Reading and Northern Railroad - Iron Horse Rambles
The Reading and Northern Railroad has just announced the 2025 schedule for the Iron Horse Rambles. featuring the #2102 steam locomotive. The trips offer an excellent opportunity to travel through remarkable Pennsylvania scenery while experiencing the wonder of being pulled by.a steam locomotive manufactured by the former Reading Railroad in 1945. I did two of the excursions in 2024 that will also be offered in 2025 - the trip in June from Nesquehoning, PA to Tunkhannock, PA and the August trip from Nesquehoning, PA to Pittston, PA. Arriving at the Nesquehoning station with the steam locomotive sitting there chuffing lightly is truly a magnificent site. The locomotive is absolutely massive and one cannot help but be in awe at the thought of these behemoths being a regular site hauling coal trains along the rails of north central Pennsylvania. The trip to Tunkannock is four and a half hours one way covering a distance of 80 miles. The trip to Pittson is half the time and distance. For anyone, railroad buff or not, these excursions are an excellent opportunity to experience what traveling by train must have been like in the early to mid twentieth century.
Both the Tunkannock and Pittson excursions travel along a portion of the former Lehigh Valley Main Line from Jim Thorpe and through the magnificent forest of the Lehigh Gorge State Park bordering a section of the Lehigh River. There are sections of the line that travel along a sheer rock cliff overlooking the river. The Reading and Northern also offers excursions from Jim Thorpe that go along the same route into the state park and back. Further north, the trips continue through lush forest, two tunnels, and over some significantly hilly terrain. Hearing the steam locomotive chug up the hills is truly awe inspiring. I also found it quite exhilarating feeling the spray of coal dust on my face and quite often getting a good whiff of smoke, particularly when climbing the hills as the engine clearly has to work significantly harder.. Additionally, I found the steady rhythm of the train clicking over the rails quite relaxing. Beyond Pittston on the trip to Tunkannock, the line borders the Susquehanna River offering fantastic views.
The towns of Tunkannock and Pittston are also interesting places to visit, though they are surely a shadow of what they likely were when they would have been serviced by regular passenger train service. The excursion to Tunkannock coincides with the Founders Day Festival and the one to Pittson coincides with the Tomato Festival. Both festivals have a number of good food offerings and a number of local artists have stands setup there.
The town of Pittston has several interesting clothing and gift shops. One of the gift shops, in particular, has an excellent selection of tea. Waking around town, it is easy to imagine that, like many of the towns in the area, it was once a prosperous coal mining town.
In Tunkhannock, there are some nice Victorian era homes dating back the days when it was a prosperous lumber town. The town borders the Susquehanna River and is a popular place for tubing. There is.a very nice park along the river offering a great place to relax and enjoy the solitude of the river.
Tickets for these and other excursions are available at https://www.rbmnrr-passenger.com.
