The Reading & Northern Railroad announced this week that T-1 class steam locomotive 2102 will lead four ‘Iron Horse Rambles’ starting in May. Built in 1945 by the Reading Company at their shops in Reading, 2102 is seen here at Reading & Northern’s shops in Port Clinton. The locomotive has undergone a lengthy $2.4 million restoration since being placed in storage in 1991.
Courtesy Reading & Northern Railroad
‘Iron Horse Rambles’ with T-1 class 2102 will kick off in May
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A vintage steam locomotive with roots in the anthracite region will be hauling passenger excursions for the first time in over 30 years beginning this spring and summer following a restoration effort that cost over $2.4 million.
The Reading & Northern Railroad announced that T-1 class steam locomotive 2102 will lead four “Iron Horse Rambles” starting in May.
The trips, which take their name from legendary excursions offered decades ago by the former Reading Company, will will be offered on May 28, July 2, Aug. 13, and Sept. 3, with five classes of seating being offered.
The all-day excursions will travel from Reading to Jim Thorpe and return, with a 3.5-hour layover at Jim Thorpe and a photo run-by for railfans on the return to Reading.
“This is an opportunity for riders to exit the train and take pictures and videos of the train passing by a photo location,” Reading & Northern Passenger Department General Manager Matt Fisher explained in the release.
“It is very similar to the famed Reading Company Iron Horse Rambles of the late 1950s and early 1960s.”
History
Built in 1945 by the Reading Company at their shops in Reading, 2102 is one of four surviving T-1 class locomotives, company officials said. It hauled coal trains for the Reading until being set aside for use in its Iron Horse Rambles program at the end of the steam era in the late 1950s.
Popularly dubbed the Reading Railroad, the Reading Company connected Philadelphia and Reading with the anthracite region and beyond, carrying coal, freight and passengers. Its assets were sold to Conrail in 1976 and surviving lines have passed on to successors.
Reading & Northern, meanwhile, was founded in 1983 and has developed a substantial freight and passenger excursion business through acquisition of railroad lines throughout the region, including some former Reading Company trackage.
Locomotive 2102 spent several years with Steam Tours in Ohio until Reading & Northern owner and CEO Andy Muller, Jr. purchased it in 1986 and operated the engine between Temple and South Hamburg in Berks County.
Locomotive 2102 was placed in storage in 1991. In 2016, work began on rebuilding the locomotive and bringing it back to service on the Reading & Northern.
Excursion tickets
Tickets are available for sale on the railroad’s website, www.rbmnrr-passenger.com, or by phone at 610-562-2102. Ticket pricing will be per person, regardless of age:
• Standard coach seating — $99,
• Crown class coach seating — $110,
• Pullman Car private rooms — $299 per room for up to two people,
• First class dome car seating — $199,
• First class lounge car seating — $199, and
• First class lounge observation car seating — $210.
A growing railroad empire
Based in Port Clinton, Berks County, Reading & Northern (formally known as Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern) is a privately held railroad company serving over 70 customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties: Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill, and Wyoming. The company employs nearly 300 people.
In addition to a thriving freight business, Reading & Northern operates steam- and diesel-powered passenger excursion services, including trips between Reading and Jim Thorpe and its popular Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway rides. Over 225,000 people rode the railroad’s excursion trains in 2021, breaking previous records.
