Reading Terminal and Approaches track diagrams?

[glennk419]

Actually yes, I've scanned several of them but I can't post them here and don't have a website to link to. PM me and I'll see if I can get a few to you.

Glenn, if you want I can host them as I have a couple gigs of open websapce. Let me know here or email me @ [email protected]

I'd be happy to share them. I'll send some of the better ones over.
Thanks!

[JimBoylan]

When they closed Reading Terminal, does anbody know what happened to those destination boards that gate attendants slid into the slot above the doorway at departure time? I remember they were multi-colored

I helped the usher take down the signs for the last regular train (to West Trenton), and offered to take one of them home on the N.R.H.S. Special Train so he wouldn't have to put it away. By that time, the background color was S.E.P.T.A. white. Other passengers wanted to help with the signs for the special, but were told that the metal sign on the bumper was already promised to the Railroad Museum of East Strasburg, Pa. In my will, they get 1st refusal on the sign I have.
A S.E.P.T.A. engineer who started his shift that last evening at the Terminal claimed the right to end it there early the next morning, but found the signs' storage racks already empty.
I did not see any other signs aboard the special train, and I don't know what happened earlier to the multi-colored signs you remember.

[Steam man]

Here's the link to Glennk419 pics of Reading Terminal:

http://www.janvierpresbyterian.org/ReadingTerm.html

[glennk419]

SteamMan,

Thank you. When I took those pictures 22 years ago, I never thought I would ever be "published".

Everytime I look at those pictures, I still miss the old girl.

[Steam man]

SteamMan,

Thank you. When I took those pictures 22 years ago, I never thought I would ever be "published".

My pleasure

[PARailWiz]

Nice!

[Sean@Temple]

Thanks... Those pictures are a huge help! Due to current space limitations, I won't be actually building the terminal itself until I move into a larger place in the next few years, but every little bit helps. I will be beginging to build a branch line with a small stub terminal that will eventually be integrated into the larger layout with the Reading Terminal (or at least a reasonable representation) at its center.

Sean@Temple

[amtrakhogger]

Well, I was a lot younger then. And I could be wrong. Maybe I am confusing the signs with the schedules. But I could have sworn that some of those signs were colored. Wasn't West Trenton yellow lettering on blue background?

[glennk419]

Yes, you are correct. The signs were definitely in color until they were "Septa-ized" as Jim put it. I think the Warminster ones were yellow, I also remember blue and red but can't recall which lines they were for. Septa's route boards follow a somewhat similar pattern today.

[jfrey40535]

SEPTA had to throw their logo all over the place didn't they....even though they knew the station was closing.

Every time I pass through Market "lEast" I love to walk through the basement of Reading Terminal and out the front door as I did 22 years ago. I still think we lost something great when we closed that station, as good as the convention center has been for Philly.

[Franklin Gowen]

jfrey40535 wrote:

I still think we lost something great when we closed that station, as good as the convention center has been for Philly.

I agree with you; more than you realize.....

If Friday's weather features the flurries and snow squall that's been forecast, you certainly won't see this bewitching scene down below in Market East!

[blippo]

[motor]

As a high school senior, I remember taking what is now the R2 from Marcus Hook to SS, puttering around CC, and in the process, visiting RT. I do seem to remember those color coded destination signs. This was in the 1978-79 school year. I remember making that trip three different times that senior year (during Christmas break, on a snow day, and during Easter break).

The last time I was in RT before it closed (and the only time I took a train into it; I never caught a train OUT of RT) was on a Friday in September of 1979. I was a college freshman, and I caught a Trailways bus from the Kutztown State College campus to Reading, got off at around 3rd and Penn, lugged three pieces of baggage 4-5 blocks to Franklin Street, caught the train from Pottsville down to RT, and got in to RT half an hour late. I didn't have time on that visit to see if they still had color coded destination signs. I had to run across CH to SS and had just enough time to buy my ticket and board what is now the R3 to Media where my dad picked me up and drove me home to Boothwyn for the weekend.

motor

[motor]

Glennk419, what's the last photo in the right hand column of? Spring Garden? Does SG still stand?

motor

[glennk419]

Glennk419, what's the last photo in the right hand column of? Spring Garden? Does SG still stand?

motor

Yes, that is the outbound waiting room at Spring Garden. The station still stands along the abandoned ROW with the inbound station serving as an office building. The outbound building is empty and largley inaccessible.