After 30-years of silence, the sound of a Reading T-1 echoed through Pennsylvania's anthracite country again in 2022. 4-8-4 #2102 returned to service in the spring after a 6-year restoration at the Reading & Northern’s headquarters in Port Clinton, PA. The locomotive would then pull four Iron Horse Rambles during the summer months, a nod to the famed Reading Ramble excursions of the late 1950's and early 1960's.
This is the first volume in a multi-volume series on Reading & Northern 4-8-4 #2102. It begins with footage of the locomotive being tested in freight service prior to the first excursion in May. A series of successful break-in runs culminated with #2102 pulling a 50-car coal train on April 26th from North Reading to Jim Thorpe and then back to Tamaqua. On May 20th the locomotive was again tested on a coal train, this time taking 100 empty coal hoppers upgrade from Port Clinton to Tamaqua. After dropping the cars in Tamaqua, #2102 took 50 loaded hoppers back to Port Clinton.
The following weekend the '02 pulled the first Iron Horse Ramble, easily handling a sold-out 19-car passenger train from North Reading to Jim Thorpe on Saturday May 28th. We'll also cover the second Ramble on July 2nd as #2102 again put on a spectacular show, blasting up the steep grades of the former Reading and Jersey Central Railroads on another Reading to Jim Thorpe excursion.
Filmed entirely in HD, this program features incredible steam action with what is undeniably the loudest locomotive operating today. This program has minimal narration (with the option to turn it on or off) and no distracting music.In addition to the standard widescreen DVD, this program is also available on HD Blu-ray disc.
Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes