I rode Saturday's 2102 powered excursion operated by the Reading & Northern RR and am pleased to report that the sold out 17 car train ran on schedule and that the steam engine handily took the train up the stiff mountain grades in both directions without diesel assistance.

Also, very glad to report that there were lots of youngsters both among the 800 aboard the train and amidst the thousands of lineside wavers.

Andy Muller and his first rate crew deserve kudos for a job well done.

Ross Rowland

Glad to hear that! We rode the Memorial Day weekend trip and everything Ross said applied to that trip as well, although the train was slightly shorter at 15 cars. A first class operation all the way.

John

I believe I saw you there, Ross, but didn't wish to bother you. I took my father as a combination 65th birthday/retirement/Father's Day gift, and it was certainly not an experience to miss. Going roaring up through the Lehigh Gorge was really something, as was the guy pacing us in the paramotor over the Susquehanna Creek from Pittston to Tunkhannock.

Things went very well, considering the lack of a practice run and the extra hoops to jump through compared to the previous Rambles (take on water at Penobscot, add diesels to descend to Pittston, cut the diesels off at Pittston, then run tender-first from Tunkhannock and wye the engine at Pittston on the return and take on water at Penobscott again) but the R&N crew are consummate professionals. And the #2102 barely skipped a beat the whole trip, I think I only counted two or three instances of wheel slip the whole time.

Was good to see you on board, Ross, thanks for the heads up.

Everybody needs to witness runs like that, just to counteract what always seems to be one string of bad news announcements after another, you have to look around and realize what you are witnessing. And keep pushing forward.

I missed seeing 2102 when it ran on the High Iron trips around PA in 1973 and thought I'd never see it run again. I was out to Tacoma when the 2100 was parked and being held captive for unpaid storage fees for Tacoma Rail when it really looked like it was going to be sold for scrap.... Thought the photos I got would be the last I ever saw of it. And when 611 got parked when NS was done with it, only to ride behind it again at Strasburg. And more and more like that.

Half the fun of steam is moments when you realize how completely wrong you may have been. Witnessing the impossible.

One of our sayings in here, proven over and over, is 'there is no such thing as a dead project in railroad preservation'.

Hopefully in a couple years we can see 1361 and 2102 doubleheading trips like this. Can you imagine the crowds.