Brian Saul 30 pages softcover
Conrail Quality stood for modern railroading and Conrail's Harrisburg Line was no exception. The Harrisburg Line was a double track mainline that ran through the Lebanon Valley from Harrisburg east to Reading, Pennsylvania. Conrail inherited the line from the Reading Company in 1976. During the Reading era the double track line was known was the Lebanon Valley Branch. At Harrisburg it connected withe Reading Railroad's PH&P Branch and the Pennsylvania Railroad/Penn Central. The line then traveled eastward passing through Hershey, Lebanon, Myerstown, Wernersville, Sinking Spring and a host of other small rural Pennsylvania-Dutch communities on the way to the city of Reading. By the early 1980s Conrail had rebuilt the Harrisburg line using welded rail including new ties and ballast. Int he 1990s the Harrisburg Line was one of Conrail's most important routes. It was a well maintained speedway for traffic moving east and west - to and from Harrisburg and New Jersey through Allentown on the ex-Reading East Penn Branch and to Philadelphia via the old Reading Mainline. Traffic moving over the Harrisburg Line included general merchandise freight, intermodal trains, locals, coal drags and roadrailers. Almost anything could be seen on the line including detoured trains. Today the Harrisburg Line is still an important link for Norfolk Southern. Enjoy this collection of photographs that look back at Conrail's ex-Reading Lebanon Valley Branch in the mid to late 1990s.
