The Reading Division is a rail line owned and operated by the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. The line runs from Reading north and east to Packerton

Packerton, Pennsylvania

Packerton, Pennsylvania is a village located in Mahoning Township, Carbon County on the Lehigh River and U.S. Highway 209 between Jim Thorpe and Lehighton. It uses the Lehighton zip code of 18235....

 along former Reading Company

Reading Company

The Reading Company , usually called the Reading Railroad, officially the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway until 1924, operated in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states...

 and Central Railroad of New Jersey

Central Railroad of New Jersey

The Central Railroad of New Jersey , commonly known as the Jersey Central Lines or CNJ, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s, lasting until 1976 when it was absorbed into Conrail with the other bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States...

 lines. At its south end, it connects to the Norfolk Southern Railway

Norfolk Southern Railway

The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...

's Reading Line; its east end is at the R&N's Lehigh Division

Lehigh Division

The Lehigh Division is a rail line owned and operated by the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.The line runs from Packerton north to Mehoopany along former Lehigh Valley Railroad and Central Railroad of New Jersey lines...

 and the Norfolk Southern's Lehigh Line.

History

The piece from Reading north to Port Clinton was opened by the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road in 1842. At Port Clinton, it connected with the Little Schuylkill Navigation Railroad and Coal Company, opened in 1831 past Haucks to Tamanend (near Quakake). The piece from Haucks east to Nesquehoning Junction near Jim Thorpe opened in 1870 as the Nesquehoning Railroad, and the final piece from Nesquehoning Junction southeast to Packerton Junction was part of the 1868 extension of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad.

The line from Port Clinton to Haucks was part of the Reading Company

Reading Company

The Reading Company , usually called the Reading Railroad, officially the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway until 1924, operated in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states...

, while from Haucks to Packerton was part of the Central Railroad of New Jersey

Central Railroad of New Jersey

The Central Railroad of New Jersey , commonly known as the Jersey Central Lines or CNJ, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s, lasting until 1976 when it was absorbed into Conrail with the other bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States...

. The lines were taken over by Conrail in 1976, and the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad bought them in 1990.