Reading Company Passenger Trains-1960s to 1980s

Wow great memories here! My father worked for both reading and Conrail from 47'-82' out of the race street tower location as a signal maintainer. Said he always wondered how many miles in total he walked over 35 years. We lived in hatboro and the trains ran just behind the house I wonder how much is even left from the old reading terminal out about the 4 miles a day he worked not to mention all of the overtime railroad calls he took on.

Rode these trains many times from Willow Grove to the Reading Terminal and North Philadelphia Station to visit Connie Mack Stadium. Great memories. Thank you.

It makes me sad to lose landmarks, companies, buildings and businesses that have been around for 50-100 years...no more Reading terminal, Strawbridges, Wanamaker, Clover, Sears, Kmart, Willow Grove amusement park and others.

I grew up in the Cheltenham Twp area north of Philly and this brought back a lot of fond memories, thanks

Really nice pictures you have there. I grew up close to the Gwynedd Valley and Penllyn stations way back when and seeing the dark green and Blueliner MU's was an everyday thing. My dad would sometimes take me to his work in Philly and I can still hear the electric motors grinding and the smell that went with it, as the train would start moving out of a station. Between Jenkintown and Wayne Junction we seemed to so fast that it was almost scary to a little kid. My dad's work was at what used to be called North Penn Junction so I could watch the PRR trains fly by. Years later I took untold trips into Philly for my own work but the GE Silverliner's were doing the work by then and they seemed to go a lot slower. I now live by the former Lurgan branch and still love hearing those whistles at night.

That's a great collection of photos! I used to see the RDCs at the Belle Mead train station when I was a kid. Reading & Northern has a lot of coaches that were former EMUs, I believe the Bethlehem Steel ones, but I don't know what their original numbers were. They've taken all of the electrical equipment out of them, but they're still cool to ride in.

Mate, you have some absolutely fantastic video/pics. Thanks so much for sharing your collection.

I grew up at Lawndale staion on Fox Chase line. Great pictures

I grew up in Fox Chase, so it was great to see the scenes from there, Ryers, and especially up on the line at Newtown. Thanks for posting!

@tassiebaz Thank you for posting this. It's helping me immensely ,as i am building some HO scale Reading "Blueliners" and am using this as a guide for the details in the builds.

Another great offering! I guessed they used th CNJ terminal in Jersey City, along with the B&O. Lackawanna was in Hiboken and the Erie was in a seperate terminal also in Jersey City by the Holland Tunnel...

Having just peeked at the railroad's sprawling system map, it makes me wonder what'll end up being swapped for the interstates.

I grew up @ 16th & Wyoming which is right around the corner from Wayne junction and its shops as a kid I would run to the corner just to watch as these trains ran towards center city I still remember that distinctive sound they would make when they would start to move

It appears from your photos that the Reading sometimes used the single FP-7's on the Jersey City (later Newark) run. Do you know if they used that push-pull up on the New York Branch? I know they used it occasionally to Bethlehem, and I actually rode it up there once. I also recall when they used the paired FP-7s (both at the front) up the West Trenton Branch to Jersey City. Great days! Thanks for the new photos on this site.

Wish the trains in the US will come back to The Dimond Pantagraph Era

I know that they used the twin units up front as late as the spring of 1966. Ironically, when they electrified Fox Chase in September of that year, a lot of changes occurred on the Reading. With the exception of the push pull, all of the locomotive-hauled coach trains sadly disappeared, and that brought the RDC’s full-time on Bethlehem, Reading, Jersey City and Newtown. The Aldine Plan occurred the next year, re-routing the trains through Newark, where passengers could then take

Great Pictures! What kind of camera was used? Kodachrome film? 😎

The EMU's look grimy....just how l like them.

What is the gizmo on top of the headlight on the Reading EMU's?

That Norristown scene at 8:51 where is that exactly? it doesn't look anything like Norristown TC Station area now. Maybe it was reconfigured after 202 was put over it?