Ephrata, PA: Visitor Center/Reading Depot and Pennsy Caboose

Depot: (Satellite)

Caboose: (Satellite)

Metrotrails posted two photos with the comment:

Metrotrails Then and Now Series: Historic 1971 view of the station in Ephrata Pennsylvania, from the John D. Denney Jr Collection, on the former Reading and Columbia Branch of the Reading Railroad, compared to the same scene on our 2023 hike.

Built southwest from Reading in 1864, the Reading and Columbia Railroad was leased by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in 1870.

Today, the tracks have been removed from a point in the middle of Lititz to Ephrata, and the right of way is the Warwick-Ephrata Rail Trail.

Like other station stops on this line such as Akron and Millway, Ephrata did not initially have a dedicated station building. In the early years, a space in the lower level of the Mount Vernon Hotel, which stood from 1854 to 1954, served as station. The station we see today was built in 1889. 

The line served Ephrata until 1985, and the station is now a town visitor center.

Metrotrails shared 

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Street View, Mar 2025

Street View, Apr 2025

Bruce Thomas posted five photos with the comment:

Ephrata, PA - I never saw passenger service here but there was consistent freight service in the ‘50’s and into the ‘60’s operated by the Reading Railroad.

Now it serves as an informative downtown landmark.

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The parking lot replaced the tracks. 

Street View, Mar 2025

Street View, Apr 2025

Gregory D. Pawelski posted two photos with the comment: "Reading Company R&C Branch Ephrata Station in Ephrata, Pa. - Then and Now."

Gregory D. Pawelski: The line between Stevens and Lititz was abandoned in 1985 .Before the (extant) station was built in 1889, the railroad had a station in the barroom on the south side of Mount Vernon House Hotel (also known as the Martin Gross Hotel). Eventually the railroad took over the barroom for its sole use as a passenger station after concerns about passenger comfort amidst the drunken crowds at the bar in the evenings (there was also a smaller room used for the ticket and telegraph office). The hotel was built in 1854 and torn down in 1955 (Intelligencer Journal, 2-14-1955). It was on the east corner of Main and State Streets on the NW side of the tracks at GPS: 40.178845, -76.177057.

Ed Johnson shared

Jim Kelling shared with the comment: "Ephrata Pennsylvania (Reading Company station now a visitor center)."

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Todd Phillips, Jun 2025

1956/57 Ephrata Quad @ 24,000