The Lebanon Valley Branch was a railway line in Pennsylvania. Built between 1857–1858, it linked the cities of Harrisburg and Reading. It was part of the

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

system from its completion until 1976, when it was conveyed to

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

. Under Conrail, the branch was merged with part of the former Reading Main Line to become the Harrisburg Line. It remains an important freight route.

History

The Lebanon Valley Railroad completed the line between Reading and Lebanon on July 13, 1857. It was extended further west to

Hummelstown Hummelstown is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,535 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Originally named Fredrickstown, the town was establ ...

on July 30, and finally to Harrisburg on January 18, 1858. Under the Lebanon Valley Railroad the line was single-tracked. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad acquired the company and its assets on March 20, 1858. The branch remained within the Reading system through multiple reorganizations until 1976, when it was one of many Reading lines conveyed to

. Conrail merged the line with the Reading–Philadelphia portion of the former Reading Main Line to create the Harrisburg Line. The line was conveyed to the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

in the 1999 Conrail split.

Passenger service

The Lebanon Valley Branch, together with the

East Pennsylvania Branch The East Pennsylvania Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Pennsylvania. It opened a line between Reading, Pennsylvania, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1859. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, predecessor of the Rea ...

, the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, and the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) main line, created a direct route between Harrisburg and

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Philadelphia. The most famous service on this route was the ''

Queen of the Valley The ''Queen of the Valley'' was a named train of the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) that ran between Jersey City, New Jersey, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, via the Lehigh Valley and Reading. The train took about 4 hours to traverse the ...

'', a joint venture of the Reading and the CNJ. The ''Queen of the Valley'' ceased running west of

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

, on April 28, 1963, after the loss of mail contracts, ending passenger service on the Lebanon Valley Branch.

Notes

References

* * * {{cite book , title=Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 , year=1975 , author=United States Railway Association , author-link=United States Railway Association , location=Washington, DC , url=http://multimodalways.org/docs/govts/federal/executive/Agencies/DOT/USRA/FSP/FSP%20VI.pdf , oclc=2889148 , volume=1 , ref={{Harvid, USRA, 1975 Railway lines opened in 1857 Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Reading Company lines