Tickets went on sale February 15th for excursions behind A RESTORED 2102.
First trip is set for May 28, with more to follow in the fall. Go to the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Web site for information or reservations.
"It's not done 'til it's done" -- apparently it's going to be DONE.
If it's like the other RBM&N excursions I'll bet the tickets sell out in 30 seconds!
Press Release on the 2102 excursions dated March 22, 2022:
https://www.rbmnrr.com/happenings/2022/3/22/reading-amp-northern-to-reintroduce-historic-steam-locomotive-to-service
And one blast from the past:
https://railpictures.net/photo/799605/
The break in runs started today if I remember correctly.
Same me, different spelling!
It's alive!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzpPVmxogls
I'll email Andy Muller congratulations!! And thanks.
Here's some more 2102, shining like a new penny!
I don't know about everyone else but the general look of that T-1 reminds me of the unstreamlined Class J's the N&W built during WW2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO7HJls-y7U
There's another video out there I'll pass along after I've watched it.
And God bless and keep Andy Muller and his crew of true believers!
Even more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC7LG9zrpH4
Great News! And rail-centered.
'76, that is a great observation!
Here is a J1:
https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=90160
Here is 2102 (scroll down to the third picture):
http://www.readingrailroad.org/profiles/rdg_profile_steam_t1.html
kgbw49'76, that is a great observation!
Thanks! When I saw 2102 all slicked up the J1 was the first thing that popped into my mind, I've seen that J1 picture you linked, in fact it's in one of my N&W books. I thought the resemblence was remarkable.
By the way, I was re-reading my copy of "Eastern Steam Pictorial" by Bert Pennypacker this afternoon and thought I saw something familiar on the full-color dust jacket. I took a closer look and sure enough, it's 2102 on one of the Reading "Iron Horse Rambles" from around 1960 or so. Some coincidence, huh?
'76, sounds like you're just a ramblin' kind of guy, as Steve Martin would say!
Here is an interesting web page from steamlocomotive.com with comparative data for several 4-8-4 types, including the J and the T1.
Same driver diameter at 70 inches, same cylinder size of 27 x 32, and the wide firebox, but the J is, to use a football metaphor, just a "Gronk-sized" bruiser - big and fast (as we all know), so it has a several key statistics upsized from the T1.
But the T1 is still big. It did the job it was built for, and did the job well, and it is absolutely awesome to have it back! Thank you, Andy Muller!
https://steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=USA&wheel=4-8-4
You know, looking at a drone shot in one of the videos I get the impression 2102's a little on the small side for a Northern, but then I'm used to N&W 611. But as you said, T-1's got the job done!
Speaking of the Rambles, here's a short chase film from 1962. That engine's MOVING! It's not 2102 though, but no matter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pehUWiKFnLk
This web site has a photo of Reading I-10sa 2-8-0 2017, built in 1923.
I-10sa 2-8-0 2044 was converted to Reading 2102, which is in the following photo.
The Reading Shops used the 2-8-0 boiler and firebox, added a course to the front of the boiler, new one-piece integrated cast steel engine bed with Boxpok drivers, and "abracadabra" - out came T1 2102. Quite the transformation!
https://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr817.htm
What Reading Shops did with the I-10sa 2-8-0s and other locomotives puts them right up there with Frisco, Mopac and Illinois Central in terms of what they did to convert locomotives to 8-coupled Northerns or Mountains.
Flintlock76 You know, looking at a drone shot in one of the videos I get the impression 2102's a little on the small side for a Northern, but then I'm used to N&W 611. But as you said, T-1's got the job done! Speaking of the Rambles, here's a short chase film from 1962. That engine's MOVING! It's not 2102 though, but no matter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pehUWiKFnLk
I counted 174 revolutions of the 70-inch drivers in one minute on the first part of the film.
A 70-inch diameter driver multiplied by 22/7 for the circumfrence travels 220 inches in one revolution.
Multiply 220 inches per revolution times 174 revolutions per minute is 38,280 inches in one minute.
One mile of 5,280 feet times 12 inches per foot is 63,360 inches.
38,280 inches in a minute divided by 63,360 inches per mile is .604 miles in one minute.
Multiply .604 miles in one minute times 60 minutes in an hour and you get 36 miles per hour.
One corollary, though - I don't know the speed of that old film and whether or not it would play back in "one-to-one real-time playback". Sometimes those old films don't play back in real time which can result in some of the choppiness.
So it very well could be if that film was playing back at, say, .8 speed, then the train would have been traveling at 45 mph.
Fun stuff - bottom line - it was moving along with the varnish!
Flintlock76 You know, looking at a drone shot in one of the videos I get the impression 2102's a little on the small side for a Northern, but then I'm used to N&W 611. But as you said, T-1's got the job done!
Oh. Trust me, they're HUGE!
My eye level on 2100's drivers.
https://link.shutterfly.com/G5YPpEQb6ob
My eye level on 611's at Bellevue.
https://link.shutterfly.com/xv5Xg03b6ob
I'm 6 feet tall by the way.
Thanks for the shots Becky, those T1's are big 'uns all right. Looks like the drone shot was a bit deceiving.
Six feet tall? That's cool, if our paths ever cross we can have a good eye-to-eye conversation!
kgb, thanks for that link. Those I10's had some fat boilers on them, no wonder they were candidates for the conversion to Northerns.
pennytrains I'm 6 feet tall by the way.
FWIW, my wife is 6' tall as well (we met in the local tall club) and my daughter is also about 6'.
Erik_Mag pennytrains I'm 6 feet tall by the way. FWIW, my wife is 6' tall as well (we met in the local tall club) and my daughter is also about 6'.
When we moved to Virginia 34 years ago I was struck by how many tall women (5'10" or more) there are here compared to where we lived in New Jersey.
Something in the water maybe?
More likely something in the meat and dairy!
I suspect it may be genetic differences between the NJ population and the VA population. Becky also has a point with the meat and dairy.
My mom did her first year of college in Springfield, OH and she was one of of the taller students, her next three years were at a college in Northfield, MN and she felt short...
The Maine two foot passenger cars had to be sized to acommodate the tall residents...
Flintlock76 When we moved to Virginia 34 years ago I was struck by how many tall women (5'10" or more) there are here compared to where we lived in New Jersey. Something in the water maybe?
BackshopWith all the chemical plants in NJ, maybe it's that there's NOT something in the water in VA...
I'm told its what makes Jersey pizza what it is.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
I can almost hear Bert Parks saying something like: "And now our very own corn-fed cutie, ladies and gentlemen...Miss Iowa."
To go even further off-topic:
Rootle-tee-toot, rootle-tee-toot,
we are the girls of The Institute.
We don't smoke and we don't chew
and we don't go with boys that do.
I can no longer recite "Abdul Abulbul Ameer" from memory, so I won't write it here. Are you grateful?
Rick
rixflix aka Captain Video. Blessed be Jean Shepherd and all His works!!! Hooray for 1939, the all time movie year!!! I took that ride on the Reading but my Baby caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride.
Backshop Flintlock76 When we moved to Virginia 34 years ago I was struck by how many tall women (5'10" or more) there are here compared to where we lived in New Jersey. Something in the water maybe? With all the chemical plants in NJ, maybe it's that there's NOT something in the water in VA...
With all the chemical plants in NJ, maybe it's that there's NOT something in the water in VA...
Ever hear NJ's unofficial state motto?
"New Jersey, where there's a rainbow in every puddle!"
zugmann Backshop With all the chemical plants in NJ, maybe it's that there's NOT something in the water in VA... I'm told its what makes Jersey pizza what it is.
Backshop With all the chemical plants in NJ, maybe it's that there's NOT something in the water in VA...
Shhhhhh, that's the secret ingredient!
rixflixI can no longer recite "Abdul Abulbul Ameer" from memory, so I won't write it here. Are you grateful?
Not really. I KNOW that stupid song and it's been running through my head all day since your post! Thanks a lot!
The moral, my friend, of that pitiful end is plain for all to hear...
Nathan's hot dogs too! I can taste the East River!
pennytrains zugmann Backshop With all the chemical plants in NJ, maybe it's that there's NOT something in the water in VA... I'm told its what makes Jersey pizza what it is. Nathan's hot dogs too! I can taste the East River!
TANGENT ALERT! Going off topic! Best way to eat a hot dog is on Italian Bread with Sesame seeds. Lightly toasted if it's not bakery fresh. Unless of course you can get a fresh steamed bun like from a hot dog cart! We will now resume our regularly scheduled topic.
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