I developed an affinity for the RDG during the 3 years that my wife and I lived in Reading, PA (it had long since been absorbed into Conrail by that time ) It was those Sunday drives thru the Eastern PA countryside, visiting mining towns like Tamaqua, that really rekindled my interest in mrr after being away from it for 15 years.
I know what you mean. I spent the first 25 years of my life living 500 feet from the B&O Philadelphia Subdivision. I can remember sitting at the kitchen window watching the trains roll-by. Along with the B&O and C&O power there were many Reading run-through trains.