Left to right - PCCA President Robert J. Butera, PCCA Vice President Patrick J. Walsh, NRHS Sr. V.P. R. L. Eastwood, and NRHS President Molloy.

A commemorative plaque marking the 75th anniversary of Philadelphia's famed Reading Terminal as a transportation landmark was remounted in the Reading Terminal headhouse, now the entrance to the Great Hall of the Pennsylvania Convention Center (the former Reading Terminal & Trainshed).

Presiding over the rededication cermony were PCCA Vice President Patrick J. Walsh, PCCA President & CEO Robert J. Butera, NRHS President Gregory Molloy, and NRHS Senior Vice President R. L. Eastwood. After the ceremony, Mr. Walsh, whose father worked for the Reading, gave a walking tour of the terminal.

The plaque was originally presented by the Philadelphia Chapter, National Railway Historical Society to the Reading Company on December 11, 1968, and was mounted on the main waiting room floor adjacent to the rack which displayed the railroad's passenger train schedules. Presiding at the 1968 ceremoney were Philadelphia Chapter, NRHS President William C. Wagner and Reading Company President Charles E. Bertrand. The historic plaque was removed when Reading Terminal was closed as a rail passenger facility on November 6, 1984 following the completion of the Center City Commuter Tunnel which linked the former Reading and Pennsylvania Railfoad suburban routes as SEPTA's Regional Rail System.

Because of the strong interest in the heritage of the Reading Terminal headhouse and its single span trainshed, opened in 1893 as the Philadelphia & reading consolidated several stations in Philadelphia underf wone roof, NRHS Senior Vice President R. L. Eastwood believed the plaque should placed on display at a location in view of both rail passengers accessing SEPTA's Market East station and conventioneers attending functions at the Pennsylvania Convention Center (the transformed Reading Terminal).

Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority (PCCA) President & CEO Robert J. Butera suggested the headhouse entrance on Market Street near 12th, where the already exists several displays depicting the heritage of the Reading Terminal and its importance to Philadelphia.

ABOUT READING TERMINAL:

The first contract for construction of the Reading Terminal was let on July 9, 1891 and the first special train operated out of the famed trainshed o January 27, 1893, with the Terminal opening for full service the next day.

Early Reading trains arriving and departing the terminal were all steam powered until the Reading began electrified suburban commuter service on July 26, 1931, with ten car trains arriving from suburban terminals such as Hatboro, Landsdale, and West Trenton. The inaugural day fare was ten cents! The railroads's famed stainless stell Crusader, constructed by Philadelphia's Budd Company, began operating from the Terminal to Jersey City, NJ on December 13, 1937.

In 1950, the Reading began dieselizing most of its steam-powered passenger trains, with the last passenger train hauled by steam arriving from Newton, in Bucks County, on May 6, 1952.

Philadelphia Chapter, NRHS also had the privilege of operating the very last train out of Reading Terminal on November 6, 1984, a nine-car electric special which carried several hundred passengers to Lansdale and return. The train was observed by onlookers all along SETPA's mainline to Lansdale, even being saluted by a gathering of firetrucks at Glenside.

NRHS Ties to Reading Terminal:

Now in its sixty-fifth year, The Philadelphia Chapter, NRHS has had numerous ties to the Reading Railroad and Reading Terminal. The Chapter has operataed many passenger excursions to ponts throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey dating back as far as 1937. The Chapter, together with Lancaster Chapter, NRHS owns two former Reading passenger diesel locomotives which have been restored to operating condition by volunteers from both Chapters. The two locomotives were used on an excursion operated over SEPTA Regional Rail lines to Norristown, Landsdale, and West Trenton on June 3, 2000, just 50 years after they were first placed in Reading Company service.

READING TERMINAL LOOKING TOWARD HEADHOUSE.
(The tracks were originally where the people are walking).

** All photographs by NRHS Webmaster