RDG Passenger Service in the 1970's

A look at the Reading/SEPTA passenger service on the Reading's Main Line and Norristown Branch in the mid 1970's featuring the "Push-Pull" trainset. The Philadelphia area scenes are excerpted from the Railroad Video production "Reading - The Final Years" while the balance were taken by George Legler of Reading, PA. The final sequence depicts the "Farewell to the Reading" trip with the two 900's coupled back to back. Sound editing by Walt Berko and myself.

[@media-masters4827]

Great video. You can feel the decline of the passenger service at this period, especially with tires dumped near the tracks, passenger cars dirty etc. sad, but very historic ! Thank you

[@rutheliz75]

Love the video . Thanks for posting . Rode both types of trains . Those older heavy weight cars with the sealed windows were very comfortable and blessedly air conditioned. I remember leaning back in the reclining seats and closing my eyes briefly; when I opened them we were gliding out of the Reading Terminal . The train started so smoothly and rode like butter . And quiet ! It was express from North Broad to Dekalb Street Norristown.

[@Ih8kone]

Plans are in place to expand Amtrak to restore passenger rail service to areas that have not seen it in decades.

[@fmnut]

Forgive me if I'm a skeptic. There have been "plans in place" for the restoration of Philadelphia to Reading service since the last train ran in 1981. One of these "plans" was the ill fated Schuylkill Valley Metro. In total, various entities have spent enough on plans and surveys to buy a set of equipment and initiate service. As for Amtrak, don't hold your breath as long as Congress holds the purse strings. This is a commuter operation more properly dovetailed with SEPTA rather than Amtrak.

[@Poisson4147]

Great video! I especially enjoyed seeing the RDCs. I'm not sure if the Reading had diner cars but IIRC at least one railroad in the region had one kitted out for food service.

[@fmnut]

The Reading had dining service on the Crusader and Wall Street. There were also diners on the Schuylkill and King Coal. After conversion to RDC's, the Crusader and Wall Street had "Refreshment cars" which were an RDC2 and RDC3 with their baggage/mail sections converted to lunch counters. They served light breakfast on the morning runs and sandwiches and drinks in the afternoon. The RDC3, 9166, survives on the Reading and Northern as part of their Budd train.

[@Poisson4147]

@@fmnut Great info - Thank you!

[@0759trainz]

@@fmnutthey also had grill cars

[@MrTrashcan1]

Railroads today are so blah. I grew up a mile from Cheltenham Station. In my teens, I would take the W bus to the El and ride the entire length to 69th St. P&W to Norristown. RDG to Philly, then change trains to Fox Chase line. Or would do the reverse. On occasion, tried to time it to get the push-pull up to Norristown. I wish I had had more money, time, and resources--I would have loved to travel to Pottsville, Bethlehem/Allentown, and Newark. But had no way to get home and nowhere to spend the whole day or overnight waiting for a return trip--if there even was one.

[@johnjablonski553]

i remember seeing the 2 and 3 unit budd consists at the Franklin Street station in Reading all the time

[@Thunder_6278]

A sad video, but this was just before Conrail, I believe, or was this under SEPTA using RDG equipment? (OMG, has it been 50 years?)

[@fmnut]

Some of both, pre and post Conrail.

[@malachimuhammad-dy2ow]

I wish I could go through time to see Reading Railroad's express trains on the Norristown Line. Old coaches, F7 diesels, and a branch line going to Pottsville.

[@Wingnutcaseman]

I think 7:23 is Old York Road, just south of Elkins Park. But everything else looks like someplace between Philly and Pottsville to me. Awesome job!

[@Tinsby]

Loved the video, so many locations I am not familiar with. There's some really crappy track those "F's" are running over!

[@timothyrearden3178]

Very pretty. Great aerial shot at Klapperthal Jct.

[@mikeggg5671]

You know, its not RDG steam, but still got onto my playlists because RDG cap units are awesome.

[@F40PH-2CAT]

Great stuff but the obvious dubbed sounds of modern subway cars is noticable.

[@professorjamesmoriarty5191]

I don't hear it?

[@nonewherelistens1906]

Outstanding video. I rode the Push-pull train once from Philly to Reading in the late 1970's.

[@dschlegel75]

I saw 903 and her sister at Steamtown this past weekend. Still beautiful! All that trash on/around the main in the first clip makes me sick. Great video as always!

[@steamie3]

Passenger service ended in the Coal Region in the early 60's.

[@fmnut]

Define coal region. Pottsville is part of the coal region and service there didn't end til 1981. I think you mean service to Tamaqua/Shamokin ended in the 60s.

[@iusetano]

Excellent video. I missed my catch to catch all the railroads before Conrail.

[@NeedtoSpeak]

903 would sit all day in the Reading Terminal shed waiting for the evening return trip. Couldn’t they have given those windows or cars a cleaning once in a while? Filthy.

[@kenhanks9620]

Would have been desirable but bear in mind at that time Reading was on verge of bankruptcy and just did not have the funds for even many of the necessities.

[@onesandzeros]

Excellent. What is the location of the scene from 13:55 to 14:10? Looks like the Blue Mountains to me, but other scenes here don't appear to be north of Reading.

[@fmnut]

That's the Pottsville shuttle at Stone siding, about 2 miles north of Port Clinton. It is no longer accessible by road.

[@toddw6716]

Great video thanks

[@lancomedic]

This was great. How did they do the push-pull? Were the units MU’d or was the trailing unit dead? When you say you edited the sound, do you mean it was added later to a silent film?

[@fmnut]

Both units ran under power, the first such application in the US. If you pause an overhead shot, you'll see the MU cable running down the center line of the coach roofs. The sound was added to silent film.

[@lancomedic]

@@fmnut Thanks. The last time I saw those locos they were painted in SEPTA colors at SRR. I know 900 at Hamburg.

[@toddw6716]

Never gets old

[@CentralJerseyRailfan]

1:34 R160 Alstom sounds, disturbing

[@philocohen]

6:04 it's a blueliner.

[@CentralJerseyRailfan]

@@philocohen ohhh i know that. the subway sounds are dubbed over lol

[@MrBsHiawathalandRails]

That was A-OK! Mr. B.

[@scififun5277]

Thank you for contributing this. I thoroughly enjoyed watching. This isn't a criticism by any means but more of a wish; I wish from time to time there were digital captions of certain locations embedded in the film (not sure if that's even possible). For instance, I'm curious to see if earlier in the film there's a viaduct that looks like it heads to the former upper train station of Ivy Ridge (now a rail to trail bridge). I've never seen clips of trains going across that bridge. Really cool to see the different diesel trains. Also the train station at the very end, where is that? Thanks, again! Bravo!

[@fmnut]

That viaduct location that is now a trail is Manayunk. RDG and PRR both had stations there, the PRR on the upper level. The station at the very end is Franklin St, Reading.

[@fmnut]

Due to requests from you and others I am uploading a version with locations. Enjoy!

[@fmnut]

If you want to see a rear end view of the Manayunk viaduct, see the middle portion of my "RDG PRR riding the rear end" video.

[@subgod]

Always pleased to see when you've uploaded a video... Thanks!

[@trainsupporter9088]

Same here!

[@tommythomason6187]

I don't know much about the Reading, but I thought the F units were long gone by the 1970's, along with their diesel-powered passenger trains. Amtrak, of course, took over in 1971, and I didn't think they operated a single train on the Reading. Good quality video.

[@fmnut]

Most of Reading's F units were retired long before Conrail, however 3 were retained for the Push Pull train. They lasted to the end of service to Reading/Pottsville/Bethlehem in 1981. All three were preserved. Amtrak took over LONG DISTANCE passenger trains, while Reading's were considered commuter service and RDG was never considered for entry to Amtrak.

[@rexracernj7696]

@@fmnut Toward late 1970's the push-pull consist was repainted a gaudy SEPTA red/white/blue; nicknamed the "circus train" until abandonment.

[@fmnut]

@@rexracernj7696 Yes, I was in the shops when it was getting repainted. The repaint job came after the train derailed at Norristown and was shopped for repairs. See my "Push Pull" video for scenes in the SEPTA scheme.

[@malachimuhammad-dy2ow]

@fmnut I really miss diesel express trains going to Pottsville via the Norristown Line.

[@toddw6716]

Great video

[@kevinhoward9593]

:10 oohhhhh 16th Street Junction.

[@jsteiger2228]

Alternate title: How sweaty, hairy, greeezy people moved between decaying, trash-filled city centers in the 1970s.

[@richardgerlach5156]

Great video! 2:45 Bethlehem, PA?

[@fmnut]

Wissahickon on the Norristown Branch

[@AllAboardAudio.]

How’s Walt doing? Glad to hear that he’s still kicking it. Haven’t seen a Railroad Video Production title in a long time.

[@fmnut]

Doing fine. We're working on some projects together.

[@AllAboardAudio.]

fmnut Good. Glad to hear that.

[@fmnut]

Look for Anchor Video on the Web. That's the name he's using now.