Quakertown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2020, it had a population of 9,359. The borough is 15 miles (24 km) south of Allentown and Bethlehem and 40 miles (64 km) north of Philadelphia, making Quakertown a border town of both the Delaware Valley and Lehigh Valley metropolitan areas.
The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by SEPTA and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its suburbs and satellite towns and cities. It is the sixth-busiest commuter railroad in the United States. In 2016, the Regional Rail system had an average of 132,000 daily riders and 118,800 daily riders as of 2019.
The Raritan Valley Line is a commuter rail service operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) which serves passengers in municipalities in Union, Somerset, Middlesex, Essex, and Hunterdon counties in the Raritan Valley region, primarily in central New Jersey and a smaller portion of northern New Jersey, in the United States. The line's most frequent western terminus is Raritan station in Raritan. Some weekday trains continue farther west and terminate at the High Bridge station, located in High Bridge. Most eastbound trains terminate in Newark; passengers are able to transfer to NJ Transit using a combined ticket or PATH and Amtrak to New York City. A limited number of weekday trains continue directly to New York.
The Reading Terminal is a complex of buildings that includes the former Reading Company main station located in the Market East section of Center City in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises the Reading Terminal Headhouse, Trainshed, and Market.
Lansdale station, also known as the Lansdale Transportation Center, is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. Located at Main Street and Green Street, it serves the Lansdale/Doylestown Line. It was originally built in 1902 by the Reading Company, opening on February 7, 1903; a freight house was added in 1909. Historically, the station hosted the Interstate Express and the Scranton Flyer. Additionally, the station served commuter trains on the Reading's branch to Bethlehem until service was ended in 1981. The historic station building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
North Pennsylvania Railroad was a railroad company which served Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northampton County in Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1852, and began operation in 1855. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway, predecessor to the Reading Company, leased the North Pennsylvania in 1879. Its tracks were transferred to Conrail and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in 1976.
The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad, sometimes shortened to Reading and Northern Railroad, is a regional railroad in eastern Pennsylvania. With a headquarters in Port Clinton, the RBMN provides freight service on over 400 miles (640 km) of track. Its mainline consists of the Reading Division between Reading and Packerton and the Lehigh Division between Lehighton and Dupont. This mainline gives the RBMN a direct route from Reading to Scranton, the first such route to exist under the control of a single railroad. Founded in 1983 to take over from Conrail on the ex-Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Branch between Reading and Hamburg, the railroad quickly grew over the next several decades to become the largest privately-owned Class II railroad in the United States. Its main freight cargo is anthracite coal, but also sees significant shipments in frac sand, forest products, petrochemicals and minerals, food and agricultural products, metals, and consumer products.
The Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVT) was a regional transport company that was headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company began operations in 1901, as an urban trolley and interurban rail transport company. It operated successfully into the 1930s, but struggled financially during the Great Depression, and was saved from abandonment by a dramatic ridership increase during and following World War II.
The Perkasie Tunnel is a train tunnel located behind the Post Office in Perkasie, Pennsylvania on 7th Street, on a line owned by SEPTA and operated by the East Penn Railroad. The tunnel itself is located near 8th Street and Ridge Road. Northbound passenger trains going through the tunnel traveled to Union Station in Bethlehem and points beyond. Many southbound passenger trains were destined for Reading Terminal in Philadelphia. The Perkasie station on 8th Street was formerly equipped with a water tower, of which not a trace remains.
The Lansdale/Doylestown Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail line connecting Center City Philadelphia to Doylestown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Until 1981, diesel-powered trains continued on the Bethlehem Branch from Lansdale to Quakertown, Bethlehem, and Allentown.
The Quakertown Passenger and Freight Station is a historic train station and freight depot located at Quakertown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The two buildings were designed by Wilson Bros. & Company in 1889 and built by Cramp and Co. for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in 1902. The passenger station is constructed of dark Rockhill granite and Indiana limestone and is in a Late Victorian style. It is 1+1⁄2 stories tall and measures 25 feet wide by 97 feet 6 inches, long. It has a hipped roof with an eight-foot overhang. The freight station is a 1+1⁄2-story, rectangular stone block building measuring 128 by 30 feet. Also on the property is a large crane that was used for freight movement. The Quakertown station had passenger rail service along the Bethlehem Line to Bethlehem and Philadelphia until July 27, 1981, when SEPTA ended service on all its intercity diesel-powered lines. SEPTA still owns the line and leases it to the East Penn Railroad. Other towns, stations, and landmarks on the Bethlehem Line are Perkasie, Perkasie Tunnel, and Perkasie station.
The Lehigh Line is a railroad line in Central New Jersey, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway. The line runs west from the vicinity of the Port of New York and New Jersey in Manville, New Jersey via Conrail's Lehigh Line to the southern end of Wyoming Valley's Coal Region in Lehigh Township, Pennsylvania.
The Bethlehem Line was a SEPTA Regional Rail service on the former Reading Company Bethlehem Branch between Lansdale and Bethlehem. Some trains continued over the electrified Lansdale/Doylestown Line to the Reading Terminal in Philadelphia.
Phillipsburg Union Station is an active railroad station museum, in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, United States, at 178 South Main Street. Opened in 1914, Union Station was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W) and shared with the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) and was situated where the lines merged before the bridge crossing the Delaware River. Designed by Frank J. Nies, the architect who produced many of DL&W stations now listed state and federal registers of historic places, the 2+1⁄2 story, 3 bay brick building is unusual example of a union station and a representation of early 20th century Prairie style architecture. The Phillipsburg Union Signal Tower, or PU Tower, is nearby, also restored to its original form, and available for tours.
The Hellertown station was a train station which was located in Hellertown, Pennsylvania on the former Bethlehem Line of the North Pennsylvania Railroad. Closed in July 1981, it was razed on December 6, 1982; no trace of it remains.
Perkasie is a defunct train station formerly operated by SEPTA Regional Rail in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA. It closed on July 29, 1981, after SEPTA cancelled its diesel train routes.
Allentown was a train station in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was opened by the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1890 and closed in 1961. The building was demolished in 1972. The station was located one block west of the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Allentown station.
Center Valley is a defunct train station formerly operated by SEPTA Regional Rail on the former Bethlehem Line in Center Valley in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania in the United States. It closed in 1981 when SEPTA terminated all diesel train service and was subsequently demolished.
The Pottsville Line was a commuter rail service in the Delaware Valley, connecting Pottsville, Reading, and Pottstown with Philadelphia. It was the last vestige of passenger service on the former Reading main line. The service lasted into the SEPTA era and was discontinued in 1981. SEPTA continues to operate Manayunk/Norristown Line commuter trains between Philadelphia and Norristown.
