The final day of the 2010 NRHS cinvention started with me driving from the Clarion Inn to the parking structure across the street from the Hilton. I had my parking ticket validated then waited to board the bus to the loading area in Duryea. It was a fairly quick bus ride and soon I was on board the first coach behind the open air car. The train had a consist of Reading and Northern 4-6-2 425, tender 425 AT, Lehigh Scenic Railroad SD50 426, open air car 3 "Summer Wind", coaches 305, 302, 304, 301, 303, 309 and 306, observation car 5 "Schuylkill River" and 1 "Black Diamond".
Our train at Duryea.
After the last bus arrived, we were ready for our 8:00 AM departure.
Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Brief HistoryThe Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad, with corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, is a privately-held railroad company serving eight counties in Eastern Pennsylvania. The Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad began serving customers in 1983 as the Blue Mountain & Reading Railroad on the company's original thirteen-mile shortline connecting Temple to Hamburg, Pennsylvania that Conrail had abandoned the line and, as a result, the line came under the control of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In 1990, opportunity knocked and the railroad purchased one hundred thirty miles of railroad from Conrail, known as the "Reading Cluster". The trackage was comprised of former Reading Company track to the heart of the anthracite coalfields in Schuylkill County. As Conrail continued their program of spinning off rail lines that did not fit into its core network, the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern expanded again. In August 1996, RBMN acquired a portion of Conrail's Lehigh Division. Comprised of over one hundred miles of former Lehigh Valley Railroad trackage, the rail line stretches from the southern foot of the Pocono Mountains at Lehighton through Wilkes-Barre and Scranton and onward to Wyoming County. RBMN negotiated overhead trackage rights over the Carbon-County owned 18-mile railroad that runs between Hometown and Jim Thorpe in order to connect its two divisions.
In August 2001, they completed negotiations with NS and Procter & Gamble that resulted in their taking over exclusive service to P&G's largest manufacturing facility at Mehoopany, Pennsylvania. Working with NS, they were able to provide P&G with an excellent service and rate package that ensured the inbound raw material continued to move by rail. As a result, RBMN has enjoyed over four thousand carloads of P&G business each year since signing the agreements. The two Divisions were now connected and the Lehigh Line had a solid business base from both on-line customers and overhead trackage rights revenues. Moreover, the Lehigh Division was a smooth operation as a result of an agreement made in May 2003 to have NS deliver inbound interchange cars to RBMN at Penobscot.
By the time RBMN celebrated its twentieth anniversary in the fall of 2003, it was a very successful shortline. They had taken their Lehigh Division and connected it with the Reading Division. They had built solid traffic bases on both sides of our system, and they had put in place an excellent operation with upgraded locomotives and freight cars. They were gaining a reputation for customer service and attention to detail. Also in 2005, RBMN took a big step forward to expand its passenger excursion business. RBMN had always had a passenger program. But with the acquisition of the Lehigh Line and the new connections between Jim Thorpe and the Lehigh River Gorge, RBMN was now positioned to offer the region a quality tourist attraction.
In May 2005, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway was born. Every weekend and holiday from May to Christmas, hundreds of visitors to Jim Thorpe board our passenger coaches for a ride into the Lehigh Gorge. With a solid freight business in hand and a growing passenger operation underway, Andy Muller decided to begin the renovation of his steam engine, No. 425. At the end of 2007, No. 425 was back in service. In 2008, No. 425 would take thousands of guests on steam excursion trips throughout their operating territory.
Reading Blue Mountain & Northern 4-6-2 425 Brief HistorySteam engine 425 was originally built in January 1928 as the Gulf, Mobile & Northern 425. She later worked for the Gulf Mobile & Ohio 580 before moving to Louisiana as their 2 and later 4. It later became Valley Forge Scenic 425 and finally Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad 425, and she is now currently restored as Reading Blue Mountain 425.
Our Trip
Our trip started at MP 1.3 and we reversed to CP Pitt to reach the mainline; this small piece of track was new mileage for me.
Our train reversed by the yard office, crossed the Lackawanna River and soon we were going forward bound for Jim Thorpe.
Crossing the Lackawanna River.
Rounding the curve as we headed by the junction.
Reading and Northern SD50 5045.
Crossing over the track on which the trip started.
A Reading and Northern map in the open car.
Crossing under the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline on which we rode to Sudbury this past Tuesday. The train passed through Avoca and Dupont before starting up the grade to Mountain Top.
View from the grade.
Climbing the grade.
More views from the climb.
Penobscot Tower, which is actually a Reading and Northern office built to look like a tower.
View looking back at Penobscot.
View of the ridge line through some trees as we start down the grade.
The former Lehigh Valley Railroad engine house in White Haven, built in 1889 and is now the Community Library.
We crossed the Lehigh River and proceeded to the Lehigh Gorge.
A trio of views along the Lehigh River in the Lehigh Gorge.
A view looking back.
Lehigh Gorge.
Looking ahead.
Lehigh River.
The Gorge during our journey today.
At Independence, the Norfolk Southern line enters the Lehigh Gorge and we stopped for a pair of photo runbys.
Reading and Northern 425.
Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad 426, ex. Reading Blue Mountain and Northern 5033, exx. Union Pacific 5033, nee Missouri Pacific 5033 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1984.
The photo line.
Reverse move one.
Photo runby one.
Reverse move two.
Photo runby two.
Reading and Northern 4-6-2 425.
The rock strata in the Lehigh Gorge.
Curving through the Lehigh Gorge.
The Lehigh Gorge.
Crossing the Norfolk Southern line.
Crossing the Lehigh River.
At Nesquehoning Junction was the abandoned Central Railroad of New Jersey PQ Tower as we neared Jim Thorpe.
At Nesquehoning Junction, we also met the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad train before arriving at Jim Thorpe, where we all had until 2:15 PM to explore.
