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  • Frackville track north of St Clair Yard question

  • Discussion Related to the Reading Company 1833-1976 and it's predecessors Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway.
Discussion Related to the Reading Company 1833-1976 and it's predecessors Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway.

Moderator: Franklin Gowen

 #1274368  by carajul
 
When did the RDG abandon and remove the track that went north from St Clair to Frackville? I think I read that the line got washed out and with the coal mines closing they just abandoned it. I looked at the historic arials from the 1930s-1960s and it was 4 tracks right thru the center of Frackville in a ditch. The city streets went over the tracks on bridges. Tons of coal hoppers parked everywhere.

Today you can still see the row - it's mostly a grass field thru the center of town. The streets are still elevated but the ditch is filled in. A lot of building on the row too and the I-81 interchange has obliterated it. Amazing to see the amount of rail infrastructure that was there at one time.
 #1275157  by JimBoylan
 
In 1978, McHugh Bros. Heavy Hauling, Operator and Leasee of the New Hope & Ivyland RR, bought the cantilever crossing signals at the North end of St. Clair (4th St. & Wade Rd.?) from the Reading Co., so the tracks were abandoned by then, and hadn't been bought by ConRail in 1976.