Schuylkill Branch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Schuylkill Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line ran from the Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line at 52nd Street in Philadelphia north via Norristown, Reading, and Pottsville to Delano Junction (near Delano). From Delano Junction, the PRR had trackage rights over the Lehigh Valley Railroad's Hazleton Branch and Tomhicken Branch to Tomhicken, where the PRR's Catawissa Branch began. In conjunction with the Catawissa Branch, Nescopeck Branch, and Wilkes-Barre Branch, the Schuylkill Branch gave the PRR a direct line from Philadelphia to Wilkes-Barre.[1]
Most of the line has been abandoned. The southernmost piece, from 52nd Street to Cynwyd, is the SEPTA Regional Rail R6 Cynwyd line. A short piece at Norristown is used by the Norfolk Southern Railway as part of their Morrisville Connecting Track. The line between Oaks and Phoenixville is part of the NS Perkiomen Industrial Track. The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad owns the line from Temple (north of Reading) north to Hamburg.
[edit] History
The Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad opened the line from 52nd Street to Reading by 1884. By 1886, an extension north to Pottsville was completed. An extension to New Boston (near Mahanoy City) was opened by the Pottsville and Mahanoy Railroad at around the same time.[2] The final piece, from New Boston to Delano Junction, had been built by the Lehigh Valley Railroad before 1870,[3] but was leased to the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad.[citation needed] The Pennsylvania Railroad leased the entire line in 1885.[citation needed]
