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The Reading Belt Branch was the result of an attempt to bypass the bottleneck of the yard and numerous grade crossings on the Main Line in downtown Reading. The original line was incorporated on April 9, 1900, as the Reading Belt Railroad Co. to build from Belt Line Junction in Muhlenberg Township, just north of the City of Reading, to Klapperthal Junction, south of the city near Neversink Mountain. The 6-mile section from Cumru Junction to Birdsboro was originally part of the Wilmington and Northern Railroad, which was leased by Reading.
Connections were available to the Main Line at Belt Line and Klapperthal as well as Birdsboro. Lebanon Valley Junction was constructed later as a wye junction enabling trains coming east from Harrisburg to divert north towards Pottsville or Allentown as well as south towards Philadelphia (both directions were railroad east).
There are several large bridges crossing the Schuylkill River and Tulpehocken Creek. The most notable bridge is only about a mile from Belt Line Junction parallel to Pennsylvania Route 12. This bridge is painted green with "Reading Lines" lettering, still in good condition considering it was last painted in 1957.
During the Conrail era, place names were shortened and portions of the Belt Line became an important part of their east-west routes. CP Belt (Belt Line Junction) to Valley (Valley Junction) was a portion of the Reading Line. Valley to CP Titus (Klapperthal Junction, Conrail renamed it for the nearby Titus generating station) became part of the Harrisburg Line. The section from Cumru to Birdsboro was downgraded for mostly local freight operations but still saw the occasional through freight from time to time. It became informally known to Conrail crews as the "Turkey Path".
The Titus Station (located between Cumru and Klapperthal), a coal-fired power plant, is a major rail customer for unit trains of coal and has a rotary car dumper on site. Dyers Quarry, on the "Turkey Path", is a major supplier of railroad ballast.
CP-Belt would become the most popular spot for the railfan community in the Reading area. The former Schwambach's Diner located adjacent to the site was a great place to hang out and talk to train crews as they strolled in from their trains to grab a bite to eat. The diner was nicknamed "CP Schwambach's" by local fans and crews. The diner has since been demolished and a car dealership is located on the site.
Today, the entire Belt Line is under the control of Norfolk Southern and is a key east-west freight route. Although the old lattice signals are gone and the line has lost much of its Reading character, the line sees more trains now than in the final days of the Reading.
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