C'mon guys, this feels like a funeral. The facts certainly support the gloomy mood, but it's depressing as Hell to read. I quit reading and posting for a long while for that very reason.
Even though there *is* plenty of decay and blame to go around with NS, Septa, the city of Bethlehem, etc., there's more to be proud of than most of you realize. This year is the sesquicentennial - the 150th birthday - of trains running on the Bethlehem Branch. 1855 saw service begin from Philly to Gwynedd Valley. This got me thinking about marking the occasion. But how?
Imagine with me for a moment. What if the Reading didn't sink into its final bankruptcy, and was still with us as a private rr with its own passenger service? (Yes, unrealistic, but that's not the point here.) Imagine if the RDG printed up a series of posters to trumpet their sucesses in carrying folks by rail along the old "North Penn" route. Bold, dramatic, to-the-point, memorable...like any good ad should be!
What would one of those look like? Like THIS:
The Reading is gone, and Septa is a bunch of clueless nitwits, but a century and a half of service is historic. The next time you ride an R5 Lansdale/Doylestown train, remember that. It may not be much consolation for "Hilltop Swamp" in the cut near Coopersburg, and losing the route thru south-side Bethlehem, but at least it's
something positive! Yes, the positives
do exist. There's just so much official neglect and waste that we've forgotten them. I will look harder for more of them.
A lot of them are tied up in personal memories of what the branch meant to various folks who used it during the decades. Freight trains hauling goods, psgr locals running like clockwork, the 1931 electrification, thru cars to & from the LV and the CNJ -- all of that was for the benefit of
people. I aim to shine a light on that...somehow...
Franklin Gowen • • • • READING COMPANY forum moderator
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In 2024, the late, great
RDG overlaps with RBM&N, SEPTA, NS, CSX, and several shortlines -
that's life . . .