Reading, PA Trip Report

I went on a signal trip to the Reading, PA area this past weekend where, for those of your who don't know, NS has a bit of a hub going on where their Northeast network was built on the skeleton of the former Reading Railroad.  In 2018 NS replaced most of the remaining Reading / Conrail signaling still present on the Reading and Harrisburg Lines.  However a late Conrail project to replace vintage Reading Railroad signaling in the late 90's has created a pocket of surviving Conrail signaling that looks to be safe from replacement for at least the time being.

The bulk of this "historic" signaling is located on the old Reading Belt Line between CP-BELT and CP-TULP.  In fact CP-BELT features Conrail painted NS style traffic light signals at one end that may indicate the project straddled the NS takeover. 

The island of Conrail signaling includes a single automatic at MP 6 with back to back distant masts on each track.  These replaced a pair of Reading brackets sometime after 1997.

CP-TULP features a paid of equilateral turnouts forming a "Conrail Crossover" that I believe dates from the Reading era as they exist due to a single track bridge over Tulp creek.

In other news the downtown triangle consisting of CP-OLEY, CP-CENTER and CP-WALNUT has been re-signaled to varying degrees.  CP-WALNUT has the same interlocking hardware with new signals, CP-OLEY has been completely re-signaled and CP-CENTER has been reconfigured with the western turnout in the "Conrail Crossover" being moved further west to eliminate a two track grade crossing.  This had the side effect of replacing a surviving Conrail dwarf stack with a new Darth mast.  I suspect the interlocking logic and the Reading era relay hut were also replaced, but I wasn't able to check on that one detail.

I also want to take a minute and plug the Saucony Creek Franklin Station Brewpub, which had taken up residence in the old Reading Franklin St Station.  I don't think they were the ones who restored the building, but they did lease it after plans to turn it into a transportation center fell through.  Great food and drink with a lot of history.