The short line Allentown and Auburn Railroad continues to operate freight service on the Topton to Kutztown route.

If a direct route could be built from Allentown to the Susquehanna River, western traffic could reach New York City faster than by detouring through Philadelphia and traveling north over the Camden and Amboy Railroad.

The D&S and CNJ jointly procured a charter, issued April 19, 1853, for the Allentown Railroad, which would construct the first segment of the route.

Work continued on the more difficult middle segment, which required heavier grading to climb along the slopes of Second Mountain and enter Stony Valley at Fishing Creek Gap.

This would connect the D&S at Auburn with the Allentown RR at Port Clinton,[1] running parallel to the Reading main line along the Schuylkill River.

The route chosen left Allentown in a southwesterly direction, passing through Dorneyville, Wescosville, Trexlertown, and Breinigsville.

From Reading, traffic could either pass north to Auburn and thence over the Schuylkill and Susquehanna, or west over the Lebanon Valley Branch to Harrisburg.

The Reading did lay rail on a small segment of the grade from the East Penn at Topton to reach Kutztown, a branch that opened on January 10, 1870.

A portion of the grade from Trexlertown to Breinigsville was used by the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad to build a branch to local limonite deposits.

Turning Leaf Trail in Trexlertown and most of Wentz Road in Breinigsville were built on the part of the grade used by the Catasauqua and Fogelsville.