Reading & Northern 425: Lehigh Gorge Blues

In August 2020, after a long battle with the borough of Jim Thorpe over taxes, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway once again began carrying passengers along the Lehigh River. To celebrate the occasion, Reading & Northern 425 was brought in to pull the excursions on reopening weekend. I jumped at the opportunity to visit the R&N again and arrived just in time to catch the final Saturday train and all of Sunday's trains. The blue pacific did not disappoint, and the sound of her exhaust loudly reverberating off the walls of gorge as she hurdled along the double-track line looking for all the world like a proper 1930s express train was an experience to excite any railfan.