new rail service near Reading PA

So it seems Reading & Northern is starting passenger service from Reading to Jim Thorpe. That's not that bad of an idea. I mean it must of worked in the days of the Reading and CNJ so why shouldn't it work now? (I only say CNJ because Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk) is along the CNJ mainline)

If the new line actually comes to be I will be surprised.  The cross county line that is supposed to run on the Trenton Cutoff, has been in the planning stages for way too many decades.  And if the talkers have their way, another decade or three will pass before the line is realized.  Bah-humbug.  

Hey Dan,

I think the new line for Reading & Blue Mountain will happen very soon. The owner of the Reading & Northern is not one for too much talk, he is a man of action from what I know.

If you are talking about Septa, they might be more talk then action.

Lee Fritz

Lee, if the government, local or federal have anything to say about it, the talk will go on forever.  They will make a perfectly sane person, insane.

When I was doing work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, we would have job meetings once a week.  We, the contractors knew what we were doing, including our sub-contractors.  The Art Museum staff, on the other hand, talked so much at these meetings and asked so many ridiculous questions, we began to question ourselves after a bit.  

RaritanRiverRailroadFan4 posted:

So it seems Reading & Northern is starting passenger service from Reading to Jim Thorpe. That's not that bad of an idea. I mean it must of worked in the days of the Reading and CNJ so why shouldn't it work now? (I only say CNJ because Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk) is along the CNJ mainline)

Over 60 years ago there was trolley service between Reading & Hamburg PA not sure if it was on the Reading or Pennsy line as they both had tracks about a quarter mile apart in that area.

I think it would make good sense to have passenger rail service again. The only group to oppose it, that I can think of, could be Barta(bus)service from Reading.

Lee Fritz

I lived in Reading for years and always bemoaned the lack of rail service to Philly.  As to service to Jim Thorp, I am surprised that a traffic study shows enough commuters in that direction to support a private rail line, but the R & N has a history of doing unexpected things successfully.  I look forward to seeing this endeavor come together, although I no longer live in the area to utilize it.

JZ

Two things,

1. Rail service from Reading to Philly would have to done by Septa and NS with existing tracks or built from the ground up.

2. Reading and Nothern already owns the tracks from Reading Going North,that they plan on using for passenger service, so they can run trains at anytime and have been from Port Clinton Pa to Jim Thorpe for the last few years. They could use the 425, diesels, RDC and 2102 when finished. This will be a track speed operation not tourist railroad speed.

Back in the 80's the Blue Mountain and Reading ran tourist trains at 40 mph regularly.

toddstrick posted:

Two things,

1. Rail service from Reading to Philly would have to done by Septa and NS with existing tracks or built from the ground up.

2. Reading and Nothern already owns the tracks from Reading Going North,that they plan on using for passenger service, so they can run trains at anytime and have been from Port Clinton Pa to Jim Thorpe for the last few years. They could use the 425, diesels, RDC and 2102 when finished. This will be a track speed operation not tourist railroad speed.

Back in the 80's the Blue Mountain and Reading ran tourist trains at 40 mph regularly. 

That is something I forgot about, the owner of Reading & Northern already owns the track from Temple to Hamburg that was used for the Blue Mountain & Reading passenger service in the 1980's. However I think the line that they used back then was the old Pennsy line from Temple(Tuckerton Ave.) to Hamburg PA. I have a license plate with Blue Mountain & Reading on it that I got in Hamburg one time when I was up there a few years back.

Reading & Northern RR has plenty of diesel power to use on that run if they want to as they bought some older diesel engines and refurbished them.

RDC's if they are used would most likely have to be rebuilt unless they are bought new as the former Reading Company RDC's are in very dire need of rebuilding as they have  rust issues.

Lee Fritz

Didn't 2102 run an excursion on SEPTA? The only thing that gave me this thought is the fact that RBM&N interchanges with SEPTA, or at least has access to its trackage, and this picture of 2102 and GP30 #5513 under wires.

Is that 30th Street Station ?   The last time I had known of 2102 running an excursion on SEPTA was way back in 1993 I believe.  It ran on the Lansdale/Doylestown line.

Railfan Brody posted:

The only thing that gave me this thought is the fact that RBM&N interchanges with SEPTA, or at least has access to its trackage,

RBMN has no connections with SEPTA trackage. Their trackage (Both the main and the Temple-Hamburg line) end at the respective junctions (CP Belt and CP West Laurel, I believe) with NS's Allentown line in North Reading.

The shot of 2102 and Reading GP30 at 30th St. was probably the Zoo trip in June of 1988. From South Hamburg to Philly and return. One of 2102's final off line trips was from Lansdale to Oreland and return on SEPTA in October, 1991. All photos of 2102 under steam while owned by the BM&R were taken between 1985-1991. It hasn't operated since October 1991. BM&R stopped running excursions on Conrail after 1988. Looks like 2102 is coming back to life soon maybe next year. The new North Reading station would great to originate a 2102 excursion from to give you the extra mileage south of Port Clinton. The only way there can be excursions on NS through Reading is if 611 or Amtrak does it. Amtrak just had two Autumn Expresses through Reading end of October between NY and Harrisburg and return.

Here is 2102 in the R&N Steam Shop

And here she is on a new mural facing east (toward Mount Penn and Neversink Mountain) along Penn Street in downtown Reading, PA. Both bright vertical lines are angles in the walls.

spwills posted:

Railfan Brody posted:

The only thing that gave me this thought is the fact that RBM&N interchanges with SEPTA, or at least has access to its trackage,

RBMN has no connections with SEPTA trackage. Their trackage (Both the main and the Temple-Hamburg line) end at the respective junctions (CP Belt and CP West Laurel, I believe) with NS's Allentown line in North Reading.

I thought they did because of this video...