Louise Frasso has fond memories of the childhood day trips she would take from Reading by train.
“My grandmother had a pass on the railroad and she would take my siblings and I to Philadelphia,” said the now-86-year-old Muhlenberg Township woman.
All those trips started and ended with the Franklin Street Station in downtown Reading.
The rail and bus hub, which was built in 1930, was still in its infancy when Frasso would travel with her family. It served Berks County for decades before the last train left in 1981 and the station fell into disrepair.
Friday, at a ceremony rededicating the station, Frasso sat grinning ear to ear as she listened to local officials discuss the work that went into restoring it. The station will be a hub for BARTA bus service.