Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines In Color Vol 2 by John P Stroup Morning Sun
Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines In Color Vol 2 by John P Stroup Morning Sun Books
Hard Cover w/ dust jacket
230+ color photographs
128 pages
Copyright 2009
CONTENTS
Construction Chronology 4
A Bit of History 5
Diesel Locomotives9
Atlantic City, Here We Come11
Cape May County Services49
Bringing in the Goods69
Delivering the Goods79
Down by the Station 104
Passenger Extras 108
The Delair Bridge112
PATCO 118
SPV 2000124
Conrail Blue 125
Amtrak and NJ Transit 126
INTRODUCTION
The Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines was a rather unique railroad, created as a consolidation of some PRR and Reading lines during the Great Depression. It managed to survive through the trials of World War II, the following boom and bust years, and on through the sixties to assimilation into Conrail in 1976. The area served consisted primarily of farmlands and seaside resorts, not exactly significant money-making enterprises. In the early years there were some areas of industry such as glass manufacturers, canning plants, and chemical producers. Specialty carloadings could be found such as sand and seafood, especially oysters. In later years, during the 1955-1970 era, more chemical companies and refineries located along the Delaware River and adjacent to the PRSL's Penns Grove Branch. A new electric generating station near the Atlantic Coast was constructed requiring fuel delivered by train. Meanwhile, passenger service to the shore resorts fell off dramatically.
During the first few decades of the twentieth century, one of the most popular resorts on the east coast was Atlantic City. With much to offer for vacationers as well as day-trippers, the crowds were heaviest from Memorial Day through Labor Day. ThePennsylvania Railroad took great advantage of its all-rail route via the Delair Bridge in bringing travelers from near and far to the city by the sea. The Reading's Atlantic City Railroad was at a disadvantage due to its ferry connection but still had a substantial business, albeit mostly Philadelphians. After combining as the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines the new adversary was the motor vehicle which could use state-financed, newly paved highways that connected to the recently opened Delaware River Bridge. After 1950 massive changes in the way Americans vacationed, and where, brought about the eventual decline of both Atlantic City and the railroad that served it.
Included in the previous Morning Sun Book, Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in Color (Volume 1), were various timetable pages, maps, photos of stations, equipment, and locomotive and car rosters. It may prove useful to the reader to reference this book as it would have been redundant to include this information in this volume.
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