The Pickering Valley Railroad started out as a subsidiary of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in 1869 to connect the towns of Phoenixville and Byers in southeast Pennsylvania. Work began on the line in 1870 and was completed the following year. The line mainly hauled dairy and other agricultural commodities from local farms in the area to Phoenixville and thus connections with other railroad lines; it also carried iron ore from the region to the Phoenix Iron Company in Phoenixville. By 1906, the line had been formally merged into the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad system, and was then known as the Pickering Valley Branch.
The segment between Byers to Kimberton was abandoned in 1948, while the remainder was abandoned by Conrail in the 1980s. Little evidence of the line exists today.