Wilmington and Northern Branch

Wilmington and Northern Branch
Overview
Owner	See #Summary of ownership
History
Opened	1869 (1869)
Technical
Line length	63.5 mi (102.2 km)
Route map Legend mi Reading Belt Branch Schuylkill Branch Reading main line Reading main line Schuylkill Branch 63.5 Birdsboro 54.0 Joanna Warwick Branch 51.9 Elverson New Holland Branch New Holland Branch 45.3 Suplee 40.8 Brandamore 36.6 Wagontown Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line 33.2 Coatesville 31.0 Modena 29.2 Mortonville 26.0 Embreeville 23.1 Northbrook 21.0 Wawaset West Chester Street Railway 19.1 Lenape 18.2 Pocopson 15.4 Chadds Ford Junction Octoraro Branch 13.5 Cossart Pennsylvania Delaware 11.4 Granogue 9.5 Guyencourt 8.6 Winterthur Rockland Branch 7.3 Montchanin 6.4 Greenville Kentmere Branch 3.2 Elsmere Junction Philadelphia Subdivision Delaware River Extension Northeast Corridor to Boston Mill Creek Cutoff 0.0 Wilmington (B&O) Wilmington (PRR) Northeast Corridor to Washington D.C. This diagram: view talk edit

The Wilmington and Northern Branch is a partially-abandoned railway line in the states of Delaware and Pennsylvania. It was constructed between 1869 and 1870 by the Wilmington and Reading Railroad, a predecessor of the Wilmington and Northern Railroad. At its fullest extent it connected Reading, Pennsylvania, with Wilmington, Delaware. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway leased the line in 1900. With the Reading Company's bankruptcy and the creation of Conrail in 1976 the line's ownership fragmented, and the section between Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, has been abandoned.