19-11-23 PHOTOS: Reading Belt Line

The Reading Belt Line was built in 1900 to allow trains of black gold from the Anthracite regions of Eastern Pennsylvania to bypass the increasingly congested Reading yard. It was emblematic of a time when advances in industrial technology would allow the rickety 19th century rail network to get upgraded for the age of steel for those wealthy railroads that could afford it. Running from Klapperthal Jct south of the city to Belt Line Jct in the north, today it hosts the vast majority of NS through traffic on the Reading and Harrisburg Lines as they run between eastern markets and Harrisburg.

What caught my interest was the presence of surviving Conrail era signals on the line which have managed to survive several major NS re-signaling projects in recent years. Always wary of "future developments", I booked a weekend with Reading area rail enthusiast Kevin Painter to visit the Conrail signal locations as well as some other Reading area landmarks. Unfortunately the gods were not kind to me and I caught zero NS freights over the entire course of the day. You can still see all the photos I did get here (mirror).

The first stop was CP-TULP where the Reading Line crosses the Tulpehocken Creek via a single track bridge. The entire bridge is within interlocking limits and the interlocking marks the division point where westbound Reading Line trains can head east to Philly or continue west to Harrisburg. First re-signaled by the Reading in the early 1950's as part of a general Reading area CTC project that concentrated control at two new towers, VALLEY JCT and OLEY, much of this territory would be end of life by the dawn of the 21st century and CP-TULP was again re-signaled by Conrail in 1998 or 99, immediately prior to the NS/CSX split. Therefore, as the interlocking hardware is essentially "new enough" it has so far avoided re-replacement. Here we see the eastbound Reading Line signal for eastbound Harrisburg Line traffic adjacent to the Conrail blue station sign.

Although Conrail was known for using "pinch points" instead of a normal double track crossover to save money, the Reading era single track bridge over the Tulpehocken Creek was the motivating factor for CP-TULP's design, not Conrail's frugality. The westbound signals feature 3 heads due to CP-TULP being back-to-back with CP-VALLEY JCT and CP-DUNKLE, necessitating the need for R/Y/G Medium Approach Medium. Although clearly an equilateral turnout, Conrail did not like the concept and designated track 2 as the diverging route.

The milepost 6 intermediate mast signals replaced a pair of Reading era bracket masts visible from the adjacent PA Route 12. The portion of the Reading Line between CP-BLANDON and CP-WYOMISSING JCT uses its own zero based mileage reflecting the history of this route as a bypass.

If there is congestion on the Belt Line or if carloads need to be handled at Reading Yard, trains may be routed via the slow road through downtown Reading. CENTER interlocking, established during the 1950's CTC project, represents the western apex of the old Reading Outer Station wye where traffic bound for Harrisburg would emerge from the Reading terminal complex. Left largely intact from the Reading days, CP-CENTER was recently re-signaled with the western switch and interlocking limits relocated to the west to save on grade crossing logic and allow for a higher speed turnout.

The eastbound signals were also made more descriptive providing for medium and full speed indications to the Pottsville Branch even though speeds on both legs of the old Outer Station wye are only 10mph.

The south leg of the Outer Station Wye is represented by CP-WALNUT. Replaced by Conrail in the late 1990's, new NS signals replaced the Conrail masts in 2018 or 2019. A major hub of activity during the days of the Reading railroad, Outer Station closed in 1969 and was destroyed by fire in 1978. In the early 2000's the city public works opened a large facility on the site and today much of the surrounding brownfield has returned to a natural state.

Looking east towards the old Franklin St station while a parade passes by on Penn St.

Laying abandoned for years, Reading's Franklin St station had been completely restored and now serves as a restaurant and brewery. Considered the main station for passengers heading to and from Reading, it was the terminus for SEPTA service until the end of diesel operations in 1981. The station complex still serves as a transportation hub and plans to restore train service to Philadelphia is still simmering on the back burner.

Adjacent to Franklin St station is the original Reading shop complex, still standing and in use as a plumbing supply warehouse. The shops were later moved to the Reading Yard area and expanded.

Definitely not a regular car, perhaps someone can help identify this derelict vehicle in a parking lot adjacent to the tracks.

The "new" Reading shoppes are still standing, also used as some sort of industrial supply outfit. Due to its anthracite related wealth, the Reading built most of its own steam locomotive sleet up through World War 2. They were then converted into the Reading's primary diesel locomotive repair facility and car shoppes. The car shop operation would be the last to close under Conrail although SEPTA electric MU's would still make the journey to Reading to make use of the wheel machine until that was moved to the new Robert's Yard in the mid-1980's. Also in the 80's the shops were briefly used to store and rehabilitate the Reading Technical and Historical society's collection of historic equipment.

Located at the north end of the Belt Line, CP-BELT was rebuilt by Conrail in 1999 to better reflect the service patterns that hat emerged in the 1980's. Originally built to support coal traffic moving north to south, by the 90's Belt Jct was primarily handling all kinds of other traffic running east and west. Reading vintage signaling was replaced and switches re-aligned to give the east-west traffic full speed routes.

Rebuilt during the Conrail split, the interlocking has a number of transitional elements such as a brown painted relay hut instead of authentic COR-TEN and the westbound signals being in the NS style with Conrail contrast paint applied. The only Ns train I came even close to catching that day was the tail end of a westbound doublestack intermodal that arrived in the brief period of time I was driving from one end of CP-BELT to the other.

Fortunately, the Reading and Northern's North Reading station was just a few blocks away. While nothing was moving a pair of MP15DC's and SD50's were idling on the main track. The MP15 like #1540 and #1542 seen below are used to flat switch cars interchanged from NS into Fast Freight consists that will head to the R&N's major hubs.

SD50's #5019 and #5020, recently obtained in a group from CSX, are on hand to accept unit anthracite coal car movements.

The North Station complex was built to better support the booming passenger excursion traffic and includes a reproduction Reading style interlocking tower and signage.

Although one might assume from the blue paint job Reading and Northern 4-6-0 #225 was an ex-Central of New Jersey engine, was actually built by the Canadian Pacific. R&N owner and marketing guru Andy Muller parked it on a spur track that runs through the parking lot to make the engine more visible from the busy PA Rt 61 and boost walk-in traffic.

That's it for today. Sorry for the lack of train content, but sometimes the dice turn up snake eyes. Thanks again to Kevin for both serving as tour guide and also driving me around all over Reading!