Description: PHILADELPHIA & READING RAILROAD "READING LINE"This RARE Vintage piece of Railroad History, made by THE ADAMS & WESTLAKE COMPANY for the PHILADELPHIA & READING RAILROAD. This lantern is marked THE ADAMS & WESTLAKE COMPANY CHICAGO P.& R.R.R. PATENTED JUNE 8, 1886 last date NOV. 30, 1897. The clear glass globe is embossed P&RRy, globe has strong marks, two sealed J shape cracks, some small flea chips around rims. The burner is marked THE P&A MFG CO, the twist off fuel fount and brass burner are in good working condition. Please view photos and Email with questions. Thanks for looking.Reading Company3 languagesArticleTalkReadEditView historyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaReading CompanyWikimedia | © OpenStreetMapRail lines of the Reading Railroad, including the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore LinesReading Terminal in Philadelphia, circa 1893OverviewHeadquartersPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.Reporting markRDGLocaleDelaware Maryland New Jersey PennsylvaniaDates of operation1833–1976SuccessorConrail (now Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation) Reading International (cinemas and real estate)TechnicalTrack gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gaugeLength1,460 miles (2,350 kilometres)[1]The Reading Company (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976.Commonly called the Reading Railroad, and logotyped as Reading Lines, the Reading Company was a railroad holding company for the majority of its existence and was a single railroad during its later years. It operated service as Reading Railway System and was a successor to the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company, founded in 1833. Until the decline in anthracite loadings in the Coal Region after World War II, it was one of the most prosperous corporations in the United States.Competition with the modern trucking industry that used the Interstate Highway System for short-distance transportation of goods, also known as short hauls, compounded the company's problems, forcing it into bankruptcy in 1971. After its railroad operations were merged into Conrail in 1976, the remainder of the corporation was renamed Reading International.History[edit]Original Philadelphia and Reading logoPhiladelphia and Reading Railroad daily passenger train time table, 1854Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road: 1833–1893[edit]See also: Main Line (Reading Company)The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R) was one of the first railroads in the United States. Along with the Little Schuylkill, a horse-drawn railroad in the Schuylkill River Valley, it formed the earliest components of what became the Reading Company. The P&R was constructed initially to haul anthracite coal from mines in northeastern Pennsylvania's Coal Region to Philadelphia.[2] The original P&R mainline extended south from the mining town of Pottsville to Reading and then onward to Philadelphia, following the gently graded banks of the Schuylkill River for nearly all of the 93-mile (150-km) journey.[2][3] The original Reading mainline was double track from its very beginning in 1843.The P&R became profitable almost immediately. Energy-dense coal known as anthracite had been replacing increasingly scarce wood as fuel in businesses and homes since the 1810s, and P&R-delivered coal was one of the first alternatives to the near-monopoly held by Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company since the 1820s. Soon the P&R bought or leased many of the railroads in the Schuylkill River Valley and extended westward and north along the Susquehanna into the southern end of what became known as the Coal Region.In Philadelphia, the Reading also 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 1871, the Reading established a subsidiary called the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, which set about buying anthracite coal mines in the Coal Region.This vertical expansion gave the P&R almost full control of anthracite coal from mining through market, allowing it to compete successfully with like-organized competitors such as Lehigh Coal & Navigation and the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company.The heavy investment in coal paid off quickly. By 1871, the Reading was the largest company in the world, with $170,000,000 in market capitalization (equal to $3,845,305,556 today),[4] and may have been the first conglomerate in the world. In 1879, the Reading gained control of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, which provided access to the burgeoning steel industry in the Lehigh Valley.[3]The Reading further expanded its coal empire by reaching New York City by gaining control of the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad in 1879, and building the Port Reading Branch in 1892 with a line from Port Reading Junction to Port Reading on the Arthur Kill. This allowed direct delivery of coal to industries in the Port of New York and New Jersey in northeastern New Jersey and New York City by rail and barge instead of the longer trip by ships from Port Richmond around Cape May.Instead of broadening its rail network, the Reading invested its vast wealth in anthracite and its transport in the mid-19th century. This led to financial trouble in the 1870s.[clarification needed] In 1890, Reading president Archibald A. McLeod saw that more riches could be earned by expanding its rail network and becoming a trunk railroad.McLeod went about trying to control neighboring railroads in 1891. He was able to gain control of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Central Railroad of New Jersey, and the Boston and Maine Railroad. The Reading almost achieved its goal of becoming a trunk road, but the deal was scuttled by J. P. Morgan and other rail barons, who did not want more competition in the northeastern railroad business.[2][5] The Reading was relegated to being a regional railroad for the rest of its history.
Price: 389 USD
Location: Warsaw, Missouri
End Time: 2024-09-09T14:11:00.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
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Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Brand: Adams & Westlake
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Modified Item: No