Reading and Northern 2102: Rambling Through the Fall Foliage

On both the weekends of October 1st and October 21st, I made visits home in order to chase Reading and Northern's T-1 #2102 as it hauled two of the three Fall Foliage excursions of the 2023 season!! Both days provided an excellent chase of the famous steam locomotive, and I was very pleased with the peak colors that appeared this year in Schuylkill and Carbon counties. Since these were the last excursions with the 02 for the year, I made sure to make the most of them by grabbing popular spots on the October 1st excursion, while saving the fall shots for the October 21st weekend when the leaves were in peak color. Clips from both excursions have been edited together in this video. I also did my best to grab some new locations along the mainline, some resulting in more success than others. Regardless, it was once again another excellent time with the Reading and Northern!
A few things to note for these excursions as well. The first is that these fall foliage trips were the first time that 2102 was turned around on the Jim Thorpe wye by traveling from Jim Thorpe Jct. across the Lehigh River to River Jct., which is the opposite way that it traditionally had traveled to turn around on the wye. I happened to get lucky on October 1st by setting up alongside River and capturing this first-time move, which I posted in a previous shorter video. I then re-did the shot on October 21st with the peak fall foliage in the background, creating an excellent shot!
Additionally, because of the increased rail traffic in Jim Thorpe from operating four fall foliage trains out of the town on any given weekend, 2102 departing Jim Thorpe at a later time in comparison to past years, this time departing for Reading at 4:20 pm. As a result, it was completely dark by the time the excursion returned to Reading, which honestly was something I thought was cool to see and luckily was captured nicely on the camera!
Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy my video of #2102 rambling through the peak fall foliage along the RBMN mainline!!
0:00 Intro
0:46 An early start at the steam shop
2:00 Pulling out to the mainline
3:22 Crossing Broad St. on the move south to Reading
5:00 Deadhead at Industrial Dr.
6:01 Arrival at Reading Outer Station
7:54 2102 travels through North Reading yard with the OSJT w/friendly horn-whistle battle
8:57 Leesport
10:25 Rounding the curve under Rt. 61 coming into Port Clinton
11:24 After a brief stop to load passengers, 2102 thunders out of Port Clinton
13:17 Molino
14:29 New Ringgold
15:31 River Rd, near South Tamaqua/Atlas (Thumbnail)
16:40 Thundering past Tamaqua Station
18:14 Working hard on the approach to Haucks
19:48 Under the Lincoln Dr. bridge in Hometown, PA (Recently put Under Construction)
20:42 Traveling through ex-KME now Reading and Northern's Nesquehoning base
21:55 Travesing the wye to turn the consist around for the southbound trip
27:44 Fighting slick rails after a light shower on the move south toward Nesquehoning Tunnel (Filmed above from Rt. 93)
29:46 Storming through Nesquehoning; Allen St.
31:15 Thundering up Hometown Hill w/major wheel-slip!
32:43 Crossing Church and Fairview
34:20 Tuscarora Park Rd.
35:20 Through American Premium Coal
36:29 Jumping to Port Clinton for a meet with NRFF w/#1983 on the point
43:21 Under the ex-PRR bridge near Lowland Rd w/dual whistle action!
44:30 Return to Reading Outer Station
46:49 Outro
Music in this video:
Song: Straight Fuse
Artist: French Fuse
Licensed to CZcams by: CZcams Audio Library

[@54SIBIR54]

Красивейший свисток у паровоза! Наслаждение доставляет!

[@lashendawest7509]

Great catches and awesome video

[@northpennvalleysteamrailroad]

Awesome video of 2102😊

[@PANortheasternRailfan]

Thank you very much!

[@Engineer5344]

i wonder why she slowed down at lincoln drive bridge in hometown. the red board is for traffic in the other direction. maybe they have a speed restriction in there or somthing. hmm, interesting. still an awesome video.

[@PANortheasternRailfan]

I believe it was a speed restriction for the bridge it went under, as it is currently under construction. That was filmed during the early stages

[@Engineer5344]

ah ok, thanks. still an awesome video btw@@PANortheasternRailfan