Reading Company photographs 1975.430
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Audiovisual Collections PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library Reading Company photographs 1975.430
Table of Contents
Summary Information ...... 3 Historical Note ...... 3 Scope and Content ...... 4 Administrative Information ...... 4 Related Materials ...... 5 Controlled Access Headings ...... 5 Collection Inventory ...... 6 Accidents ...... 6 Locomotives ...... 6 Rolling Stock ...... 6 Right-of-Way ...... 7 Stations ...... 7 Facilities ...... 10 Presidents ...... 10 People ...... 11 Reading Locomotive Shop ...... 11 Annual Meetings ...... 11 Engineering Drawings ...... 12 Miscellaneous ...... 12
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Summary Information
Repository: Audiovisual Collections Creator: Reading Company Title: Reading Company photographs ID: 1975.430 Date [inclusive]: circa 1842-1960 Physical Description: 3 Linear Feet Physical Description: 1054 photographic prints : b&w ; 16 x 20 in. or smaller. 17 photographic prints : color ; 8 x 10 in. or smaller. 14 photographic prints : b&w ; stereographs. 2 photographic prints : cyanotype ; 4 x 5 in. 10 negatives : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. 11 negatives : b&w ; 4 x 5 in. 1 album (23 photographic prints : b&w ; 10 x 12 in.) 1 album (32 photographic 27 in. or smaller. Language of the English . Material: Abstract: The Reading Company, chartered in 1871, became the holding company for the system of railroads, canals and coal mines assembled between 1833 and 1896 by its predecessor, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company. The collection consists of graphic materials relating to the Reading Company and its predecessor, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company
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Historical Note
The Reading Company, chartered in 1871, became the holding company for the system of railroads, canals and coal mines assembled between 1833 and 1896 by its predecessor, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company. The Reading Company owned, leased or held a controlling interest in rail lines throughout southeastern and central Pennsylvania, with branches stretching as far north as Scranton and as far west as Williamsport and Shippensburg. The company also held a controlling interest in the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, giving its lines access to New York City. As a result of anti-trust proceedings, the Reading Company divested itself of its mining subsidiary in 1923. After bankruptcy in the early 1970s, viable portions of the Reading's rail network were conveyed to Conrail on April 1, 1976. The reorganized Reading Company retains real estate and other non-rail assets.
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Scope and Content
The collection consists of graphic materials relating to the Reading Company and its predecessor, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company. Over one third of the collection is made up of photographs of the Reading Locomotive Shop, taken in April, 1976, at the time of its closing. These images feature machinery, parts, office equipment, and trailers which had not yet been removed from the Reading Shop and the surrounding area. A number of other structures owned by the Reading Comany are also featured in the collection, including images of more than ninety stations, several YMCA buildings and the Reading Company Diesel Facilities in Rutherford, Pennsylvania. Trains are included incidentally in many of these photographs, but a number of photographs feature specific locomotives and rolling stock, especially interior images of newly built passenger and freight cars. Locomotives and rolling stock are also prominently featured in a series of accident images, including photographs of train derailments and the aftermath of collisions.
Portraits and more casual photographs of presidents of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, later the Reading Company, make up a final large portion of the collection. The majority of the more casual images feature Joseph A. Fisher, Reading Company President from 1951 to 1960, posing with unidentified groups. Two images feature Fisher with then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. A number of miscellaneous images round out the collection, including photographs taken at Annual Meetings from 1958 to 1964, construction and interior photographs of One Reading Center in Philadelphia, and engineering drawings of an ash pit and the inclined plane at Gordon, Pennsylvania.
These images represent only a fragment of the Reading Company's activities and property holdings during this period. The company's photo archive has been lost or scattered through dispersal.
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Administrative Information
Publication Statement Audiovisual Collections
PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library
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Use Restrictions Literary rights retained by depositor.
Access Restrictions This collection is open for research. Litigators may not view the collection without approval.
Provenance On Deposit from the Reading Company.
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Related Materials
Related Material Reading Company records (Accession 1520), Manuscript and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library
Reading Company photograph collection (Accession 1974.330), Audiovisual Collections and Digital Initiatives Department, Hagley Museum and Library
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Controlled Access Headings
• Railroads. • Railroad accidents • Railroads -- Rolling stock • Railroads -- Right of way • Railroad stations • Railroads -- Employees
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Collection Inventory
Accidents Title/Description Instances Reenactment of Mary Meehan's fall from Engine 2110, 1946 box 1 March 5
Derailment of Engine 2105 and 19 Cars – Lebanon Valley Jct, box 1 1948 June 4
B&O 430672 – Struck Signal East of Brandtsville, 1950 April 4 box 1
Derailment West of Myerstown, 1946 January 18 box 1
Collision, West End of Receiving Track, Belt Line Junction, 1946 box 1 June 17
Derailment of "The Blue Comet," NJ Central Railroad, undated box 1
Damage from Unknown Accident, Newbold Street - Town box 1 Unknown, 1949 September 21
Miscellaneous Train Derailments and Collisions, undated box 1
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Locomotives Title/Description Instances Alco Diesel Unit 302-A, Engine 1690, and Miscellaneous box 1
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad – "Royal Blue" on Thomas Viaduct, box 1 Relay, MD, and at Unidentified Location, ca. 1950s
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Rolling Stock Title/Description Instances Class "LOH" Hopper Cars box 1
Proposed (Never Built) Gallery Cars for Commuter Service – box 1 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, 1966
Construction of 55-Ton Welded Steel Hopper Car, June 1941 box 1
Air Conditioned Cars, Exterior Views and Details of Parts, 1934 box 1
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Passenger Cars Built by the Pullman Company, Interior and box 1 Exterior Views, "Suburban", 1921
Interiors and Details of Cars Built by the American Car and box 1 Foundry Co. for/with the Reading Company
120 Passenger Multiple Unit AC-DC Motor Cars & 40'6" Box Car box 1
Miscellaneous box 1
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Right-of-Way Title/Description Instances Scenes along trackage, undated box 1 Scope and Content
Both in Philadelphia and along unidentified Reading lines outside the city.
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Stations Title/Description Instances Alburtis, 1939 box 2A
Allentown Freight Station, 1940 box 2A
Barto, undated box 2A
Belle Mead, New Jersey – Central Railroad of New Jersey box 2A Passenger Station, 1941
Bethlehem – Aerial View of New Reading-Lehigh Station, 1929 box 2A
Bethlehem – Central Railroad of New Jersey Passenger Station, box 2A 1941
Bound Brook Freight and Passenger Stations, 1941 box 2A
Boyertown, undated box 2A
Chalfont, 1939 box 2A
Chester, 1943 box 2A
Colmar, undated box 2A
Douglassville, 1940 box 2A
Elizabethport, New Jersey, 1941 box 2A
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Emmaus (Men Removing Snow from Tracks near Station), box 2A undated
First Depot built by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, corner box 2A of Broad and Cherry Streets, Philadelphia, 1840
Fort Washington, undated box 2A
Frackville, undated box 2A
Franklin Street Station, Reading, undated box 2A
Germansville, 1940 box 2A
Glen Gardner, undated box 2A
Gravers, undated box 2A
Hatboro, 1940 box 2A
High Bridge, 1941 box 2A
High Bridge, undated box 2A
Ironstone, undated box 2A
Jenkintown, with "Crusader" coming into station, undated box 2A
Jenkintown – photographs of paintings of the station and box 2A surrounding area by Ray Thompson, 1953
Lansdale, 1940 box 2A
Leesport, 1941 box 2A
Lenhartsville, undated box 2A
Macungie, 1940 box 2A
Milton Freight Station, 1941 box 2A
Minersville, 1939 box 2A
Miquon, December 1940 box 2A
Mount Carmel Freight Station, undated box 2A
Newark, New Jersey – Central Railroad of New Jersey Freight box 2A Station, 1942
Newark, New Jersey – Central Railroad of New Jersey Passenger box 2A Station, undated
Outer Depot, Reading, undated box 2A
Park Junction Tower, 1940 box 2A
Phillips – Central Railroad of New Jersey Passenger Station, box 2A undated
Plainfield, 1941 box 2A
Pottstown, February 1930 - Page 8- Reading Company photographs 1975.430
box 2A
Reading Terminal Station, Philadelphia – construction and box 2A finished structure, ca 1890s
Reynolds, 1942 box 2A
Rupert, 1940 box 2A
Scranton – Central Railroad of New Jersey Freight Station, Office box 2A Building and Lackawanna Boulevard Bridge, 1942
Schuylkill Haven (overview of town with rail yards), undated box 2A
Shamokin, 1940 box 2A
Southampton Railroad Depot, undated box 2A
Telford, undated box 2A
Temple, undated box 2A
Vine – Central Railroad of New Jersey Freight Station and Yard, box 2A 1941
Washington Lane, 1941 box 2A
Wilkes Barre – Central Railroad of New Jersey Passenger Station, box 2A 1942
Williamsport, Freight and passenger Stations, undated box 2A
Wister, undated box 2A
Abington Station box 2A
Bound Brook Station box 2A
Cooper's Stock Farm, Saucon Valley box 2A
Glen Lake, Bound Brook Route box 2A
Hellertown Station box 2A
Jenkintown Junction, Bound Brook Route box 2A
Lansdale Station box 2A
Reading Terminal Station, Philadelphia box 2A
Saucon Creek, Bingen box 2A
Shoemakertown box 2A
Skillman's Residence, Bound Brook Route box 2A
Souderton box 2A
View along Tracks from Bethayre's Station box 2A
York Road Station, Shoemakertown box 2A
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Philadelphia and Reading Freight Station, Front and Noble Streets, box 2A Philadelphia, PA
Unidentified Station Gardens, 191419171922 box 2A
Miscellaneous and Unidentified Stations box 2A
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Facilities Title/Description Instances Rest Houses and YMCA's – Saucon Creek and Hatboro Rest box 2A Houses; Tamaqua, Port Richmond and Rutherford Reading Company YMCAs
Reading Company Diesel Facilities, Rutherford PA, 1950-1951 box 2A
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Presidents Title/Description Instances Photographs of Presidents – The Philadelphia and Reading RR box 2A Company, Philadelphia and Reading Rwy. Company, Reading Company
Elihu Chauncey (1834–1842) box 2A
Joseph Smith Harris (1893–1901) box 2A
George Baer (1901–1914) box 2A
Theodore Vorhees (1914–1916) box 2A
Joseph A. Fisher (1951–1960) – Portrait box 2A
Joseph A. Fisher (1951–1960) – Testimonial Luncheon near box 2B Retirement
Joseph A. Fisher (1951–1960) – Groups (mostly unidentified), ca. box 2B 1950s
Miscellaneous [largely copies of portraits from the Photographs of box 2B Presidents album]
Presidents of the Reading Company [retouched with "Rembrandt box 3 Tint", a process by which charcoal sketching is done over a photograph; largely copies of the portraits in the Photographs of Presidents album]
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People Title/Description Instances Groups of workers at the Port Richmond Shops, undated box 2B
Groups at unidentified board meetings and presentations box 3
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Reading Locomotive Shop, 1976 April 1 Title/Description Instances Machinery box 4
Mechanical box 4
Electrical box 4
Air box 4
MU Car box 4
ALCO Parts box 4
RDC Car box 4
General Shop box 4
6th Street Bridge and East Trestle box 5
Storehouse box 5
CMO Building box 5
Test Department box 5
Trailers box 5
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Annual Meetings, 1958–1964 Title/Description Instances Annual Meeting 1958 box 5
Annual Meeting 1959 box 5
Annual Meeting 1960 box 5
Annual Meeting 1961 box 5
Annual Meeting 1962 box 5
Annual Meeting 1963 box 5
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General
12 b&w photographs
Annual Meeting 1964 box 5
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Engineering Drawings Title/Description Instances Inclined Plane #2 of the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Valley Railroad drawer MD- at Gordon, PA A-3
Plan of Ash Pit at Gordon, Pennsylvania Engine House, 1870 drawer MD- A-3
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Miscellaneous Title/Description Instances Engraving showing tall ships, titled "Port Richmond in 1852" box 3
One Reading Center – Construction and Interior – completed, box 5 1984
Catawissa Coal Lands at Silver Brook – Leased to Trader Horn box 5 Coal Company [photographs by W.A. Werner], 1957 December
Pennsylvania Company For Banking and Trusts – Branch in box 5 Reading Terminal
Central Railroad of New Jersey – Inspection of New Westbound box 5 Hump Yard near Allentown, PA
Road Trip - Financial Analysis, October 9-10, 1956 box 5
Electric Cranes – Built in connection with proposed crane box 5 installation at Port Richmond, Philadelphia, by William Sellers & Co. of Philadelphia, 1898
J. H. Dialogue & Son, Shipbuilders, Camden, NJ, 1890-1895 box 5
Miscellaneous box 5
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