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Re: Re: (rshsdepot) PRR Schuylkill Branch Questions

I was in Leesport yesterday and didn't see any station, although the =
Reading Company Technical and Historical Society has some ex-RDG rolling =
stock parked there.  The railcar museum appears to be closed.  In Reading =
itself, the main RDG and PRR stations are long gone, unfortunately, and =
their few remaining tracks are lifeless.  The Reading station at 7th and =
Franklin (1929) is a fine building, but is boarded up and derelict.  Hope =
it can be saved.  The "Skew" railbridge (1857) on 6th street, just in =
front of the site of the main RDG depot, is quite a sight.  Nearby Temple, =
PA, has a nice old wooden station now used by an excursion railway, with =
more ex-RDG stock parked there.

>>> katahdin_@_ureach.com 05/07/01 12:43PM >>>
I got involved with this line several years ago when I led the=20
acquisition of it from the Penn Central for a walking trail. =20
Some of the smaller stations still exist north of Reading, such=20
as in Lessport, and in Port Clinton the Reading and Northern=20
has built a wonderful facility.

In Reading the Locomotive shops and MOW shops are being used as=20
storage by a plumbing company.  They are in disarepair and=20
probably will not make another 5 years.  Some of the Car Shops=20
are still usaed by NS.

In Pottstown the oild train statiopn is now a bank.  In=20
Phoenixville the station is a restauraunt.  Both are still in=20
good shape.  In Schuylkill Haven there is now a Reading RR=20
museuim on the site of the old rail yard.  The St. Clair rail=20
yard was developed into a corporate aprk several years back,=20
although the coaling docks for where the RR and the Canal met=20
still exist in the woods.  The old RR trestle at Landingville=20
still stands.  In POttsville the old Freight Statiuon is now a=20
surveyor's office.

Vetsiges of this line exist in all the towns if you know where=20
to look.

I have ROW maps of the whole line in Schuylkill County and=20
would be happy to dig them out and answer any more questions.

Harry J. Tucci Jr.





- ---- On Sat, 5 May 2001, Verne and Joan Brummel=20
(jmb_@_email.msn.com) wrote:

> I would like to add some questions to Frank's list:
> What were the PRR and Reading depots like in Pottsville, and=20
when were
> they
> torn down? Also, what was the PRR depot like in Reading,PA?
> Back in 1976, my friend Gordy Bjoraker and I rode a Reading=20
RDC up to
> Pottsville. Even though several Reading trains still served=20
Pottsville
> at
> the time, the depot was already gone. Down in Reading,PA, we=20
took a tour
> of
> the Reading RR's yard and shops, and visited the Franklin St.=20
and Outer
> stations. We stopped at the PRR/Penn Central yard in Reading,=20
and found
> an
> old railroad structure that appeared to be still used by PC.=20
I'm not
> sure if
> it was a PRR freight station, or a surviving  portion of the=20
old PRR
> passenger station. Any information on these depots would be=20
very much
> appreciated!
> LaVerne Brummel, Madison,WI
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <FRANKGARON_@_aol.com>
> To: <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 1:24 PM
> Subject: (rshsdepot) PRR Schuylkill Branch Questions
>=20
>=20
> > Took a Sunday drive last month up to the Pottsville, PA=20
area - I had
> not
> been up there in years.
> >
> > Some questions/comments:
> >
> > 1. It looks like they are going to widen Route 61 from the=20
south side
> of
> Pottsville clear down to Schuylkill Haven to put in a center=20
turn lane -
> and
> *possibly* build on the PRR ROW. All trees have been cleared,=20
and Mount
> Carbon Yard is now wide open.
> >
> > Anybody know if this is the case?
> >
> >
> > 2. When did the coaling tower finally come down in Mount=20
Carbon?
> >
> >
> > 3. In Pottsville proper, right next to the Bus Station,=20
there is a
> building that *sort* of looks like it might have been a PRR=20
building -
> maybe
> frieght or Yard Office.
> > It's on the west side of the Bus Station. This would have=20
been right
> where
> the now razed PRr station was.
> >
> > Anybody know if it was PRR related?
> >
> >
> > 4. In Schuylkill Haven, my CT1000 shows a PRR/LV=20
interchange track at
> MP
> 90.2.
> >
> > Can anybody help me place this location - nearest steets=20
that it would
> have been near?
> >
> >
> > 5. The ROW just above Saint Clair has a handy dandy Walmart=20
Plaza
> built on
> it - this is new since last time I was up there.
> >
> >
> > 6. Did PRR use RDG trackage rights all the way from=20
Wetherill Jct to
> Shenandoah, or did they have their own tracks from frackville=20
north
> somehow?
> >
> >
> > 7. Anybody know where the PRR station in Minersville was=20
located?
> >
> >
> > 8. Does anybody know the last time the line from Delano Jct=20
to Morea
> was
> used (I am guessing that LV was the last one to run on this=20
line)? It
> seems
> to have been railbanked from at least 1984 or so.
> >
> >
> > 9. Has anybody here ever walked the ROW from the Delano=20
area thru
> Morea
> down to say St. Clair or so? I am interested in doing this=20
sometime -
> but
> wondering what bridges are out, and if there are trespassing=20
concerns at
> Morea Colliery?
> >
> >
> > 10. In Hazleton proper, they list a PRR freight station at=20
MP 122.5 -
> this
> interests me because I believe that this trackage was always=20
owned by LV
> (w/PRR having trackage rights).
> >
> > Anybody know where this was, streetwise, and what it looked=20
like?
> >
> >
> > 11. Did the tracks ever run west of Scotch Valley and=20
connect with the
> line from Sunbury to Wilkes Barre or something? A topo map=20
and an NRHS
> Bulletin that I have infers this, but does not seem to come=20
out and say
> it.
> >
> >
> > 12. Anybody else on the list have a good handle on what=20
stuctures are
> still up north of Norristown? Doesn't seem to be hardly=20
anything left -
> except for
> > Birdsboro, Mohrsville and Shoemakersville?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Frank
> >
> >
>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20


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