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The Philadelphia Chapter of the
National Railway Historical Society


Established 1936


 


READING RAILFEST 2018 - Photo by Daniel Knouse

 



Coatesville is forty miles west of Philadelphia and has been an important steel town since it was Lukens. Today the plant is owned by Cliffs and continues to make plate steel in electric arc furnaces. Norfolk Southern serves the plant via the Pennsylvania RR, now Amtrak Keystone Line to Harrisburg. They use a steep connection from Amtrak to the former Reading Co, Wilmington and Northern line. Once inside the plant they drop / pickup cars and make interchange with the Brandywine Valley RR.



On Halloween 2022, we observe NS 6915 EMD SD60E and NS 4035 GE AC44 heading up a long train heading south over the Brandywine Creek into the plant. Late fall color abounds the former Reading traction

Photo by Eric Dervinis

 

[home page updated 11/06/23]