Two years after SEPTA discontinued passenger service to Reading, two passenger trains met at Birdsboro, Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Chapter NRHS sponsored a Philadelphia=Perryville-Harrisburg-Reading-Philadelphia excursion using Amtrak equipment. When it joined the former Reading main line at Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, it met a Reading – Philadelphia excursion with CP 4-6-0 972 which had paused to wait a few minutes until the Amtrak special arrived.