The Reading Company, and later SEPTA, offered passenger service on several routes outside the Philadelphia-area commuter zone.

These included Philadephia-Newark, N.J. (the old RDG-CNJ "Crusader" route); Philadelphia-Lansdale-Bethlehem (the Bethlehem Branch); and Philadelphia-Reading-Pottsville (the old RDG main line).

After the mid-1960s, these trains were all equipped with Budd RDCs, except for one Philadelphia-Reading round trip operated with a pull-pull set of five coaches and two FP7s.

SEPTA eliminated all of the former RDG trains outside the Philadelphia-area electrified zone in 1981.

Several local governments and other agencies are attempting to restore service on several routes, most notably on the old RDG main line to the Reading area and on the Bethlehem Branch between Lansdale and Quakertown.

This RDC set is making a stop at Royersford, Pa. on its way from Reading to Philadelphia.

Photographed by Thomas McCann, 1976.
Added to the photo archive by Thomas McCann, June 6, 2010.
Railroad: Reading.

Thomas McCann's awards:

» Contact the person who posted this photograph.