Includes photos and descriptions of a few Reading items.
- Reading #2124 Restoration Effort: A site to generate support for restoration of Reading T-1 steam locomotive #2124, which currently resides at Steamtown National Park in Scranton, PA.
- Reading & Northern : Benefactor and friend to the RCT&HS. Operates many miles of ex-Reading trackage as well as the passenger excursions at Jim Thorpe.
- Railroad Museum of Long Island: RMLI has an ex-Reading motorcar in their collection.
- Reading Railroad Page: Josh Musser’s excellent companion site on the Reading Railroad, complete with photos, equipment rosters and other helpful info.
- Reading Railroad Photo Archives:
Reading Railroad pics taken in the 70’s and 80’s by the late Robert Rinker. Some great vintage and unique photos! - Reading Society of Model Engineers: Website of the Reading Society of Model Engineers.
- Steamtown National Park: Home of Reading T-1 steam locomotive #2124.
- Tamaqua Station: Built in 1874, this historic ex-RDG station was saved from the brink of demolition and now serves as a restaurant and heritage center.
- The Reading Modeler: Tom Jacobs and Darrell Hensley’s web site featuring much useful prototype and model information/photos for those modeling the Reading. A must see for serious Reading fans!
- Strasburg Rail Road: America’s oldest shortline railroad and one of the premiere rail tourist operations in the country. Operates ex-RDG business car #10 and immaculately restored P &R coach #92 "Susquhanna."
- Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern RR: The WK&S operates steam/diesel excursions over a small segment of the former Reading’s Schuylkill & Lehighton Branch. Rosters a handful of ex-Reading coaches.
- West Chester Railroad: Operates diesel-powered excursions out of West Chester, PA over SEPTA R2 line with ex-Reading MU car coaches.
- Yahoo Groups–Anthracite Railroads: List dedicated to discussing the railroads that served the anthracite region of Pennsylvania including the Reading.
Railroads in General
- Altoona Railroader’s Memorial Museum & Horseshoe Curve
- East Broad Top Railroad: The best unofficial website with information on this amazing PA historical treasure.
- Gandy Dancer: Some very good information of rail speeders (track cars), including the types used by the Reading. Many images, so pages take a while to load.
- Pennsylvania Rails-to-Trails: Website of PA Rails to Trails program, including data on all rail lines in Pennsylvania, both abandoned and not!
- Railfan.net: Host for many railroad forums, photo archives, videos and links.
- Railroad.net: Good source of railroad news, events, photos, articles and forums. Info on many northeast railroads/shortlines.
- Railway Preservation News: An electronic newsmagazine and discussion board related to rail preservation. Excellent resource for all those interested in anything old with steel wheels! Discussion board is second to none for heavy rail preservation-related topics.
Just Neat or Useful Sites
- Coolspring Gas Engine Museum: One of Pennsylvania’s most fascinating museums for the mechanically interested (and probably one of its least known). The museum, near Punxsutawney, has an incredible selection of engines, from the very small to the enormous. Consider visiting for their fall open house.
- Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers: Advocate group committed to the cost-effective improvement and expansion of passenger rail and transit service in the Delaware Valley and surrounding region.
- Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission: Information on PA history. Discussion of PA industrialization includes coal mining, railroading, labor relations, etc.
- Reading Anthracite: One of the largest (if not the largest) surviving coal companies in "the Regions" shares roots with the Reading Railroad in the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co.