As mentioned I have been on a Reading book buying binge. I just got the Color Guide and am starting to absorb. I had repeatedly seen "Outer Station" first as the book publisher, then in other posts, realizing it was a real station, but to me with a rather strange name..... The book has a few shots. It is an interesting station.

I use is and was above, not knowing it if still exists.....

Was Outer Station the Reading equivalent to Altoona? Altoona was a massive place in it's day. I sort of doubt the Reading had any place that huge.

Bill

Bill, the "Outer Station" as it came to be known in the 1930s after the Reading erected the Franklin Street station several blocks away (closer to the heart of the city), was the main passenger station in Reading until 1969 when it closed.

The city of Reading was the hub of the system - while not as big as Altoona, it DID house the railroad's main locomotive and car shops, and from Reading lines emanated out to all points of the compass: Newberry to the North, Allentown to the East, Harrisburg to the West, and Philadelphia to the South. A major classification yard was located at Reading (though not a hump yard like Allentown and Rutherford).

The Outer Station was located south of the yard in the middle of a wye. From here you could take passenger trains to all points on the system. The dispatcher's office was located here as well at one time. As passenger traffic declined post-WWII, the Franklin Street station became more important, and the Outer Station eventually was closed in 1969. It burned down in a spectacular fire on February 21, 1978.