22-08-13 PHOTOS: Fire Up 2102 With 425

I haven't been the biggest steam excursion enthusiast. Although broadly popular within the railfan community for all of the pomp and circumstance associated with steam locomotion, they tend to be limited to tourist/shortlines and their popularity means that any resulting content will be in no way unique and not as good as those with much more expensive camera equipment (or drones). However in 2021 I was given the opportunity to attend a CNJ 113 trip on Reading Blue Mountain and Northern trackage in the former Reading RR coal region and I had a standout experience given RBMN management's pro-railfan attitude even compared to steam tourist operations like Strasburg. When RBMN announced their new series of steam excursions for the 2022 season featuring rebuilt Reading T-1 class 4-8-4 #2102 I purchased a ticket for the August seating. This turned out to be particularly fortunate as RBMN later sweetened the deal by adding 4-6-2 #426 to the consist for a rare steam doubleheader. Anyway here are the photos ( mirror )from the August 2022 RBMN Iron Horse ramble with videos to follow in a later post.

Upon the advice of Kevin Painter I arrived early enough to get a parking spot and seated myself in former Reading MU car #308, located 4 cars back from the engines, when boarding opened just a few minutes later. As I was unable to secure myself a partner for the trip I could not leave the seat to get initial terminal photos at the North Reading passenger station.

The doubleheader increased the number of trackside photographers and train chasers and made for large crowds at every location with easy vehicle access such as the Main Street grade crossing in Leesport, PA.

For those riding behind, curves near the town of Berne allowed for our first view of the two leading engines.

Making a station stop at Port Clinton to pick up additional passengers.

I was excited about the trip as it would allow photos of some of the RBMN's recent CTC signals like these examples at mileposts 84, 87 and 91.

A double S-Curve near the old Atlas chemical plant was the official location for excursion passengers to get running photos of the engines.

Here we see the duo passing through South Tamaqua Yard.

Although a feature of the regularly scheduled RBMN steam and RDC excursions, I had never been across the Hometown viaduct north of Tamaqua. Built by the CNJ to connect with its corporate parent at Haucks, economic conditions including reductions in anthracite coal use prevented the planned second track from being constructed.

Passing the signal at JIM THORPE JCT, the excursion is approaching its layover/shore activity at the town of Mach Chunk. The RBMN recently completed a new bridge over the Lehigh River that allows through freights to run between Reading and Scranton without a reverse move. It also created a turning wye that can be used by steam locomotives, like 2102, that are too large for the old Mach Chunk turntable. JIM THORPE JCT also marks the northern end of the last gap in CTC coverage on the RBMN's hybrid main line.

RBMN SW1500 #1548 hanging out at Mach Chunk.

21-09-11 PHOTOS: Ayer

During the Fall 2021 New England Trip I scheduled a day of general sightseeing and railfan activity, starting off at the Hobo Railroad in Lincoln, NH, then dropping by the Conway Scenic in North Conway, NH, before finally getting some photos of endangered signaling at Ayer and Lowell, MA on the former Guilford Rail System Freight Main Line. The weather that day was indicative of why New England is such a popular fall travel destination with cool temperatures and outstanding light. The full set of photos from this day can be found here ( mirror ).

The Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad, known as the Hobo Railroad in the tourist trade it runs the typical mix of classic railcars behind a modern diesel backed up by a bunch of more interesting equipment in the yard. Chief amoung these is about half of the New Haven vintage 6-car Roger Williams trainset built by the Budd Company in 1956 using RDC technology. Similar in appearance and performance to New Haven't other post-war lightweight trainset, the Speed Merchant, the concept ultimately proved to be unsuccessful and the trainset was split up with the cars used in normal RDC services into the 70's and 80's. The Hobo Railroad owns the two cab cars and one intermediate car.

Hobo also hosts the more traditional NH RDC, #41.

A pair of ex-Santa Fe Highliners round out the Budd built equipment in storage.

GP9 #1921 is painted in Boston and Maine colors, but was actually a former Great Northern unit, obtained after a stint at the MBTA.

SW1000 #105 was purchased from the New Orleans Public Belt in 2020 and used to replace the former excursion mainstay, Alco S1 #958.

The standard Hobo RR tourist trainset includes an ex-Reading RR RDC in MBTSA paint, but retaining its original number of 9154.

21-06-20 PHOTOS: Haucks

In the summer of 2021 the CNJ #113 fan trip was not the only exciting steam related rail event taking place in the former coal region north of Reading, PA. The Tamaqua, PA town festival was that weekend and the Reading and Northern was making its 4-6-2 Pacific engine #425 available for runs to the Hometowm viaduct and back. After meeting up again with Kevin P and one of his friends from out of towm, we set out to South Tamaqua Yard to catch the trainset being readied for service before proceeding to the junction at Haucks, PA where #425 would pass heading to and from its destination. You can view the full set of photos here ( mirror ).

We pulled in to the South Tamaqua Yard to find RBMN SD38 #2000 and GP39RN #2532 shunting the excursion trainset into one of the yard tracks where #425 would later couple to it.

RBMN #2000, along with sibling unit #2004, are two of just 103 non-Dash 2 SD38's built by EMD around 1970. The SD38 was the six axle version of the far more popular GP38, or a 2000hp non-turbocharged version of the more popular 3000hp SD40. Take your pick.

GP39RN #2532 is one of six former ATSF/BNSF GP30u's, which were themselves rebuilt EMD GP30's from the early 1960's. Known for their snazzy automotive styling from General Motors, the GP30's originally developed 2250hp with a turbocharged EMD 567D3 engine. The rebuilt rebuilt the engine with 645E power assemblies, raising the horsepower to 2500hp.

The excursion trainset consisted of a mix of former Reading/SEPTA "Blueliner" commuter MU cars painted in a light blue Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway scheme along with a number of former Lackawanna/NJT commuter MU trailer cars built in the early 20th century.

Freshly painted RBMN GP38-2 #2011 was on hand to provide protect power for the steam hauled excursion while former NS GP38-2 #2015 waited on a nearby engine storage track.

RBMN #425 soon arrived from downtown Tamaqua with a spare tender and water tanker behind a former Reading Blueliner being used as a shoving platform.

A former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio light Pacific, #425 is the RBMN's primary steam excursion asset. A number of moves were made to set out the tank car and couple to the trainset.

21-06-19 PHOTOS: Fire Up 113

With all the talk about Reading steam locomotive #2102, it's easy to forget that there is another significant operational steam engine right up the street. Former Central Railroad of New Jersey B-7 class 0-6-0 switching locomotive might not sound like much, but in addition to being only one of two preserved CNJ steam locomotives, it is also one of the most powerful 0-6-0's ever built. In June of 2021, the Railway Restoration Project 113 organized an excursion to benefit one of their long time engineers who suffering from a chromic medical condition. Run out of their base in Minersville, PA, the excursion would travel about 20 miles to the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern shoppe complex at Port Clinton before returning. Informal South Jersey railfan Kevin Painter obtained my ticket in one of the open gondola cars. I was able to take both still photography ( mirror ) and videos of the trip with the videos appearing in a following post.

As is usual for these events, I met up with Kevin at the Reading and Northern's North Reading station. The R&N would be operating its regularly scheduled RDC excursion from the station later in the day #9168 was waiting south of the station platform.

A pair of R&N MP15DC's were also on hand to pick up and interchange from Norfolk Southern.

As the #113 trip was scheduled for later in the morning, we had time to stop by the Temple, PA station to check on SW8 #800.

At the North Reading yard, a trio of power was waiting to power the North Reading Fast Freight just as soon as the consist could be assembled. The lashup includes SD40-2's #3057 and #3059 and SD50-2 #5019 in the new Fast Freight paint scheme.

The ticket included a meal afterwards so the Minersville station platform was packed with both railfans and portable tents. The engine's full time home was the spur track on the left.

CNJ #113 pulled in with the excursion train on the advertised after getting ready in the green room north of the station.

Although most of the excursion train consisted of former Reading and Lackawanna commuter cars, my first class ticket got me into one of two open air gondola cars, borrowed from the Lehigh Gorge operation, set immediately behind #113.

As a signal fan and regular Amtrak rider, I was not expecting the large crowds that turn out for live steam special excursions, most of witch had video cameras on tripods.

21-02-20 PHOTOS: East Broad Top Winter Fest

The East Broad Top railroad in Rockhill Furnace, PA is a narrow gauge steam tourist railroad that was preserved in 1956 by the scrap merchant that bought the entire railroad after's its closure. The railroad was then run by the Kovalchick family as a steam tourist operation until 2009 when the family decided that they wanted to focus on other things. At that point there was a real risk that the entire operation would be scrapped for real, but a "Friends Of" group managed to raise the money to purchase the property outright in 2020. In 2021, after a good deal of work to bring the physical plant up to a state of minimum repair, the EBT partly re-opened for its traditional Winter Festival offering rides on its Brill gas-electric motor car. Since I had nothing better to do that weekend I put on my coat and hit the road. The full set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

The southern end of the EBT bars the name of Orbisonia, PA, despite the fact that it is across the river in Rockhill Furnace. I arrived to find the small inspection car, M-3, in front of the station while the larger gas electric Brill car, M-1, was still out on an excursion run.

The EBT shares some infrastructure with the adjacent Rockhill Trolley Museum, that has been operating since 1960. Although focused on Central PA cities like Johnstown, the trolley museum draws equipment from all over including former Newark City Subway PCC #6.

Rockhill has perhaps the most modern preserved streetcar in the United States with former San Diego Trolley Siemens–Duewag U2 #1019, seen here next to former York streetcar #163. #1019 was traded to the museum for a number of PCCs and PCC parts so that San Diego could run a historic streetcar service on a downtown loop.

Due to the crowds for the EBT event, Rockhill was running multiple cars that day including former Johnstown trolley #355.

EBT motor car M-1 was discharging at the trolley museum after each of its runs. Unlike most other examples of this type, I believe M-1 was still operating its its original gasoline engine, despite its age and risk of fire. The sound, smell and sight of steam from the cooling system were all indications of this.

Shortly thereafter #163 and Johnstown car #311 also came out to join the party.

The EBT was also doing shop tours and narrow gauge GE 44-ton M-7 was idling outside.

EBT M-1 was running with caboose #28 to accommodate as many riders as possible. Due to Covid and the truncated nature of the Brill car runs, I saw no reason to buy a ticket and ride that day as there would be plenty more and better EBT excursions in the future.

The EBT line parallels US 522 to the former PRR interchange in Mount Union, however since 1960 the line has only been operated to the Colagate Grove picnic area and wye about 3.5 miles north of Rockhill. Today the excursions were only going about 1.5 miles to the line's "summit", but there were ample locations along the route for photos. This location was across from the local hotel on Route 522.

A grade crossing over the driveway of the local water treatment plant allows one to avoid parking on the shoulder of US 522.