The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, completed in eighteen eighty four. Terminus in Reading, Pennsylvania on the shores of the Shuylkill River, 51 miles from Philadelphia. Absorbed by Conrail in 1976 after having been in receivership several times, it began in 1833 in part by taking over several short established lines whose main commerce was coal hauling. It is interesting to note that only 23 miles of rail line existed in the whole of the United States just three years prior to the creation of the Reading, and by 1835 over one thousand miles of track had been laid.