| In July 1984 the Blandon lowgrade was taken out of service when the wall of a quarry gave way to the weight of a train, as a result Temple Hill was placed back into service to carry many trains through Reading. It was used as a shoofly of sorts. This originally was the first leg of the East Penn branch of the Reading from Pike in Reading to Blandon till the Blandon Lowgrade was built in 1956. It was then single tracked and reduced to a backup track should the lowgrade need to be bypassed. Ultimately, after the lowgrade was returned to service in November of 1984, this line was permanently cut off then pulled up and a few years later became a trail in the Rails and Trails system. This line was once stomping grounds for Reading 4-8-4's, 2-10-2's with 'malley' helpers. This shot was taken from the Elizabeth Ave bridge looking toward Blandon. |