April 4, 1833
Courtesy of Michael D. Loose
Workers construct the Spring Street Subway, which opened in 1909. Running under the tracks, the subway cost $150,000 and connected the northwest and northeast sections of the city.
: Pennsylvania Legislature grants a charter to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad.
August 1835: Excavation begins in Reading, believed to be near Seventh and Franklin streets.
Dec. 12, 1837: First passenger train, pulled by horses, travels from Reading to Pottstown.
May 1, 1838: Regular service begins between Reading and Pottstown using steam engines.
1839: First Reading to Philadelphia train.
1841: The main line is completed, a 94-mile, north-south corridor connecting Pottsville/Mount Carbon with Philadelphia through Reading.
1847: Philadelphia, Reading & Pottsville Telegraph Co., first telegraph company in the state, established as a subsidiary.
1849: P&R pays its first dividend
1858: Lebanon Valley Branch, Reading to Harrisburg, opens.
1859: East Penn Railroad, Reading to Allentown, opens, completing what becomes known as the crossline — a 90-mile link between Allentown and Harrisburg.
1873: In an era of union strife, controversial president Franklin B. Gowen hires Pinkerton Detective Agency to spy on the Molly Maguires, a group of Irish miners responsible for violence in the coal region.
1876-1877: Ten Molly Maguire leaders tried and executed.
July 23, 1877: Railroad strike violence in Reading kills 11.
1880: P&R enters bankruptcy because of declining coal shipments.
1884: Reading enters second bankruptcy.
1889: Gowen, 53, after losing control of the P&R several years earlier, commits suicide.
1893: P&R goes bankrupt for the third time.
1896: Reading Co. is the new name of the P&R holding company
1900: Construction of new rail shops in Reading begins.
1901: Reading Co. gains control of Jersey Central railroad.
1902: Reading Belt Line, which runs through West Reading and bypasses the city, is dedicated.
1918-1920: U.S government seizes control of the Reading and other railroads due to the war.
1924: Reading Co. becomes official name. The Reading shops alone employed about 4,200 in this period.
1929: Railroad’s YMCA building at Sixth and Oley streets opens.
1930: Franklin Street Station opens.
1937: New streamlined train, Crusader, put in service between Philadelphia and Jersey City.
1945: Reading buys its first order of road diesels from General Motors, marking the beginning of the end for steam locomotives.
1947: Lebanon Valley bridge over Schuylkill River completed.
1950: Passenger service ends between Reading and Lancaster.
1955: Blandon cutoff, a 4-mile line connecting Laureldale and Blandon opens. It is the last major rail line built in Berks County.
Late 1950s: The Reading had about 10,000 employees.
1961: The Reading Co. ends the year with a $6 million deficit. It is the railroad’s first operating loss since 1902.
1962: Lost post office and railway express contracts prompt severe cuts in passenger service.
1969: Last train stops at Outer Station. (In 1978, the 104-year-old landmark is destroyed by fire.)
Nov. 23, 1971: Reading Co. enters bankruptcy for the fourth and final time. With about 6,700 employees and 1,200 miles of track in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the company blames the bankruptcy on its debt of more than $11 million.
April 1, 1976: Reading Co., along with five other bankrupt northeastern railroads, is folded into government-backed Consolidated Rail Corp. or Conrail.
1981: Passenger service from Reading ends.
Source: "The Reading Railroad: History of a Coal Age Empire," Volumes 1 and 2, by the late James L. Holton
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