Big post this week...
Saturday, May 5 was the run of the "Hopper Jet" mixed train excursion. Sponsored by the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley chapter, NRHS and hosted by the Reading & Northern RR, the trip covered some trackage not ridden by passengers since the 1990s.
Seen above, far left, is one of the former Lehigh Valley "Pups" SW8s built specifically to handle the routines of coal mine traffic in this part of PA. Most of the route would be former Reading Lines. The red passenger cars are the executive fleet stored at the corporate offices in Port Clinton, PA. On the right is the diesel shop.
After a quick run south to Reading and a repositioning of the locomotives, the train returns north passing huge blocks of Anthracite in Port Clinton. Reading used banjo signals well into the later years of operation, An inactive banjo is passed by our train.
The S curve in Atlas. Three pups hauled 10 active service hoppers and a Reading caboose along with 4 coaches and 2 open air cars.
Winding our way through the Tamaqua yard, where former Lehigh New England lines once met the Reading.
Photo rugby time! Each of the lines shown here in Mahanoy Junction were used for runbys during the stop.
Only two units ran this time, the third being behind, keeping the coaches out of the way.
The Reading & Northern operates on about 400 or so miles of track in Eastern PA, utilizing heritage lines of nearly every railroad that came through. Hopper markings look very Reading-like while the diamond shaped herald touts the Road of Anthracite, a Lackawanna phrase.
Blaschak coal loader in Mahanoy City, PA. The black hill behind it is a culm bank, waste coal that isn't commercially useful. As time and technology change, the usefulness of waste coal changes, and energy can still be produced from it.
A full-train rugby at Mahanoy City so the locomotives can be re-positioned out of the way of the riders.
That does it for me. Next week, I am off on a chase of the Santa Fe 3751, so I will not be near a computer to update right away. As always, feel free to share your shots of the real world on this thread.