NS Reading-Philly Line Trains?

I was at Pottstown Saturday hoping for some trains going past old Reading station. I got ONE (empty coal) in 90+mins. Anybody know how many trains run this line on Saturdays and Sundays? Like to go back there and also to Valley Forge when weather gets warmer.I would have figured on seeing more than one train between 9:45 and 11:20.

CNJ Fan 4evr wrote:I was at Pottstown Saturday hoping for some trains going past old Reading station. I got ONE (empty coal) in 90+mins. Anybody know how many trains run this line on Saturdays and Sundays? Like to go back there and also to Valley Forge when weather gets warmer.I would have figured on seeing more than one train between 9:45 and 11:20.

I stop by the Port Kennedy station periodically and the line there can be very streaky. You can watch for hours and get nothing, then 5 trains in 30 minutes.

Souds alot like Bound Brook or many other NS lines for that matter. Do the oil trains use the Rdg.-Philly line?

I was at the Port Kennedy station this past friday evening, and an empty oil train was headed westbound, being led by a Lehigh Valley heritage unit. There were a couple of other railfans there. I will say that this line is hit or miss. As another poster said, you could be there for hours and see nothing. I usually go up there on weekend mornings to relax and drink my coffee, most of the time I don't see a thing. But if I get there early enough, there will be a train rolling thru about 8am. I live near the Abrams yard, and I can hear what seems to me to be a lot of traffic at night. I would hang out at Port Kennedy to watch trains at night, but the Park Rangers don't want people in the park at night.

[quote="CNJ Fan 4evr"]I was at Pottstown Saturday hoping for some trains going past old Reading station.

That's a beautiful station, (a bank the last time I was there.) I worked a Lackawanna station, Morristown, that is quite similar; but in my opinion, not as grand.

CNJ Fan 4evr wrote:I was at Pottstown Saturday hoping for some trains going past old Reading station. I got ONE (empty coal) in 90+mins. Anybody know how many trains run this line on Saturdays and Sundays? Like to go back there and also to Valley Forge when weather gets warmer.I would have figured on seeing more than one train between 9:45 and 11:20.

Pottstown has always been hit or miss. Living a block away from the tracks I find that most train activity is in the evening hours. Sometimes several come through with minutes of eachother. Between 10 and 3pm are usually dead times.

I believe that Pottstown station is a court house now. They also have a bus stop there.
NS lines seem to die after 10 am. I don't know why. I live by Lehigh line and by 10 most of the "hot" trains are done and then locals go out and that's it until later at night. Ethanol trains may be the exception as some run afternoons. Again, they aren't consistent either. No, freight railroading ain't like the old days where you could set your watch to any given train. Did that really happen or were our grandparents exaggerating?