Publications

Reading Company Technical & Historical Society Publications

 

Examples of The Bee Line, the Society's quarterly historical magazine.

 

Bee Line

 

The quarterly historical magazine of the Society. Each issue contains articles focusing on the more than 100 years of development of the Reading Railroad system. Articles are supplemented with material from our archives, including, diagrams, and plenty of photos– both black & white and color. Occasionally articles are included modeling some unique feature or equipment of the Reading. The title of the magazine is derived from the “Bee Line Service” slogan used by the Reading in the 1960s to promote fast freight deliveries and customer service. Click here for a complete “Bee Line” index of back issues.

 

Crusader

 

A newsletter produced monthly for our membership. It contains the minutes of meetings, schedules of activities, current events and other items of interest. The name comes from the Reading Company's most famous passenger train, the 1937 stainless-steel consist which ran between Philadelphia and New York.

 

Examples of the RCT&HS annual Reading Railroad Calendar

Reading Railroad Calendar

 

The Society publishes an annual Reading Railroad Calendar, with a different theme each year. The 12-month fold-out calendar features images of vintage scenes along the Reading, from both our own archives and submitted by members, along with extensively detailed captions. Click here for a complete index of past Reading Railroad calendars produced by the Society.

 

Photography and Archives

 

The RCT&HS archives currently under development at the Reading Railroad Heritage MuseumAn on-going project of the Society is to develop an extensive library of photos: equipment, employees at work, facilities of all kinds, scenes along the right-of-way, and anything relating to The Reading Company. We currently maintain the bulk of the negative files from the Reading’s Mechanical Department. We continually strive to add to this library from private collections and other sources. A special variety of subjects from this collection is maintained as a “photo-list” from which 8" x 10" prints are made available to Society members and the

 

In addition to the photos, we have assembled a sizeable, historically significant collection of Reading Company maps, blueprints and files. The bulk of the collection consists of Mechanical Department files, which were rescued by the Society in the early 80’s from impending destruction. The collection continues to grow with additional “finds” in forgotten places, and from individual donations. The collection has developed into a library filled with literally thousands of items, and supplies data for Bee Line articles and reference.

 

PLEASE NOTE: While you are welcome to submit inquiries regarding Reading Company history to info@readingrailroad.org, we do not have the resources available at this time to conduct detailed research into individual employee, historical, or modeling inquiries.