The Early Reading Rambles

WOW WOW WOW!!!!!

Thanks Charlie! 

Beautiful, aren't they?  Thanks!

Technically, those are FP7A's.

Reading Business Car No. 1o departing the Outer Station is a grand sight, too.

Thanks for posting!

I like it all.  

Hooboy what great scenes of what used to be.

Never heard Catasaqua pronounced "Chatta-sagua" before...

Great stuff!  Now I really need one of those SGL G3s with the matching semi-streamlined cars for the King Coal.

Beautiful Charlie,

Thank you,

Ralph

Great video! Nice to have the look-back in time and hear the beautiful sound of the steam locomotives. The FP7s are really nice to see.

Thanks for posting!

Bob

Great video and sound, Love it!!!!!

Loved the big '49 Buick DynaFlow RoadMaster/Road Hog nosed up to the Lebanon, PA station platform, at 3:49. Incalculably valuable footage!

Enjoyed the preview. 

I am always on the look-out for the two car SGL set to go with my five car set, and see that someone has a new, five-car set for sale on ebay


Jim.

FROM THE WEBMASTER

LEARN HOW TO POST LINKS HERE!!

When you just lazily paste a HUGE web address into a post, it messes up the page formatting for everyone who reads the thread. That is NOT how it is done!

If this keep up I am just going to start deleting the offending posts instead of fixing them.

CLICK HERE to learn how to post links.

Isn't that town pronounced KAT-a-saw-qua?

It's hard to describe in print, but I have also heard it pronounced Kat-a-Saw-qua. The first and third syllables are slightly emphasized. It sounds smoother than KAT-a-saw-qua.

Of course, this is Pennsylvania "Dutch" country, and pronunciations (and names) have more variations than a big Marx collection.

Business car 10 is at Strasburg. You can ride it on select days.

  I grew up along the Reading RR in Pennsylvania.  I knew George Gerhart. His older brother is my uncle.  I remember George taking pictures of trains in our town, Robesonia, PA. 

  I also had another Uncle who was a telegrapher for the Reading at the Robesonia station.  sometimes he worked Lebanon, Womelsdorf, Wernersville and Sinking Springs stations.  Needless to say I spent many hours of my youth watching trains. 

  Robesonia was a water stop for thirst steam engines. Just east of town, about 1/2 mile or so from the station, was a street crossing.  Freight trains would stop before the crossing, disconnect from the freight cars and then continue up a slight grade to a water spout located by the station. The engines would take on water, return to the freight cars, reconnect, and be on their way.  This was done so as not to block traffic at the street crossing.

  It was during the summers of 1948 to 1950 when a friend and I made our first attempt to ask for a ride in the cab of a Reading 2100 at this water stop. I was between ten and twelve years of age.  We thought hiding in the bushes along the tracks would give us the cover we needed until the right moment.  When the train stopped we made ourselves known by yelling up to the engineer, "Hey Mister, can we ride in the cab".  The first time we tried our little stunt there was a moment of silence from the crew. What if they knew our parents! For me that would mean the end of summer as I knew it.  On the other hand It couldn't hurt to ask. It was a moment of fear.  At the same time it was exciting.

  To our relief they accepted the request.  However, there was one more obstacle to over come.

  How does a small kid climb aboard a 2100 from along the road bed?  We were too small to climb onto the first step.  With the help of the fireman we were lifted onto the steps.  From there we climbing into a different world.  The smell of burning coal and hot oil.  My friend accidently stepped on a button on the cab floor.  This made the fire box doors opened.  The heat and sound of steam hissing scared the day lights out of us while the crew laughed at our expressions. 

  Then came biggest question of all.  I asked if I could pull the throttle.  Before I knew it I was sitting in the engineers lap trying to following his instructions.  I  pulled the throttle with all my might. It would not move.  Suddenly there was a large hand over mine crushing my fingers against the warm steel lever.  Without a sound the 2100 began to move. Then as the wheels turned and quartered the sound of the 2100 come to life.

  This was the beginning of many cab rides on the Reading.

  I never talking about this with my dad until I was in my twenties.  And, after testing the waters, he too related to his childhood memories of years past.  How lucky we were. Those memories stuck with me my entire life. 

  My first model train was an HO scale Varney Dockside, a Christmas present from Santa about 1950.  Today I model in P48 D&RGW standard and marrow gauge circa 1939, I do railroad photography, and meet regularly with a great gang of rail enthusiast.

  Over the years I rode in the cabs and shoveled coal In engines #38, a Baldwin 2-8-0, in Livonia, NY., East Broad Top #15 a 2-8-0 at Orbesonia, PA.

  I had cab rides in Steamtown's CP #2317 4-6-2, D&RGW Diesel #403 through Royal Gorge, CO. and just missed a chance to Ride in the cab Of #90 at Strasburg, PA.  On a visit to new Zealand I operated the whistle during a ride on the Kingston Flyer.

  I guess you could say I was bitten by a railroad bug at an early age.  I don't regret a moment of it.  I only wish I could have done more. 

Dave Thompson

Henrietta, NY

Wowak,

  since you've done so much work and research - What would you say is the most passable Reading Co Pacific available right now?  Barring that, what would you buy to make a passable Reading pacific?

Weaver has released both the G1SA and G2SA Reading Pacifics, as well as the streamlined Crusader.  SGL offered the G3.  So the whole run of Reading pacifics is available in O-scale.  Nothing else really "stands in," the wooten firebox and headlight placement make them very distinctive locomotives.  The Williams USRA heavy pacific shares it's basic dimensions closely enough with a G1SB, but would require serious rebuilding to ever fool anyone as a Reading prototype.

I'm glad you guys like the preview video above, which I now realize is entirely too long! Even so, it's only a preview and the DVD is available with a lot more footage. Volume Two covers George's film of Reading freight service in the early 1950's.

Also, in 1957, George experimented with an anamorphic (CinemaScope) lens and shot a T1 double headed freight and a PRR Ore Train on the Mt. Carmel line. That footage is in our "Classic Pennsy Widescreen" DVD. It is formatted for wide screen TVs but also works on regular TVs.

Dave, I enjoyed your comments about George. He was a great guy.

-Jim Herron

Herron Rail Video

Dave, thank you for the reflections of a wayward youth.  At the same age I made a similar request of a PRSL steam crew in the Ocean City Gardens but was turned down . 

I met Mr. Gerhart through his long time friend Ark Acker and Art's friend Bill Luck.

It was neat to hear the stories the three men would talk about. They belong to a club called Iron Horse Ramblers. I was told by Acker that they were the guy's that were responsible for starting the Reading Company Ramblers between 1959 - 64.

I use to talk to Mr. Gerhart by phone many times through out the year. Racking up the phone bill. Mr. Gerhart lived in FA. in his later years. Now sadly all three men are gone. But their memories lives on through stories they once told.  Bill Luck was one of the first 15 men who started the Wanamaker Kempton and Southern tourist operation. Art Acker worked for the PRR Schuylkill as Train Master and later years as Boss of all operation for Conrail on that line. He help Andrew J. Muller, Jr. start the Blue Mountain and Reading in 1983. They were a great bunch of guy's.  

Hi Len,

Yes, the Gerhart PRR films are in "Classic Pennsy Widescreen". The passenger train was pulled by E-6 Atlantics and the freights were pulled by H-9 Consolidations. He chased both and also got some nice shots of PRR facilities in the Reading, PA area.

Did you know that George experimented with an anamorphic (CinemaScope) lens? In 1957, he chased a PRR ore train headed by two I1 Decapods and pushed by an A-B-B-A set of F units en-route to Mt. Carmel with this lens. He also shot several scenes of a Reading freight powered by two T-1 4-8-4's.  

It was this footage that gave me the idea to create a widescreen 16 x 9  video from regular 4 x 3 format film.  The effect created is that the train action appears larger or closer to the camera than in normal viewing.  

Thanks for asking.

-Jim Herron

Me either. 

I've heard the locals call it "KAT-a-SAW-kwa" or "Catty" for short.

Hi Len-

Yes, George's trolley films are in "Traction in Pennsylvania", a program we released many years ago and is now on DVD.

As for pronunciations, we do the best we can and we get most of them right but occasionally, we miss. However, I've heard many names slaughtered by local residents over the years. Consider "Versailles" Ky where it is pronounced ver Sails by Kentuckians but most outside of that area would use the French pronunciation. Our narrator, Danny Harmon, lives in Tampa, FL and I try to keep him in tune with local name variations from other places. And Danny is a professional voice over talent who works full time for the local Fox TV station. But it isn't just our narrator as I've heard the same thing about just about all the other video producers out there.

It isn't just vocal pronunciations that get messed up, either. A few days ago, I saw a video clip of PRR T-1 footage by another producer. When the engine's whistle blew, they used a steamboat style sound like a Hancock three chime instead of a PRR whistle. Made me laugh.

-JH