READING, Pa. — In a trip featuring the first appearance by a passenger train in Tremont, Pa., in at least 30 years, the Reading & Northern hosted the National Museum of Industrial History’s Anthracite Railroad Ramble on Friday, July 29.
The trip, featuring Reading & Northern’s Budd Rail Diesel Cars, originated at the Reading Outer Station, traveled to Port Clinton, Pa., then took the Good Spring Branch to Tremont. It returned to Westwood Junction then headed north to Minersville, Pa., for a lunch stop. Finally, it returned to Port Clinton for a visit to Reading & Northern’s steam shops, and concluded at Reading Outer Station. A total of 126 passengers were on board.
It is the second such trip for the National Museum of Industrial History. An excursion last August featured rare mileage on R&N’s Mahanoy & Shamokin Branch [see “Reading & Northern special highlights rare mileage …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 24, 2021].
Given rising costs for everything, could RDC fantrips prove a cost effective alternative for future railfan excursions in many other areas? I am a steam fan, but seems to me, a mix of alternatives could prove beneficial for all.
In the 1940s/50s my dad would occasionally work a mixed train on the Reading’s L&T branch from Lebanon to Tremont and then continue west on the Good Spring branch to the junction with the Pennsylvania RR at Lykens, PA. The engine was turned on a manually operated (hand pushed) turntable at Lykens. I can’t remember if I was allowed to help push the turntable as a kid or not. There was also a switchback on the south side of the mountain between Good Spring and Lykens. Years ago the Good Spring branch was terminated at the coal mine just west of Good Spring and the tracks removed. About 15 or 20 years ago I observed 2 passenger cars parked on a siding just east of the PA route 125 crossing of the tracks. I sure wish I could have ridden that excursion,