Annual Reading Railroad Days Set

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania will host the annual Reading Railroad Days on Wednesday, July 1 to Sunday, July 5, and Wednesday, July 8 to Saturday, July 11.  Reading Railroad Days take place during regular Museum hours and are included in the regular Museum admission.  You may purchase advance tickets here or at the door. 

An enormous, detailed HO scale model train layout of the Reading Railroad, operated by members of the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society, is a centerpiece in the Museum’s climate-controlled Rolling Stock Hall.  Visitors also may view Reading Company equipment from the Museum’s premier collection, including the 108-year-old tank engine No. 1251, the 95-year-old multiple unit commuter car No. 800 and the 188-year-old Rocket steam locomotive.  Artist Peter A. Lerro Jr will display and sell his many original railroad paintings and reproductions.

In its heyday, the Reading Company was a multifaceted industrial giant. Originally established as the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad in 1833 to transport anthracite coal, the pioneering 94-mile line evolved into a mighty corporation serving eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Operations included coal mining, iron making, canal and sea-going transportation and shipbuilding. With its great complex of shops for locomotive and car building and repair, and constant advances in railroad technology, the company held a position of leadership in the railroad industry for over a century.