What is the difference between the two? Didn't Conrail favor the Reading between Philly and Harrisburg to get freight off the PRR passenger main? Are these busy lines with freight?
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Originally Posted by Mike W.:
What is the difference between the two? Didn't Conrail favor the Reading between Philly and Harrisburg to get freight off the PRR passenger main? Are these busy lines with freight?
I think you may be a little confused.....
What NS considers it's Reading Line is actually between CP-Tulp (located in the northwest side of the City of Reading, Pa) and CP- Bethlehem (located just east of Allentown in Bethlehem, Pa).
The NS Harrisburg Line runs from CP-Harrisburg (located immediately east of NS's GI8 yard in Harrisburg, Pa) via Reading, Pa and Abrams, Pa (King of Prussia, Pa) to CP-West Falls (approximately 9 miles from 30th Street Station) where trains enter CSX to access Conrail (yes still Conrail) Shared Assets and Amtraks NEC. Both of these Lines are former RDG.
I think what you are referring to above is why the RDG route is preferred over the former PRR route from Harrisburg to Philly. The reason is because the former PRR is not owned by NS; it is Amtrak's Keystone Line. The line was taken over from Penn Central by Amtrak in 1976 with the creation of Conrail.
The Reading route retained by Conrail (now NS) is much preferred due to the fact that it is cleared for high cars (BX190 and 191 Multi-Levels and Double Stacks) and the PRR route has much steeper grades.
NS does still provide local freight services along the former PRR between Harrisburg and Thorndale, PA
FUN FACT: The PRR catenary lines on the Keystone are actually so low that Amtrak can not run its own Superliner cars via the line. All Superliner cars needing to access the Amtrak shops in Bear, DE must operate via the NS Royalton Branch from Harrisburg to Columbia, PA, and then the NS Port Road Branch from Columbia to Perryville, MD to the NEC.
The East Penn Branch of the Reading extended from Bethlehem to Reading. From there, the Lebanon Valley Branch extended to Harrisburg, as Form D posted.
The Lebanon Valley Branch curves to meet a non-electrified stretch of the former Middle Division of the Pennsy south of the Amtrak/PRR station in Harrisburg. Double-stack trains use that connection because there is no catenary.
Come to think of it, the East Penn and the Lebanon Valley Branches are the only routes across eastern PA with high clearances. At Bethlehem they interchange traffic to New England via the CP (D&H). At Harrisburg they join the PRR main to Altoona, Pittsburgh and the West.
The Reading & Northern operates the former Reading main to Pottsville, the Little Schuylkill Branch between Port Clinton and Tamaqua, and some 300 miles of the Reading, Lehigh Valley, and Jersey Central.
Without the Reading branches, Conrail and NS would have to go through the Southern Tier (Binghamton).
Sooner or later just about everything goes by on the East Penn and Lebanon Valley Branches: units from BNSF, UP (including flag units), NS (Reading Heritage Unit 1067 came through last Monday, the 20th), CSX; Office Car Specials (OCS); Barnum & Bailey Circus Trains (Red Unit or Blue Unit), rail grinders, ballast cleaners - you name it.
Interesting. Thanks for the background. Now does the traditional Pennsy mainline over horseshoe curve end in Pittsburgh or continue double track to Chicago?
The Pittsburgh Line ends at the Amtrak Station in Pittsburgh where it becomes the Fort Wayne Line (originally the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago).
That was the Pennsy's "racetrack" - Fort Wayne and Crestline in particular. There was a huge roundhouse in Crestline that was home to the PRR Turbine and other giants.
