The ''King Coal'' was a passenger train operated by the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly call ...

between

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and

Shamokin, Pennsylvania Shamokin (; Saponi Algonquian ''Schahamokink'', meaning "place of eels") ( Lenape Indian language: Shahëmokink) is a city in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Surrounded by Coal Township at the western edge of the Anthracit ...

. The train was launched in the late 1930s, as part of Reading's introduction of streamlined trains, with equipment rebuilt by the railroad specifically for the service. In its latter years it was truncated to Pottsville on weekends. Due to declining demand for passenger rail travel as automobiles became more prevalent, the ''King Coal'' was discontinued on June 28, 1963.

References

Reading Company Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Pennsylvania Railway services discontinued in 1963 Transportation in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Shamokin, Pennsylvania {{US-rail-transport-stub