The Reading & Northern Railroad (RBMN) Passenger Department set a record in 2024 with an increase in its overall annual ridership, which rose 5% from 2023 to nearly 340,000 on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, regularly scheduled all-day excursions from Reading and Pittston, holiday-themed trains and revived Iron Horse Rambles with steam locomotive 2102. The railroad has added equipment to its roster of historic passenger rail rolling stock.
“The biggest news for 2024 was opening of the Nesquehoning Regional Railroad Station, located at the heart of our railroad’s burgeoning Nesquehoning Campus along our Reading to Pittston main line,” said Matthew Fisher, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Passenger. “Diesel excursions to Tunkhannock for the town’s Sip & Savor event were hosted; most notably, however, were two epic Iron Horse Ramble excursions. These sold-out trips featured iconic 4-8-4 T-1 steam locomotive 2102 roaring through the Lehigh Gorge under its own power for the first time in nearly 50 years. The Aug. 17, 2024 Ramble served as the marquee event for the station’s grand opening celebration. While rightfully proud of these accomplishments, the Passenger Department is wasting no time in preparing for the 2025 season.”
RBMN will once again host Iron Horse Rambles originating from Nesquehoning in summer 2025. In the more immediate future, a first-ever winter steam Ramble with 2102 will operate from Reading to Jim Thorpe on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. Continuing a classic late-spring tradition, the Reading to Jim Thorpe route will be repeated on Saturday, May 24, 2025. Expanding on the all-day excursion front, concurrent weekend trips from Reading and Pittston to Jim Thorpe will begin with the usual themed trains in February before moving into their regular season on Saturday, March 15, 2025. Riders coming from the south will be able to board at Reading Outer Station, Port Clinton or Tamaqua; those coming from the north may choose from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Regional Railroad Station at Pittston, Mountain Top, or White Haven stations. Fall Foliage schedules, as well as special monthly trips from Reading to Pottsville, will be announced later.
Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway accounts for RBMN’s highest overall ridership percentage. In 2025, LGSR will be operating weekends in January and February (plus Martin Luther King Day and President’s Day) until March 15, when daily operation will resume. “This is a month earlier than the typical April startup of daily operations and will coincide with the start of regular season trains to Jim Thorpe from Pittston and Reading,” noted Fisher. “Mostly favorable weather in recent years and the accompanying demand for tickets led to this scheduling change. LGSR tickets are currently on sale for trains operating January 11 through March 30, 2025; more of the schedule will be posted as 2025 progresses.”
Three former Delaware Lackawanna & Western coaches are at the heart of RBMN’s passenger rolling stock acquisition. All are equipped with roller bearings, and “will fit seamlessly into the existing fleet of No. 300-series Standard Coaches that have been the backbone of the Reading & Northern passenger roster since the 1980s,” the railroad noted.
A former Pennsylvania Railroad P70 commuter coach will also be welcomed into the fleet and serve as Crown Class Coach No. 671. Crown Class Coaches account for most of the service on all-day excursions from Pittston to Jim Thorpe, and are also very popular on Iron Horse Rambles steam trains. They can also be found on Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway trains as an inexpensive upgrade from Standard Coach seating.
Another dining car is also part of the stable of new equipment. The King Coal Café, housed in existing dining car No. 1167, and added to the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway train in late 2024, has proven to be “an enormous hit with guests,” RBMN said. :Finally, a generator car rounds out the new additions. With the Passenger Department sometimes operating as many as five trains on a given weekend, the new generator car will provide much-needed reinforcement.”
All this equipment is on display for a brief period at RBMN’s Nesquehoning Campus before each is pulled into the car shops to be overhauled and repainted into Reading & Northern’s classic red passenger scheme.
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Class II RBMN, Railway Age’s four-time Regional Railroad of the Year, serves more than 80 freight customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties (Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill and Wyoming) on 400 miles of track with 1,800 owned freight cars and 350 employees. It has expanded its operations over the past 40 years and now handles nearly 40,000 carloads of freight.
