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Pennsy & Reading Railroads

Railroading in the Shamokin Valley of Pennsylvania

This layout portrays a portion of central Pennsylvania and 3 of the railroads that serviced this area - PRR, RDG & LV. 

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania starts the layout and was the center of the PRR Rail System  featuring a 4-track mainline and a passenger station that hosted 72 daily passenger trains.

35 miles of the PRR N/S Susquehanna Main Line north from Harrisburg to the town of Sunbury is the entrance of the short, but interesting Mt. Carmel Branch. This main line continues off the layout to Port Erie, PA and/or Buffalo NY. 

The PRR Mt. Carmel Branch travels 30 miles east through coal country, ends at the small town of Mt. Carmel and junctions with the Lehigh Valley RR. Mt. Carmel is the final leg of the twice daily ore trains that traveled south from Port Erie to Mt. Carmel on the Pennsy and were handed off to the Lehigh Valley for the final 75 miles (off layout) to Bethlehem Steel. 

The layout depicts the Reading’s Shamokin Division Main Line from Sunbury east to the town of Locust Gap (next to Mt. Carmel). In real life, these 2 railroads ran side by side for 30 miles until the PRR branch terminated. The Reading main line continues (off-layout) to Reading and Philadelphia. This line served 3 major function -

•    Coal processing/hauling west to east

•    East/west bridge connection to/from Philadelphia for NYC, NKP & Erie RR’s

•    Local freight/passenger service 

The Lehigh Valley makes a brief appearance at Mt. Carmel Junction for the ore train and peddler freight interchanges. 

The layout simulates the traffic and industries on the layout that were operating in 1954/55. 

All but a few of the railroad customers and industries are accurately named; there is a certain license regarding specific locations. 

In addition to peddler freights on both the PRR and RDG lines, some of the additional operations include -

•    way freights (PRR & RDG)

•    coal trains including mines, breakers and customer delivery (PRR/RDG)

•    ore trains (PRR/LV)

•    dairy train (PRR)

•    main line & local passenger (PRR/RDG)

                     PRR

                                                                                                                 RDG