Using the READING RR water tower on my branch line.
This water tower, located at Gordon, Pa survived into the 1950's.
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There were (and maybe still are) a few along the Reading & Columbia Branch. It met the Lebanon Valley Branch at Sinking Spring west of Reading and meandered south to Lancaster and Marietta/Columbia.
Hi Guys,
You can stll see part of the foundation of the water tower at Gordon. Nice job an the tower.
Jim
The water tower at Gordon seems to be becoming quite iconic. Whenever I eventually build a layout of my own, I intend to model the Shamokin division from Locust Summit to St. Nicholas, with Gordon as a focal point.
Gordon was the last stand for K-1 2-10-2's and then T-1 4-8-4's. They pushed trains over the 2.6% westbound grade to Locust Summit. Some N-1 2-8-8-2's were assigned there, too.
T-1's handed Iron Horse Rambles over to FP7A diesels at Tamaqua. T-1's were too wide at the cylinders for the bridge across the Susquehanna at Sunbury. While the FP7A's took Rambles over the Catawissa Branch to West Milton, T-1's ran light to Gordon for servicing. They were turned and ran in reverse to West Milton, where they coupled onto the rear of the train for the return to Reading.
Originally Posted by ReadingFan:
Gordon was the last stand for K-1 2-10-2's and then T-1 4-8-4's. They pushed trains over the 2.6% westbound grade to Locust Summit. Some N-1 2-8-8-2's were assigned there, too.
T-1's handed Iron Horse Rambles over to FP7A diesels at Tamaqua. T-1's were too wide at the cylinders for the bridge across the Susquehanna at Sunbury. While the FP7A's took Rambles over the Catawissa Branch to West Milton, T-1's ran light to Gordon for servicing. They were turned and ran in reverse to West Milton, where they coupled onto the rear of the train for the return to Reading.
I was on one of the Rambles that did exactly that.
I made about 10 rambles before I left for the US army.
Originally Posted by ReadingFan:
Gordon was the last stand for K-1 2-10-2's and then T-1 4-8-4's. They pushed trains over the 2.6% westbound grade to Locust Summit. Some N-1 2-8-8-2's were assigned there, too.
That's exactly why I want to model that section of the Shamokin division, I can run big Reading steam. I need to do some research into exactly when the PRR started (and stopped) running over Reading track to Shenandoah (my home town.)
On a related note, the PRR freight depot in Shenandoah is still there. It's owned by a private company and used for storage, but recently the owners have been doing some structural stabilization, and have repainted the depot in PRR colors.
I snapped these shots when I was home over Memorial Day weekend to ride the 765 Horseshoe Curve special:
Heres a period picture of the freight depot:
Here's how it looked in 2008:
Shenandoah was also served by the Reading and the Lehigh Valley, but their stations are long gone (although the area where the LV station was is still a vacant lot.)
