Reading Company

Reading Company

Reading Railroad system map, 1923
Reading Terminal, circa 1893
Reporting mark	RDG
Locale	Delaware Maryland New Jersey Pennsylvania
Dates of operation	1833–1976
Successor	Conrail
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	1,460 miles (2,350 kilometres)
Headquarters	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Reading Company (pronounced Reading /ˈrɛdɪŋ/; logotyped as Reading Lines) operated an important railroad in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924-1976.

Commonly called the Reading Railroad, it was a successor to the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company founded in 1833. Until the decline in anthracite loadings in the Coal Region after World War II, it was one of the most prosperous corporations in the United States.

Competition with the modern highway system and short hauls compounded the company's problems, forcing it into bankruptcy in the 1970s. Its railroad operations were merged into Conrail in 1976, but the corporation lasted into 2000, disposing of valuable real estate holdings.

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R) was one of the first railroads in the United States. Along with the Little Schuylkill, a horse-drawn railroad in the Schuylkill River Valley, it formed the earliest components of what became the Reading Company. Primarily, the P&R was constructed to haul anthracite coal from the mines in northeastern Pennsylvania's Coal Region to Philadelphia.

The original P&R mainline extended south from the mining town of Pottsville to Reading and then onward to Philadelphia, following the gently graded banks of the Schuylkill River for nearly all of the 93-mile journey. The P&R mainline had the distinction of being, upon its 1843 completion, the first double track main line in the United States.