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Perkiomen Branch (Reading Railroad) V0.1.1

This is the beginnings of my recreation of the Perkiomen Brach of the Reading Company.



This route is very much a work in progress but I wanted to upload to see if there was any interest other then my own in this route. I have been working on this route off and on for about 6 months now with most of that time being dedicated to research. I don't have enough asset packs to make it super historically accurate but I'd like to think I'm close.



This route is set around the late 1940's to early 1950's (transition era) and has approximately 7.5 miles of track spanning from Perkiomen Junction (Oaks), PA to Rahn, PA with the highlight being Collegeville. I plan to extend this route all the way to Emmaus, PA but that could take years at my current rate.



Let me know if you are interested in this route. The more people are interested the more I will work on it in my free time. I appreciate you taking a look. Thank you!



I have a lot more asset packs selected then I think are needed to run the route. Here are the ones I believe are necessary:



RSC, Horseshoe Curve

RSC, Marias Pass

VNHRR, Springfield Route



The full list is as follows:

DTG, Clinchfield

HIS, Western Maryland Retro Pack 01

Kuju, Railsimulator US

RSC, Horseshoe Curve

RSC, Marias Pass

RSDL, Foliage

VNHRR, Springfield Route



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Perkiomen Branch (Reading Company)



On May 8th, 1868, The Perkiomen Railway Company ran their first train across their new railroad. At the time the railroad only stretched from Perkiomen Junction (now Oaks) to Freeland (now Collegeville). By 1874, the Perkiomen Railroad had expanded their line to Emmaus Junction, completing the 38.5-mile route and connecting the mainlines of the Philadelphia and Reading Company at Perkiomen Junction to the East Pennsylvania Railroad at Emmaus Junction. The Perkiomen Railroad built 28 stations along their mainline including Rahns Collegeville, Schwenksville, Delphi Junction and more.



On December 31st, 1945, the Perkiomen Railroad would merge with the Reading Company and the mainline become the Perkiomen Branch. Ten years later on July 15th, 1955, the last scheduled passenger train would run through the Perkiomen Valley. The Reading would continue to use the entire length of the branch for freight service until June of 1972 when Hurricane Agnes washed out the line between Perkiomen Junction and Pennsburg. The remaining portion from Pennsburg to Emmaus Junction would continue to carry freight through the merger of the Reading into Conrail on April 1st, 1976, and to today where the East Penn Railroad continues to move freight along the line. The portion of the branch from Pennsburg to Oaks has been converted into a rail-trail and still closely follows the original route of the Perkiomen Branch.