The Reading and Northern is one of the best run smaller railroads. They rebuilt much of the Reading Railroad service north of Reading. Under Conrail it was never taken seriously. The current management built up their traffic by providing good reliable service to as many local industries that they could. They are also not afraid to run an extensive passenger service. They run regular excursions over many of their routes. I was a little surprised to see how much smoke was coming off the engines in the video. In general they keep their engines in great shape and I do not usually see that much smoke coming off their diesel engines. They also do run some steam trains and these diesels look more like one of their steam engines.
Just as interesting is the owner. He started out as a successful numismatist out of college, who bought up a piece of the old Reading Railroad that was a Conrail discard and built it into a quite successful operation.
My prediction......... NRBU north reading- buffalo NY BUNR buffalo ny- north reading -will switch Northumberland Pa, lock haven pa, maybe driftwood pa, and Olean NY in between north reading and buffalo. These two trains would be a good supply chain solution.
I've ridden their excursion train before. It stood out to me over others because they sell engine seats as well! Conductor let that slip when we arrived early, I made sure to get them. There's only two available for each run so if you want that experience, be sure to grab it! Excursions are out of Jim Thorpe
Two other interesting ones that in my opinion are unique and have cool livery are the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad based in Michigan City, IN and the Rock Island Railroad based in Hernando, MS.
Loved the drone shots Trains21. 2 things I noticed in the video I'd like to point out is, the Muller sign by the Coxton Road crossing was changed to Bloom a few years back, and as far as I know, was never a namesake for the yard by any crews past or present. Also, the Scranton Branch has been renamed to the Taylor Branch as of a few weeks ago. Thanks, and keep up the quality content!
As a local who had many cab rides I can say that the yard used to be a dump. The railroad only fixed it up when they started passanger runs the bridge originally had a 4 track bridge with 2 other bridges not even a mile away. One still stands today the other was torn down. The RBMN definitely has a lot to offer and I definitely recommend checking it out to all the people who haven’t yet and as far as cab rides I can say that the crews are very friendly and they also have told me alot of history about the Coxton yard area the coxton yard used to be a hump yard before RBMN days but I can go on and on about this but I am pretty sure I said a lot aready. Amazing video :)
What makes the R&N unique and interesting isnt just the amount of freight they move as a private company, but their ability to also provide outstanding passenger service as well. Not only do they offer regular diesel passenger service pulled by their standard EMDs or their ex-NS F-Units, but they also offer BUDD car service and the occasional steam excursion powered by either ex-Reading T-1 2102 or ex-GM&N light pacific 425, both of which are meticulously maintained and kept in pristine condition. Between the effort they put into keeping everything looking nice from their stations to their passenger cars, their dedication to reliability, and their willingness to do things for the communities they serve, the Reading and Northern is an overall class act and probably one of the best-run railroads in the U.S.. Andy Muller and his employees should be proud of what they have accomplished!
The upper buffalo line would be a perfect fit on the r&N system, via the shamokin line. NRBU- north reading- buffalo ny. BUNR- buffalo NY- north reading.
Its a great freight and tourist RR and very railfan friendly . The lines have some great scenery to either watch as you ride or film. I'm pretty lucky to live fairly close to it. Great job on the video.
I believe traction motors have a pinion gear.. So I suppose it IS just 'a matter of a pinion' !! All seriousness aside, I only like 'point to point' modelRRing (like the real one)..so this would be a great track plan, scenery, and Ops for such, if I had my own place right now...Dang !
The Reading & Northern is easily my favorite rr. Their steam excursions are easily the best in the nation and put on an absolute show every time, and I love the liveries on their diesel locomotives too
I am surprised that given the topic of your video and all the commentary, I don't recall you getting into much discussion of the unusual "Cryo-tran" insulated / "refrigerated" cars seen on the R&N Fast Freight consist. Does Anyone know what industry these cars serve and what perishable (food? or medical?) product is in them? Also, I couldn't tell from the fast moving train and angle of the shots....were these Cryo-tran cars the original CO2 operated units, or did they have (retrofitted) mechanical refrigeration units on one end of the cars? Just curious....
Used to work for a shortline that shipped wine east from Napa in California in those cryos. I believe somewhere on the R&N is one of the destinations for those loaded cryos.
Most SD50's used EMD's 645 pushed well beyond it's limits. Too much boring, along with injector setups that would keep getting knock out whack. The oldest units tend to have issues with internal oil leakage becuase of this, hence the blue smoke. Later SD50's saw an updated 645 that helped, and some the last received ealry test version of the 710. But the ealry to mid...yea, they get smokey these days. EMD just bored those old blocks too thin. The later shots at then end..well, that could, and looks, more like they were just blowing out carbon after a long idle., but also the fact that SD50's still have very touchy injector settings.
😊And the later shots were highlighted by the angle of the sun. Also, if I recall correctly, they were working hard ascending a fair grade up from near river level.
Ce qui stupéfie les Européens, surtout les spécialistes des infrastructures, ce sont ces voies typiquement américaines de plain-pied avec l'environnement, sans plateforme propre ni véritable couche de ballast... Comment les Américains évitent-ils les ripages ?
Gotta love the Reading! Wish other roads had survived in a more original manner such as this.
I agree. I used to live next to the Toledo, Peoria and Western railway.
The Reading and Northern is one of the best run smaller railroads. They rebuilt much of the Reading Railroad service north of Reading. Under Conrail it was never taken seriously. The current management built up their traffic by providing good reliable service to as many local industries that they could. They are also not afraid to run an extensive passenger service. They run regular excursions over many of their routes. I was a little surprised to see how much smoke was coming off the engines in the video. In general they keep their engines in great shape and I do not usually see that much smoke coming off their diesel engines. They also do run some steam trains and these diesels look more like one of their steam engines.
The opening shot reminded me of looking at my old HO scale layout! Beautiful shots!
Far more interesting than all the other Class 1's.
Just as interesting is the owner. He started out as a successful numismatist out of college, who bought up a piece of the old Reading Railroad that was a Conrail discard and built it into a quite successful operation.
I like the old railroad bridge with the 3 tracks. you can tell it had another couple of tracks at one time. I also like the wig wag
My prediction.........
NRBU north reading- buffalo NY
BUNR buffalo ny- north reading
-will switch Northumberland Pa, lock haven pa, maybe driftwood pa, and Olean NY in between north reading and buffalo. These two trains would be a good supply chain solution.
I've ridden their excursion train before. It stood out to me over others because they sell engine seats as well! Conductor let that slip when we arrived early, I made sure to get them. There's only two available for each run so if you want that experience, be sure to grab it! Excursions are out of Jim Thorpe
Two other interesting ones that in my opinion are unique and have cool livery are the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad based in Michigan City, IN and the Rock Island Railroad based in Hernando, MS.
I agree, Southshore and R&N would be my top 2 most unique railroads.
This railroad is always expanding
Loved the drone shots Trains21.
2 things I noticed in the video I'd like to point out is, the Muller sign by the Coxton Road crossing was changed to Bloom a few years back, and as far as I know, was never a namesake for the yard by any crews past or present. Also, the Scranton Branch has been renamed to the Taylor Branch as of a few weeks ago.
Thanks, and keep up the quality content!
Just spent a week on this line. Funny that this is in my feed now. Such a cool railroad!
You gotta come to North Reading yard at night man lots of action to see, I’d love to show ya around
Thanks. Send me your email address
Would love to see RBMN black boxcars in HO scale.
Short answer: no.
But that working wig-wag....now THAT is very interesting, and quite rare.
As a local who had many cab rides I can say that the yard used to be a dump. The railroad only fixed it up when they started passanger runs the bridge originally had a 4 track bridge with 2 other bridges not even a mile away. One still stands today the other was torn down. The RBMN definitely has a lot to offer and I definitely recommend checking it out to all the people who haven’t yet and as far as cab rides I can say that the crews are very friendly and they also have told me alot of history about the Coxton yard area the coxton yard used to be a hump yard before RBMN days but I can go on and on about this but I am pretty sure I said a lot aready. Amazing video :)
Excellent video AC.
Many thanks!
Nice, some of the best shot and edited RR videos I've seen.
Thank you.
What makes the R&N unique and interesting isnt just the amount of freight they move as a private company, but their ability to also provide outstanding passenger service as well. Not only do they offer regular diesel passenger service pulled by their standard EMDs or their ex-NS F-Units, but they also offer BUDD car service and the occasional steam excursion powered by either ex-Reading T-1 2102 or ex-GM&N light pacific 425, both of which are meticulously maintained and kept in pristine condition. Between the effort they put into keeping everything looking nice from their stations to their passenger cars, their dedication to reliability, and their willingness to do things for the communities they serve, the Reading and Northern is an overall class act and probably one of the best-run railroads in the U.S.. Andy Muller and his employees should be proud of what they have accomplished!
Interesting video, thanks a lot!
Andy wants to buy the Lehigh Line, ExCNJ from Jim Thorpe to Allentown. NS won’t sell but want to lease it. So far nothing’s happening.
The upper buffalo line would be a perfect fit on the r&N system, via the shamokin line. NRBU- north reading- buffalo ny. BUNR- buffalo NY- north reading.
O yea with these trains switching out Northumberland pa, loch haven pa, possibly driftwood pa, and switching the yard in Olean new york too.
I hope they never sell out to G&W.
Or any other company...
It is Pittston Yard. Not Duryea Yard or Muller Yard. However, most crews refer to it as Coxton still.
People call it what they want to call it. I know where they mean either way.
Sad to say but Yes 😞
Don't ALCO's smoke less than those EMD's?
very good Joke
lovely railfanning
Yes
Its a great freight and tourist RR and very railfan friendly . The lines have some great scenery to either watch as you ride or film. I'm pretty lucky to live fairly close to it. Great job on the video.
Just read the book you won't be disappointed.
Very interesting RR. I like how they really powered o power at the end there.
I believe traction motors have a pinion gear.. So I suppose it IS just 'a matter of a pinion' !!
All seriousness aside, I only like 'point to point' modelRRing (like the real one)..so this would be a great track plan, scenery, and Ops for such, if I had my own place right now...Dang !
Hey AC , nice photography , like watching a movie , thanksfor allu do.
The Reading & Northern is easily my favorite rr. Their steam excursions are easily the best in the nation and put on an absolute show every time, and I love the liveries on their diesel locomotives too
Sad to see but Yes😢
Holy smoke (pun intended). Those SD50s were trying to Alcos. Either that or they stored up carbon from idling. Do they always throw that much exhaust?
I'm literally here for the pieces
Ahhh - Da Junction!
Is there a reason why they are not allowed to go South when they are clearly ready?
YEAHHH WIG WAG
They are a classy outfit, for sure :)
Well done.
I am surprised that given the topic of your video and all the commentary, I don't recall you getting into much discussion of the unusual "Cryo-tran" insulated / "refrigerated" cars seen on the R&N Fast Freight consist. Does Anyone know what industry these cars serve and what perishable (food? or medical?) product is in them? Also, I couldn't tell from the fast moving train and angle of the shots....were these Cryo-tran cars the original CO2 operated units, or did they have (retrofitted) mechanical refrigeration units on one end of the cars? Just curious....
Used to work for a shortline that shipped wine east from Napa in California in those cryos. I believe somewhere on the R&N is one of the destinations for those loaded cryos.
The Cryo cars go to the Kane Warehouse in Taylor/Scranton and are loaded with wine from the Napa Valley of California as Alex Robison stated.
Why are the 50s so smoky?
Most SD50's used EMD's 645 pushed well beyond it's limits. Too much boring, along with injector setups that would keep getting knock out whack. The oldest units tend to have issues with internal oil leakage becuase of this, hence the blue smoke. Later SD50's saw an updated 645 that helped, and some the last received ealry test version of the 710. But the ealry to mid...yea, they get smokey these days. EMD just bored those old blocks too thin.
The later shots at then end..well, that could, and looks, more like they were just blowing out carbon after a long idle., but also the fact that SD50's still have very touchy injector settings.
😊And the later shots were highlighted by the angle of the sun. Also, if I recall correctly, they were working hard ascending a fair grade up from near river level.
Ce qui stupéfie les Européens, surtout les spécialistes des infrastructures, ce sont ces voies typiquement américaines de plain-pied avec l'environnement, sans plateforme propre ni véritable couche de ballast... Comment les Américains évitent-ils les ripages ?
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,this is my backyard,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i own my home in pittston.................thanks...........................
This is really in my back yard. I get to see every morning! Schuylkill Haven.
No
Grinding along at 15mph doesn’t look like Fast Freight to me.
No.
América is the name of a continent, maybe you meant USA instead?
No, we count in Freedom Units.
No, the continent is NORTH America.
No continent called america. There is north and south
In the United States of ... America ... we tend to call our country ... America. It's a local thing, okay?
Yeah, it's an American thing. You wouldn't understand.