Frank A. Weer (1932-2019) was an employee of the Reading Company and an enthusiastic photographer of all things related to railroads, specifically in Pennsylvania. He was born to William F. Weer (1896-circa 1970s) and Mary H. Shearer (1898-date unknown). Frank Weer grew up in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, at the Philadelphia Country Club, where his father worked as a janitor. Weer graduated from Lower Merion High School in 1952. He attended the Technical Division of the high school, where he studied in the drafting department, learning about architecture and engineering. After graduating, he got a job at the Pennsylvania Department of Highways, where he worked creating drafts for a year until he went to serve in the Korean War. During the years of the Korean War, Weer worked creating more draft designs and drawing maps. He was stationed to work at the Engineering Topographic Mapping Company in Austria. After the war, he went to Temple University, where he received an associate’s degree in mechanical design. He began working as a draftsman for the Pennsylvania Railroad soon after.

Fascinated by trains from a young age, Weer spent time taking photographs of the passing rolling stock. He developed his own photographs, and over time, he established a vast collection of photographic prints of steam locomotives and other rolling stock, as well as the railroad tracks and structures with which the railroad was affiliated. Weer continued his career in the railroad industry as he worked various positions within the Reading Company over the course of thirteen years. He worked in the real estate department, evaluating leases for the Reading Terminal Market, and later as a Safety Investigator, where he investigated accidents that happened along the railroad.

The Reading Company was an influential railroad company that served the economic development of the Greater Philadelphia area for over 100 years. The Reading Company was not the original railroad chartered but rather the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was first chartered in 1833 by an Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, which was approved by Governor George Wolf (1777-1840). Before it became a booming passenger railroad, the Reading Company began transporting anthracite coal. It connected the coal regions from Philadelphia and Schuylkill County. The emergence of the Philadelphia and Coal Iron Company allowed the company to operate both the coal mines and railroads.

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad absorbed several other railroads starting in 1858 with the Lebanon Valley Railroad. In 1870, it leased the East Pennsylvania Railroad, the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad, and the Colebrookdale Railroad. In 1872, the North Penn Railroad was built through Lansdale and terminated at 9th and Green Streets in Philadelphia, within the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad charter. In 1893, the North Penn Railroad was also absorbed.

The people of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad elected Joseph Smtih Harris (1836-1910) to be president of the company in 1893. Harris led the company's reorganization under the Reading Company in 1896. The railroad had been providing passenger services since the 1850s, and by the 1890s, it had become a valuable asset to the population of the Greater Philadelphia area. Having spent decades as a steam train railroad, the Reading Company electrified its passenger lines after World War I as a way to stay up to date with other railroad competitors.

By the 1950s, the Reading Company passenger "ridership" reached an all-time high. However, this trend did not continue as people sought out new modes of transportation, such as automobiles and airplanes. The company was unable to set competitive shipping rates due to federal regulations. The Reading Company declined in prominence throughout the 1960s and by 1971 had declared bankruptcy. The South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority had taken over the Reading Company passenger services by 1974.

The Reading Company had a profound impact on the development of the Philadelphia area and Reading, Pennsylvania itself. Specifically for the city of Reading, the population had increased significantly from the 1880s to the 1900s. The Reading Company also employed thousands of people with jobs on the railroad, and commuters were provided with myriad passenger services daily. The Reading Company, though out of operation, maintains its legacy as a lucrative business of the twentieth century.