History
Construction of the line started in 1852 under the name Philadelphia, Easton and Water Gap Railroad Co., and became operational three years later. The railroad formally opened on Monday, July 2, 1855, with an excursion from the Cohoquinoque station, at Front and Willow Streets, Philadelphia, to Wissahickon (present-day Ambler), an outlying area to the northeast.
In 1856, the company suffered its first accident in The Great Train Wreck of 1856. The following year, a branch was built from Lansdale to Doylestown and during the 1860s another extension was built to Sellersville, running parallel to Bethlehem Pike. This railroad was eventually completed to Bethlehem, and later became the Reading Company's Bethlehem Branch, a two-track main line, with one portion near Telford being three-tracked. A single-track tunnel is in Perkasie.
The Reading Company leased North Pennsylvania Railroad on May 14, 1879, which later led to the eventual demise of NPR due to the bankruptcy of the Reading Company and subsequent merger into Conrail.
As of 2011, the line is owned by SEPTA, which only operates its electric commuter trains as far north as Lansdale, where the Lansdale/Doylestown Line continues on a branch line to Doylestown. Freight trains are operated on the portion from Lansdale to Quakertown by Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad and East Penn Railroad.
The former Jersey City main line of the Reading branches just north of the Jenkintown/Wyncote station, although SEPTA only operates the West Trenton Line as far as Ewing, New Jersey.
A branch extends from Glenside to New Hope, although SEPTA only operates the Warminster Line line as far as Warminster. The 17 miles (27 km) portion from Warminster north to New Hope is owned and operated by the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad.
North of Quakertown, the double-track line is out of service. Until 2008, most of the rail infrastructure was intact except for a cut made near DeSales University to extend Porter Lane. In addition, the northernmost section between Bethlehem and Hellertown including Saucon Yard, which is owned by freight operator Norfolk Southern Railway, was removed.
None of the former stations remain north of Quakertown, and all of the block signals north of Lansdale have been destroyed by vandals, although many are still in place.
Read more about this topic: North Pennsylvania Railroad
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