A compact document reading station for transporting a document and sensing indicia carried on the document. First and second substantially identical box-like housing halves, each with four sides, a generally closed bottom and an open top, contain an in-line arrangement of a motor and a drive roller powered by that motor as well as an off-set driven pinch roller. The rollers which partially extend through openings formed through the generally closed bottom and the housing halves are juxtaposed and connected together with the drive roller of one housing half cooperating with the driven pinch roller of the other housing half. Located between the roller openings in the bottom of each housing half is a row of spaced-apart apertures through which a portion of a plurality of photo-optic transducing head assemblies project. Each such transducing head assembly includes a hybrid circuit card having terminal pins which mate with connectors disposed on printed circuit cards which, when in place, act as covers for the open tops of the housing halves. One printed circuit card includes the components and interconnections for controlling the operation of the dual drive motors, and the other card includes the components and interconnections comprising the reading electronics which carry the data from the light-sensing elements of the plural photo-optic transducing heads.