All Aboard...... Traditional Cache
Odie442: This one was fun while it lasted but I'm going to open up the area to others.
Odie
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Congratulations
to
Offcourse1
on the FTF!
Thanks to Team Derry
for their update
about the information
contained in the write-up.
This cache
is meant to be a history lesson of sorts (but not an Earthcache)
into this old railroad line.
The Reading Company, usually called the Reading Railroad, but
officially called the Philadelphia and Reading Rail road until 1924
operated in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states. Until
the decline in anthracite loadings in the Coal Region after World
War II it was one of the most prosperous corperations in the
US.
The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad was one of the first
railroads constructed in the US. Along with the Little Schuylkill,
a horse-drawn railroad in the Schuylkill River Valley, it formed
the earliest components of what became the Reading Company.
Primarily, the P&R was constructed to haul anthracite coal from
the mines in northeastern Pennsylvania's Coal Region to
Philadelphia. The original P&R mainline extended south from the
mining town of Pottsville to Reading and then onward to
Philadelphia, following the gently graded banks of the Schuylkill
Riverfor nearly all of the 93 mile journey. The P&R mainline
had the distinction of being, upon its completion, the first double
track main line in the US.
In 1836 The Lebanon Valley Railroad was chartered to build from
Reading west to Harrisburg. Reading financed the construction of
the Rutherford Yard to compete with the PRR's nearby Enola Yard.
The Reading Company took it over and began construction in 1854,
and opened the line in 1856. This gave the Reading Railroad a route
from Reading to Harrisburg, for the first time competing directly
with the Pennsylvania Railroad, which would turn our to be its
major rival.
In 1906, with the support of the Roosevelt Administration, the
Hepburn Act was passed. this required all railroads to disinvest
themselves of all mining properties and operations, and so the
Reading Company was forced to sell the P&R Coal and Iron
Company. Even though moving and mining coal was their primary
buisness, the P&R eventually became more diversified throuogh
the development of many on-line industries, averaging almost five
industries per mile of main line at one point.
This included its important role on the Alphabet Route, from Boston
and New York to Chicago, with traffic from the Lehigh Valley and
Jersey Central entering the Reading System in Allentown, traveling
over the East Penn Branch to Reading, where trains then traveled
west over the Lebanon Valley Branch to Harrisburg, and then onward
over the Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh branch (or
PH&P) to Shippensburg, Pa. This route became known as the
"Crossline" and became one of the most important rail lines for
seamless transfer of both passengers and freight.
The railroad merged into Conrail in 1976 and eventually was split
into Norfolk-Southern's (for cargo) and Amtrak's (for passenger
services.) in 1997. This line is used primarily for cargo services
of Norfolk-Southern now.
This cache is in honor of all the hard working Railroad workers and
dreams that the trains created for us as children. The cache is
located at an old station in Palmyra, Pa that was at one time part
of the Philadelphia, Harrisburg, & Pittsburgh (PH&P)
branch. The station has been restored and converted into a model
railroad hobby shop. The cache has been given permission to be
placed here by the shop owner and you do not need to go onto the
shop property when it is closed. Cache is very easily accessible.
Enjoy
Disclaimer: I do
not force anyone to search for any of my caches. You search at your
own risk and your own choosing. You seek my caches at your own free
will. If you don't like this cache you can just hit the ignore
button and move on to another. Just remember that life is a
challenge and to always challenge yourself.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)