scott
22 May 2022
The East Pennsylvania Railroad was chartered on March 9, 1856, as the Reading and Lehigh Railroad, but was renamed in April 1857. It completed a line between Reading and Allentown on May 11, 1859. The opening of this line created a through route between Harrisburg and New York City. Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, predecessor of the Reading Company, leased the line in 1869. The East Pennsylvania continued to exist as a company, and would be merged along with the Reading into Conrail in 1976, as a result of the Reading's final bankruptcy