Three questions

Does anyone know if the Amtrak Keystone State trains are still wyeing on the Susquehanna River Bridge now that the electric motors are powering most of those trains ? Second I was railfanning the Norristown- Bridgeport area this past weekend. Does anyone know if the Reading's Bridgeport passenger station was near the freight depot which is still extant and being used by a business ? Third. I followed the connection with the Chester Valley Railroad in Bridgeport to Upper Merion as I spotted a switcher from the Pa. T.P. and wanted a closer look. I found it, an NW I am guessing, but the area and the locomotive looked derelict. Does it still run and if so, when and also what business would it be serving ? Thanks for any info you can offer.

answer to first question: the Keystone trains run push-pull and no longer wye. They run either push or pull on the NEC and the Main Line, whichever way they're facing.

I saw the Heartland Express that way in Ft. Worth last month. The one engine was actually non-powered and classified as a NPCU. Looked like an old GE P40.

On that note getting back to PA, what about the Pennsylvanian? Where does it turn in Pgh since that is the end of the line for it? Does it use the NS bridge over the OH River? When I've seen it at Horseshoe, it's usually only had one unit for power, and when there were two, they were elephant style. The Capitol Limited also goes through Pgh. but it keeps going and is not an end terminus.

The Pennsylvanian unloads at Penn Station in downtown Pittsburgh and then backs up about 4 miles to Homewood where there is a wye. This wye is the entrance to the Brilliant Branch which was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad to allow freight trains to avoid the heavy congestion of the downtown passenger terminal. The train turns on this wye and then backs down to Penn station where it is then ready for the next morning departure.

The answer to your second question, the passenger station and freight station are the same building. It was a combined station in later years. The first station was built of stone and look liked a large house.

Heres what the station look like today. I copied it off Pennsylvania Station. "Dan West" Web site.




Len

Thanks. I have several pictures of the freight station with passing trains in the background but never knew it was the passenger station as well. There is a four volume set of Reading RR passenger stations out there and there is a picture of the original sation but I could not identify its location from the photo. Interestigly, there is a home just across the tracks that looks just like the one in the picture from that four volume set but it's faced the wrong way. I think it's now a tavern but I'll bet both were constructed at the same time by the same builder.

BRIDGEPORT STATION:

Bridgeport was the junction of the Main Line and the Philadelphia and Chester Valley branch serving Downingtown.
There was also a station at Swedeland, Pa.

Len.