It runs 4 miles (6.4 km) from a junction with the Reading Line at Topton to Kutztown.

Promoters of the Allentown Railroad conceived of a new through route between the Lehigh Valley and Port Clinton.

These plans never developed, and in the end only a 4.4-mile (7.1 km) branch from Topton to Kutztown was built.

The final system plan of the United States Railway Association classed the line as "light density" and it was not conveyed to Conrail.

The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad replaced the Anthracite Railway in 1989, followed by Penn Eastern Rail Lines in 1996.