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Private company

Allentown Railroad

Railway company in Pennsylvania

The Allentown Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1853 with the original intention to connect the Central Railroad of New Jersey at Allentown with the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line across the Allegheny Mountains. Though grading was almost entirely finished, the project was halted by the Panic of 1857, and the completion of the East Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859 made the Allentown Railroad's proposed line largely redundant. s a result, track was never laid on most of the line.2 It ceased to exist in 1945.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1853Founded1

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The Allentown Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1853 with the original intention to connect the Central Railroad of New Jersey at Allentown with the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line across the Allegheny Mountains. Though grading was almost entirely finished, the project was halted by the Panic of 1857, and the completion of the East Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859 made the Allentown Railroad's proposed line largely redundant. s a result, track was never laid on most of the line.2

The story

The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) had reached Phillipsburg, New Jersey in 1852, on the outskirts of the Lehigh Valley, and anticipated extension to Allentown. If a direct route could be built from Allentown to the Susquehanna River, western traffic could reach New York City faster than by detouring through Philadelphia and traveling north over the Camden and Amboy Railroad.

Such a route would run parallel to South Mountain and other mountains in the region, and a lateral railroad for the transport of anthracite coal already extended west from the Susquehanna. The Dauphin and Susquehanna Coal Company (D&S) operated a railroad which connected with the PRR at Rockville (where their main line crossed the Susquehanna), ran north along the river to Dauphin, and turned northeast to run up Stony Valley to the Rausch Gap coal mines. It proved to be a willing partner in the plan.

From Wikipedia’s article on Allentown Railroad, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

The Reading briefly considered a revival of the project in 1869, but on May 1, 1869, it obtained a lease of the East Penn. This road would become a permanent part of the Reading system, and the Allentown Railroad's plans were negated forever. The Reading did lay rail on a small segment of the grade from the East Penn at Topton to reach Kutztown, a branch that opened on January 10, 1870. The Allentown Railroad remained a corporate entity in the Reading system until it was merged in on December 31, 1945, to simplify the corporate structure of that railroad and to save on taxes, as with a series of other mergers the next year. The line survived the bankruptcy and breakup of the Reading: it is now owned by the Kutztown Transportation Authority and operated by the Allentown and Auburn Railroad, which uses historic railroad equipment to haul passengers. They also haul freight traffic.

A portion of the grade from Trexlertown to Breinigsville was used by the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad to build a branch to local limonite deposits. This line, too, eventually came under Reading control. Finally, the Reading used a short segment of the right-of-way in Allentown itself to reach a Mack Truck plant in 1917.

From Wikipedia’s article on Allentown Railroad, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. Dec 31, 1945Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1853Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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