Monday, September 21, 2015

The Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern Railroad

Established in 1963, the Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern Railroad is a scenic railroad in eastern Pennsylvania that runs between the two towns after which it was named.  Its trains run on a section of track that was originally part of the Berks County Railroad, which ran from Slatington to Reading.  Unfortunately, the BCRR went bankrupt in 1874, the year in which its construction was completed.  Its tracks were then incorporated into the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, which operated the line as far north as Wanamaker until 1962, before selling 4.2 miles of track to WK&S and otherwise scrapping most of the line.  Train rides on the WK&S leave from the station at Kempton, shown here, and travel three miles north to Wanamaker, before returning.

Parked near the Kempton station are the WK&S locomotive no. 65 and a Lehigh & New England diesel.

Just behind the two locomotives shown above is the WK&S no. 2.

Two Reading coaches and a caboose occupy a sidetrack.  The above-mentioned Philadelphia & Reading was eventually renamed the Reading Company.

A remodeled coach, a Chesapeake & Ohio refrigerated boxcar, and a Lehigh & New England caboose occupy another sidetrack.  The coach houses a large display of HO-scale model railroads.

After the ride was over, the WK&S no. 7258 pulled around the train to reconnect to its north end.

A conductor guides no. 7258 as it connects to the north end of the train, which is an old Reading caboose.


No comments:

Post a Comment