The Reading Company (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976.

Until the decline in anthracite shipments from the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania following World War II, it was one of the most prosperous corporations in the United States.

They used the Interstates for short-distance transportation of goods, which compounded the company's competition for freight business, forcing it into bankruptcy in 1971.

In Philadelphia, the Reading built Port Richmond, the self-proclaimed "largest privately-owned railroad tidewater terminal in the world",[3] which burnished the P&R's bottom lines by allowing anthracite coal to be loaded onto ships and barges for export.

In 1879, the Reading gained control of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, which provided access to the burgeoning steel industry in the Lehigh Valley.

Instead of broadening its rail network, the Reading invested its vast wealth in anthracite and its transportation in the mid-19th century.

In 1890, however, Reading president Archibald A. McLeod concluded that expanding the company's rail network and becoming a trunk railroad would prove more lucrative than anthracite mining.

On May 17, 1842, a freight branch from West Falls to Port Richmond on the Delaware River north of downtown Philadelphia opened.

This gave the Reading a route from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, for the first time to compete directly with the Pennsylvania Railroad, which became its major rival.

In 1859, the Reading leased the Chester Valley Railroad, providing a branch from Bridgeport west to Downingtown.

Also that year, the Reading leased the Pickering Valley Railroad, a branch running west from Phoenixville to Byers, Pennsylvania, which opened in 1871.

[9] In 1873, the P&R extended its reach southward by leasing 10.2 miles of track from the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.

[11] The segment was part of the original 1838 line of the PW&B, which in 1872 opened a new stretch of track further inland to serve more populated areas and reduce flooding.

[12] The Reading dubbed the line, along with some connecting track, its Philadelphia and Chester Branch;[13] southbound trains reached it via the Junction Railroad, jointly controlled by PW&B, Reading, and PRR, and continued on to the connecting Chester and Delaware River Railroad.

Led by Samuel Richards, an officer of the C&A for 24 years, they established the Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railway (P&AC) on March 24, 1876.

On July 7, 1877, the final spike was driven and the 54.67 miles (87.98 km) line was opened in time for the summer tourism season.

This included its important role on the Alphabet Route, from Boston and New York City to Chicago with traffic from the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Central Railroad of New Jersey 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, Pennsylvania where trains connected with the Western Maryland Railroad to continue westward.

This route became known as the Crossline, and the Reading started to pool locomotive power between its connecting railroads to provide a more seamless transfer of freight and passengers.

As of 2023, four examples have survived, and the 2102 is in active tourist service with the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad.

[21] Reading also offered through passenger car service with the Lehigh Valley Railroad via their connection at Bethlehem.

Like most railroads, the Reading had contracts with the U.S. Post Office to haul and sort mail en route.

On July 1, 1963, the post office let them out of the contracts, which were valued at $2,137,000, equal to $21,267,796 today, and the railroad switched to Budd RDC self-propelled cars, instead of locomotive hauled passenger trains, to save money.

The 29.3 miles between Winslow Jct and Meadows Tower (outside of Atlantic City) were covered in 20 minutes at a speed of 87.9 mph.

[24] After the First World War with the release of the Reading from government control, they decided to streamline their corporate structure.

[28] The bankruptcy was a result of dwindling coal shipping revenues, freight being diverted to highways by trucking companies, and strict government regulations that denied railroads the ability to set prices, imposed high taxes, and forced the railroads to continue to operate money-losing lines as a common carrier.

[citation needed] The railroad also had an extensive commuter operation centered around Philadelphia, the hub of which was Reading Terminal.

The following suburban lines were electrified during the onset of the Great Depression: The notable exception was the Fox Chase/Newtown branch.

[29] Electrification was to be completed through to Newtown in the 1970s, but government subsidies were not readily available, leaving the Fox Chase-Newtown section as the lone non-electrified suburban commuter route on the Reading system.

Major named passenger trains associated with the Reading line include: In conjunction with other railroads: As a part of Norfolk Southern's 30th anniversary in 2012, the company painted 20 new locomotives into predecessor schemes.

Numbers 280 and 293 were selected as two ex-Reading cars which were stripped bare and put back into their 1974 as-delivered Reading Company look.