North Penn Railroad
| Dates of operation | 1852–1976 |
|---|---|
| Successor | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The North Pennsylvania Railroad was a railroad company which served Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northampton County, Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1852 and began operation in 1855. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway, predecessor to the Reading Company, leased the North Pennsylvania in 1879. Its tracks were transferred to Conrail and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in 1976.
The company incorporated on April 8, 1852, as the Philadelphia, Easton and Water Gap. Construction began on June 16, 1853; the company changed its name to the North Pennsylvania Railroad on October 3 that year. The new name reflected the grand (and unrealized) ambitions of the company to extend all the way across Pennsylvania to Waverly, New York and a junction with the Erie Railroad. The railway opened between Front and Willow Streets, Philadelphia and Gwynedd on July 2, 1855, a distance of 18 1⁄2 miles (29.8 km). On October 7th the Doylestown Branch opened to Doylestown via Lansdale. Within Philadelphia, the company's passenger depot was located at Third and Berks; tracks continued south to a freight depot at Willow and Front street on the waterfront.
In 1856, the company suffered its first accident in the Great Train Wreck of 1856, the most significant railroad wreck in the world up to that time. The railroad continued to expand northward from Philadelphia. The main line reached Bethlehem, running parallel to the Bethlehem Pike, on July 7, 1857. At Bethlehem the railroad interchanged with the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The Shimersville Branch, from Iron Hill to Shimersville on the Lehigh Valley Railroad east of Bethlehem, opened on January 1, 1857. The branch carried little traffic; the North Pennsylvania leased it that same year to the Lehigh Valley and Delaware Water Gap Railroad as part of a stillborn venture to build a new route through Easton to a junction with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. By the time of the Reading lease the branch was out of service.
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