Reading RR T-1 on the C&O Greenbrier Div 1971

Thanks for posting this Dave. I ordered the books about the Greenbriar Division of the C&O Railroad, and has several very good pictures, as well as, the whole story of this line......An old C&O Road Foreman, told me about that being one of his very early stints, when going into management for the C&O late 40's early 50's. He told me about this being a go up to Durbin, from Hinton, then returning the next evening. Some of the crews would strap a canoe or john boat on the running boards of a diesel, or inside the tender if running steam, and do some fishing in the evening upon arrival, as well as, early fishing the next morning before heading back to Hinton.....All in all, I bet that would have been a sweet heart of a job to work........Hard to believe that K2-3 Mikado's, K4 Kanawha, and H-5/6's was the norm of Steam Motive Power in the 40's/50's, on this short line from Hinton, Wv....

That would have been a great ride to take, and being pulled by one of the Reading 4-8-4's, would have made it that much better............... 

Thanks for posting this Dave! I know that Reading Company ran the T-1 excursions during the 1960's and early 70's. Not sure where all the T-1 excursions ran, however a lot were around Reading PA.

FYI; Reading had 30, 4-8-4, T-1's in their fleet during the 1950's. I think only 4 Reading T-1's survive currently.

Lee Fritz

You are correct, there is a Sunday Morning video on 2102 when she ran the tours for 1 year on lease. 2012 was leased to D&H, Western Maryland and other companies before she was sold to Andy Muellar at Blue Mountain and Reading.

I actually went looking for the roundhouse where they keep 2102, as friends told me that you can look in the window and see the great beast at rest.  Now with the news that 2102 is re-awakening, no need for stealth.

By the way, the T-1s are magnificent engines, I saw one bring Santa Claus to town around 1957.  It was an enormous breathing, smoking beast with smells and sounds that are burned into a small child's memory.

The T-1 was a big loco....turning her on the Y ar Durbin was a job!!!

On the trip South between Durbin and Cass she spread the rails and we sat for 30 minutes until they got things sorted out. Wish I had owned a camera back then. 

Dave, during 1971, the tender was lettered READING.  I thought I had seen a picture of the tender lettered GREENBRIER, any idea or is my memory and imagination playing tricks on me.  I do know for certain there was at least one baggage car painted GREENBRIER SCENIC that wasn't that way on the early runs.

This is the first time I've heard of this excursion. I was in college in 1971 and didn't have interest in trains back then. Must have been a great trip.

1971: Round trip Cass to Durbin - $3.00

2023: Round trip Cass to Durbin - $79

Ken

Why do prices rise over time like that? My cable bill keeps going up, my township school property taxes are over $2000 now yearly. My local amusement park charged 50 cents to park early 80's through 1984, now it's $30 to park your car. Our turnpike tolls keep going up. A restaurant near me raised the prices of it's menu items including steak and lobster three times this year. Inflation is bad now. You can ride behind the 2102 at the Reading and Northern now, it was inactive from Oct 1991 until last year when it reentered service. Andy Muller bought it in 1986 for his Blue Mountain and Reading operation after it pulled four excursions on Conrail in Sept. 1985. Andy also ran it on Conrail in fall 1987 and May-Oct 1988 and Hoboken, NJ to Port Jervis, NY in 1987.

@Robert K posted:

Why do prices rise over time like that?

One word - INFLATION.

It has gotten VERY bad over the last three years.

@Robert K posted:

Why do prices rise over time like that?

Robert,

There's nothing new here, either with the world around us, or in particular our hobby.

Prices rise because of the expansion of value that comes out of a growing economy.  And as has been the case forever as long as our wages and salaries keep rising accordingly we'll stay ahead of the price increases and enjoy the fruits of that expansion (more jobs, more goods and services, increased prosperity)

The biggest problem occurs when they don't keep pace, as is the case recently since the pandemic, and as was a similar situation back in the 1970's.

Be thankful for all those good years between the 70's and the pandemic, and hope that things get back under control here soon.  They may already be doing so.

Mike

BTW -- Alternatively, if you want to see a real catastrophe ask for them to go down continuously instead.  Removing value from the economy day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, and year-to-year going forward is the surest way to make us all poor (remember the great depression).