Hi

Some time last year I read some where that it was hoped for Blue Mountain and Reading 425 to be operational in the coming years, is this just pie in the sky or is this true. Would be nice if Steamtown could lease it or the 2102. How far are the locomotives from operation?

-Justin Franz

qcmrs18@yahoo.com

> Hi

> Some time last year I read some where that
> it was hoped for Blue Mountain and Reading
> 425 to be operational in the coming years,
> is this just pie in the sky or is this true.

I was watching some video I took of 2102 in Pottsville, PA back in 1991, and came to realize it is around 8 years since 425 was last in steam, and almost 13 for 2102. Do they still have a steam engine staff for repairs and operations?
I would love to see either of these engines work again, especially since the R&N still has a lot of "virgin territory." Not having seen steam since the LV quit using it.


http://www.geocities.com/scrantontrains/index.html
mustang746@mac.com

Well work is/was being performed on "four and a quarter" for sure, but I never heard an estimated date. Next summer for Steamtown's 10-year might be a good target.

Joshua

Hello All

From what I recall some of the work on the 425 was/is being done by shop forces from the NH&I. As far as I know there is no target date set, just one of those "as time and money permit" situations which is far better than nothing at all. I know the engine was in the car shop for work during the last R&N open house.

Dave Crosby

bing@epix.net

425:
Has been partly disassembled in our "car-shop" for boiler inspection. Has not been touched for about two years, as of now. The work was being done by our welders and "steam people" along with some mechanics from NH&I.

2102:
Was being torn down for overhaul by our staff at Steamtown shop in the mid-1990's, when the project was halted. Asbestos lagging had been removed prior. 2102 was reassembled and towed to Port Clinton for the 1998 open house. No work was done to her since Scranton, except repainting the engine. Tender remains in paint applied at Hamburg in 1988, with BLUE MOUNTAIN & READING lettering.
This engine needs a grant.

Also on the property as a tenant:
C&O 614:
Some preventive maintenance work was performed recently, by Ross Rowland and about 8 other volunteers. She looks a little better than in the photos from Sept. 2003 R&N open house.

Everything else looks about the same as in the photos on this site:
http://jrevans.fbody.com/reading_northe ... pen_house/

My name is Steve Gilbert, and I approve this message.

http://jrevans.fbody.com/reading_northern_2003_open_house/

> 425:
> Has been partly disassembled in our
> "car-shop" for boiler inspection.
> Has not been touched for about two years, as
> of now. The work was being done by our
> welders and "steam people" along
> with some mechanics from NH&I.

> 2102:
> Was being torn down for overhaul by our
> staff at Steamtown shop in the mid-1990's,
> when the project was halted. Asbestos
> lagging had been removed prior. 2102 was
> reassembled and towed to Port Clinton for
> the 1998 open house. No work was done to her
> since Scranton, except repainting the
> engine. Tender remains in paint applied at
> Hamburg in 1988, with BLUE MOUNTAIN &
> READING lettering.
> This engine needs a grant.

> Also on the property as a tenant:
>
> My name is Steve Gilbert, and I approve this
> message.

Steve, has the R&N team thought about setting up or working with an existing 501c3 group to obtain funding for either engine?

Most grantors will only fund organizations that are non-profit?

I'm superheater and I approved this messaage.



superheater@rrmail.com

> Steve, has the R&N team thought about
> setting up or working with an existing 501c3
> group to obtain funding for either engine?

> Most grantors will only fund organizations
> that are non-profit?

> I'm superheater and I approved this
> messaage.

Before everyone thinks that non-profit grant writing is as simple as 1-2-3, I suggest you reseacrh it as much as most of who are in the thick of it have. Superheater, maybe you haven't applied for grants recently; I don't know, becuase I, like everyone else, still don't know who you are. Anyway, they are drying up rather quickly, and the ones that have survived the onslaught of budget cuts at the state, national, or local levels now have four times as many applicants.

Superheather, its a tough world out there now if your working for a non-profit, too. We may be the distant end of the food chain, but we still eat there.

TJ


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Can anyone provide any info on the turntable installed at Port Clinton - what railroad and location it is from, what year it was moved, and how long it is?

rdgoldfede@aol.com

> Can anyone provide any info on the turntable
> installed at Port Clinton - what railroad
> and location it is from, what year it was
> moved, and how long it is?
The table was transplanted in 1997-98 from the South Brownsville, PA engine terminal of the Monongahela RR (RY-?) which had been absorbed by Conrail. I think the length is 72 ft.
The table just happened to fit the old pit at Port Clinton, which was part of an engine terminal for READING passenger power, used for trains from Phily that were split into 2 sections for different destinations.
When 2102 came back from Scranton in '98, it was a bit of a "reunion" with the turntable, as the '02 had been stored in the Brownsville Roundhouse for years prior to returning to Reading in 1985.

> Steve, has the R&N team thought about
> setting up or working with an existing 501c3
> group to obtain funding for either engine?

There has always been a close working relationship between the R&N / BM&R and the RCT&HS, and that idea has been talked about over the years. The possibility exists, but don't get excited just yet.

Thanks Steve. It was a mystery to me, just images on the web and no details. Any chance there is a builder's plate on the table to determine who built it and when, and a measurement to confirm the length? No rush at all, just wondering.

rdgoldfede@aol.com

For those keeping score at home, some RDG Main Line trains split at Port Clinton with the primary section continuing along the Schuylkill to Pottsville and the other part along the Little Schuylkill to Tamaqua, then to the Shamokin Division.

Which made for interesting questions at Reading Terminal: "Which one is the Shamokin car?"

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

> For those keeping score at home, some RDG
> Main Line trains split at Port Clinton with
> the primary section continuing along the
> Schuylkill to Pottsville and the other part
> along the Little Schuylkill to Tamaqua, then
> to the Shamokin Division.

Actually, until the late 1940s, there was a two or three car shuttle between Port Clinton and Pottsville, while the main line trains continued on to Shamokin and Williamsport. Until the last Williamsport train quit about 1951, the Pottsville connection continued to operate. In the late 1950s, the Shamokin trains were combined with Pottsville runs, running over the Little Schuylkill Branch between Pottsville Jct. and Tamaqua and then on to Shamokin.

K4s1361@hotmail.com

> some RDG Main Line trains split at Port Clinton with the primary section continuing along the Schuylkill to Pottsville and the other part along the Little Schuylkill to Tamaqua, then to the Shamokin Division.
Which made for interesting questions at Reading Terminal: "Which one is the Shamokin car?" <

And some sections at some times of day in some years either backed out of or bypassed Pottsville to go via Palo Alto to Tamaqua, or to St. Clair and Frackville, then via Mahonoy Plain or the Pennsy's Shamokin Branch to regain the upper end of the Shamokin Div. for points like Sunbury and Williamsport!


104577.651@compuserve.com