A Smoking Caboose and a Quick Decision for the NRFF

October 16th, 2023 - After much of the day was spent following the North Shore Railroad, we then planned on intercepting the Reading & Northern "North Reading Fast Freight" (NRFF) at Tamaqua, PA. Shortly after arrival, a work train from an unknown location was backing into the yard with a caboose and a hot axle. It wasn't long before the NRFF rolled in and came to a stop The purple BM&R commemorative loco was on the lead. Not thrilled by that paint scheme leading, but you take what you get. The work train cleared, but NRFF had issues with two of its four locos and a quick decision was made to tack the work train's power to the front. Yay! NRFF was caught at 3 locations before the day ended and the overnight was spent in Wilke-Barre.
A shout out to Timothy Wakeman for his railfanning "can do" attitude and driving during this trip!
/ @dh7409

[@trainknut]

I really hope R&N stays independent and gen-2 exclusive for a long while, they're very quickly becoming one of the last places in the world you can hear six or more 645 motors chugging in run-8 up a hill. In a world obsessed with efficiency and mergers, R&N says "why fix what was never broken?" and still runs their railroad like it's 1992, and I absolutely love that about them.

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Definitely! When the NRFF passed us at White Haven, somebody started a rumor that I was jumping up and down like a little kid! (I was) ;-) That has always been one of my favorite railfanning sounds.

[@mec2512]

Gotta love how a great railroad like this makes a quick decision to keep traffic moving

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

My friend made the comment that if this was NS or another giant class one, then the train would have sat there for at least several hours while the dispatcher 1000 miles away tried to figure out what to do!

[@jmg_videos]

I wish every railroad was like the reading and northern lol! Nice job.

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Thank you. My favorite days of railfanning back in the 1980s and the 1990s were lived again when I visited the R&N!

[@titaniumspike1779]

I daresay our whole country would be a lot better off if every railroad were like the Reading & Northern.

[@tzrr-nsnyswmodellingmore2821]

great chase, really cool how you caught 4 schemes of the same RR line!

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Thank you. I definitely became a R&N fan during this trip!

[@tzrr-nsnyswmodellingmore2821]

@@KBuckyRailVideo I want to catch em and the other local line working at NS Taylor, seen some cool vids of all three in 1 frame. just caught NYSW CL2, they put friggin' *_cool blue LED bulbs_* in their SD70M-2's!!! in the lead unit anyways, I don't know how I feel about this...

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

@@tzrr-nsnyswmodellingmore2821 We caught the PISB and the Pittston Yard job going into Taylor the next day. Not much of an NS fan these days, but as the yard job was working an NS mixed freight came along.

[@DH7409]

Nice! Makes me wish I were there!

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

🤣🙃

[@williamrailfanningandmore6977]

I chased that train from Crestwood to Laurel Run, paced them thru Penobscot

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Could've been a better day weather-wise, but could've been worse!

[@twizzler309]

Love it!

[@BenjaminEsposti]

Purple loco is cool but I still love the 5019+5020 more!

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

All I can say is that purple is an odd color for a locomotive (my opinion) 😉

[@trainknut]

@@KBuckyRailVideo Considering R&N has significant CNJ heritage, and the fact that 425 is already quite famous for her oddball blue scheme, I think having a one-off purple heritage unit is very on-brand for them. Especially contrasting with the obvious Reading inspired freight scheme, if you squint it almost looks like a CNJ leaser on an RDG lashup.

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

@@trainknut I don't hate it and I certainly understand the heritage concept, but I was happier with what became the leader at Tamaqua!

[@BenjaminEsposti]

@@KBuckyRailVideo Haha true. But there are such things as purple fire trucks!

[@kenwoodbury1888]

Another well done video. Such a gorgeous area. I hope there is a day 2

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Thank you! Part 2 will be in the near future (I hope)!

[@colestrainsandthings932]

What camera do u use?

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

A SONY Handycam HDR PJ260. Amazing little camera that I actually purchased in early 2012.

[@colestrainsandthings932]

Ok thanks

[@MarcelosalivaTRENESArg]

Awesome video fantástic Capture my friend Like 👍🏻 And Greeting 🙋🏻 from argentina 🇦🇷 nuevo suscriptor 😁💪🏻 suscríbete

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Greetings to my friend from Argentina. Thank you!