NS Harrisburg and Reading lines

Hello all,

I am planning a photo trip from Philly up through Reading to Harrisburg, then back track through Reading to Allentown, then on through Bethlehem, Phillipsburg, Pattenberg and home to New York. I have found pretty detailed routes onlne to follow the tracks from from Reading to Harrisburg and Allentown to Pattenberg but have been less successful in finding detailed routes from Philly to Reading and from Reading to Allentown. Does anyone out there have any ideas?

Thanks a lot!

The NS Lehigh Line (former Reading/East Penn), is easily accessed by well-maintained highways for almost the entire route between Macungie and Reading:

Starting at Macungie on Penna 100, turn west onto Alburtis Road (opposite McDonald's). This will bring you into Alburtis on the north side of the tracks. Turn left and then right immediately after the crossing (Front Street -- paralell to the Iron Horse/American House Inn -- stop in for refreshment - I live upstairs).

The road beyond Alburts sees considerable traffic, but is not numbered in the Pennsylvania state highway system. It will paralell the line, usually within sight, but there are a series of turns near Mertztown.

From here, the line continues through Topton (another old hotel with a view of the tracks, converted to a coffee shop, but about 3 blocks north of the main road), then Bowers, Lyons, Fleetwood and Blandon, and eventually leads directly onto Business Route 222 on the north side of Reading,

A right turn onto Penna Route 12 a little further south will lead to the US 222 bypass, which connects with US 422 to Harrisburg at Sinking Spring. If you continue straight ahead, you'll be southbound on Fifth Street, and the yards and shop complex will be about three blocks to your left.

Thank you very much for the info. I really appreciate it. I only have one more question. I will be following the line going in the opposite direction, from Reading to Allentown. Will I be able to easily find the unnembered road that follows the line coming from the other direction?

Thanks again for the help!

Google maps lists that road as being called Park Rd when you leave 222 (Allentown Pike) near Blandon. It then becomes Fleetwood-Lyons Rd in Fleetwood, State St, Main St, back to State St and West Weiss St between Lyons and Topton and from Topton to Mertztown it is called State st again. After Mertztown it remains State thru the village (not a technical legal name in PA) of Longswamp where you'll turn left onto Longswamp Rd which will take you into Alburtis.

Thank you!

The Schuylkill Expy (I-76) is the only road that follows the Harrisburg Line from Philly to Conshohocken. You can access the south portal of the Flat Rock tunnel from the Belmont Exit of 76.

Farther up 76, in West Conshohocken, Rte 23 West parallels the tracks (at the edge of the ballast in a few spots) up to Bridgeport. There's a good spot in Swedeland where WB trains sometimes tie up while waiting to get into Abrams Yard. After you pass the Inquirer plant on your right, you'll drive through the remains of Allen Wood Steel's Coke plant (just empty fields now). Rte 23 then curves to the right and comes back down near the tracks, where there's a nice wide gravel parking spot. There's also a grade crossing here for the BFI trash transfer station.

In Bridgeport, there are a few side streets off 23 that will take you to the tracks. A good local map will help.

I've never chased from Bridgeport to Reading, so I'm not sure what roads may parallel the tracks. Rte 422 is the main route to Reading from Phila, and you can see the tracks in spots, but it's not like you're right next to them all the way.

I think 23 intersects with 422 just south of the river. This is a heavily congested area during both rush hours, so be advised you may not be going very fast through here......

Thank you. That information is great. I can't wait to head out on my trip. I have been working in Philly for about two months and pass the Flat Rock Tunnel on 76 frequently and have never seen a train there. Do you know a rough estimate of trains per day through that area of the line and what are good times to catch them?

See the posting on the NS Board about Train Frequency at Valley Forge for a bit more info.

There a pair of CSX doublestacks that use part of the NS line between Abrams and West Falls to get to S. Phila. I think they are symbolled Q190 and 191, but I'm not sure. They use the NS Morrisville Line to CP-King, where they swing down to the Septa tracks near Norristown, cross the river to Abrams and then reverse direction to get to S. Phila. Check the Bullsheet website to see if their schedules are still listed, after someone else hopefully confirms the train numbers......

You can see the Morrisvile Line's bridge from Swedeland (it parallels the turnpike) but I think only one pair of trains uses that bridge to go from Coatesville to Fairless Hills to deliver steel slabs.

The Upper Merion & Plymouth has a small yard at Swedeland, but it can't be accessed w/o trespassing. They have their own bridge across the Schuylkill to access the Mittal Steel plant (ex-Bethelehem, exx-Allen Wood Steel).

NS also has a local from Abrams to West Falls and return. I remember seeing it in the late afternoon (4:30 ish) when I was last at Swedeland in July 07.

That's about all I can remember at the moment.

I want to thank everybody for all of the great info they provided for me. The trip went great. Because I did not have that much time, I skipped the Harrisburg line between Philly and Reading. This will have to wait for my next trip! Day one I worked from Reading to Harrisburg, beautiful weather and over 30 trains in daylight. Day two I spent the morning at Rockville Bridge and Enola then hopped on the turnpike back to Reading and shot there until sunset. I had never been to Rockville, and watching trains cross the bridge in the pre-dawn/sunrise as fog lifted off the river was an absolutely amazing experience. Day three took me from Reading to Allentown, ending the day photographing trains against the sunset as they pulled into Allentown yard. The weather was fantastic for the whole time but I must say three days was definitely not enough time for this trip. You could easily take a week (or more!) to cover these two lines fully. I can't wait to head back and shoot at some spots that I wish I could have had more time at. Thanks again Everybody!!!

As you are probably aware, curtailing rail operations around the major holidays became more common in the past few years, but I noticed no such pause this (Thanksgiving) weekend; if anything, traffic seemed slightly heavier than normal. There hasn't been a period of complete silence on the Reading Line since last Christmas.