Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Co.

In 1833, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company (P & R) was established to serve the burgeoning anthracite coal industry and its customers throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The railroad also supported iron making, canal and sea-going transportation, and shipbuilding, establishing itself as a transportation industry giant for over a century. During the American Industrial Revolution, the P & R provided trackage to the most densely industrialized parts of America in all four directions, becoming America's largest corporation by the 1870s. Shortly thereafter, the P & R attempted to expand its ownership beyond transportation, creating the subsidiary, the P & R Coal and Iron Company. A confrontation with financier J. P. Morgan caused the P & R to resume its original role as simply a transporter of anthracite coal. Following the 1890s, despite its creation of a new holding company called the Reading Company, the Pennsylvania & Reading Railroad was forced to break up its various entities by order of the Supreme Court.

From the description of Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company letters, 1887-1891. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 276937516

The Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road Company, chartered in 1833, operated a railroad alongside the west side of the Schuylkill River with later extensions to the Anthracite mines in northeast Pennsylvania. The initial portion of the road from Reading to Norristown opened in 1838, the remainder opened in 1839.

From the description of Property survey of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, 1858-1912. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 637040965