The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, 300 Gap Road, Strasburg, will feature the historic Reading Railroad during Reading Railroad Days on Wednesday, June 28, through Sunday, July 2, and Wednesday, July 5, through Saturday, July 8. Reading Railroad Days will take place during regular museum hours and is included in the regular museum admission.

The centerpiece of Reading Railroad Days is an enormous, detailed, HO-scale model train layout of the Reading Railroad, operated by members of the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society in the museum's climate-controlled Rolling Stock Hall. Visitors also may view Reading Company equipment from the museum's premier collection, including the 105-year-old tank engine No. 1251, multiple unit car No. 800, Crusader observation car No. 1 and the 1928 turntable.

Also, artist Peter Lerro will exhibit and sell his works from June 28 through July 2; the Perkiomen Railroad Historical Society will be on hand on Saturday, July 1; and the Brick Reading Railroad will display a Reading Railroad LEGO layout on Friday, July 7, and July 8.

In its heyday, the Reading Company was a multifaceted industrial giant. Originally established as the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad in 1833 to transport anthracite coal, the pioneering 94-mile line evolved into a corporation serving eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Operations included coal mining, iron-making, canal and sea-going transportation and shipbuilding. With its great complex of shops for locomotive and car building and repair, and constant advances in railroad technology, the company held a position of leadership in the railroad industry for more than a century.

To learn more about the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, visit http://www.RRMuseumPA.org or call 717-687-8628.