Return Of Big Steam To The Lehigh Division! Reading T-1 2102 Steam Train Iron Horse Rambles (2024)

READ:
Summer 2024 brought about the long awaited return of big steam power onto the Lehigh Division, which hasn't seen a steam engine of this size in many a decade. Reading & Northern ran two of it's famous Iron Horse Rambles out of the new Nesquehoning Campus station up to Pittston / Tunkhannock. The vastly different gradient profile of this route necessitated some interesting changes from the way the Reading - Jim Thorpe steam trips are run. The 2102 stops at Penobscot (Mountain Top) northbound to pick up a pair of EMD SD50 diesels for dynamic braking downhill into Pittston, and on the way back south to take on water.

Join us and follow along as we chase the 2102 on this route. Watch and listen as she fights her way up grades reaching 1.4% with heavy 16 to 19 car passenger trains. Clips were shot across both trips, allowing a seamless compilation organized by location. Many thanks to Andy Muller and the steam crew at RBMN. So sit back, relax, and turn up those speakers / headphones =)

Table of Contents:
0:00 - Intro (Still shots at Nesquehoning)
0:09 - Jim Thorpe Junction
1:55 - Glen Onoko (Lehigh Gorge)
3:44 - White Haven (Main Street)
4:52 - White Haven (Middleburg Road)
6:15 - Crestwood (Church Road)
6:45 - Crestwood Siding
7:57 - Mountain Top (Diesels back down onto train)
8:51 - Solomon's Gap (Diesels)
11:16 - Laurel Run (Diesels)
12:20 - Pittston, New Street & Railroad Street (Diesels)
13:19 - Pacing, Duryea Yard
18:01 - Falls, PA
19:10 - Pittston Station
22:24 - Pittston, Railroad Street
24:07 - Pittston, Oak Street
25:33 - Laurel Run
27:00 - Pacing into Mountain Top
28:17 - Mountain Top (Penobscot) Departures
32:49 - White Haven (Library)
33:40 - Jim Thorpe Junction
35:57 - Nesquehoning (Elm Street & Mermon Avenue)

For more information about the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad and their passenger operations, please visit the following link: https://www.rbmnrr-passenger.com/