Reading Shops

[@frankbaker9117]

Good video.

[@ralfoide]

Such excellent content, and the montage is a pleasure to watch. Thanks for posting these! That little personal memorial touch at the end is just the icing on the cake. Thank you.

[@jerrylarson723]

Thank you. As I viewed the work shops . Wow . The fall of this railroad just amazed me. As a business owner of a semi trailer service the equipmeant and shops I see ,wow .

[@FelicianaDelacruz]

Thank you for sharing such an insightful video about one of the great railroads. The men and women of the Reading put in 110% to keep the rolling stock rolling. It really immortalizes the heart and soul of the workers who worked and retired from there and took great pride in all they did. This video is a fitting memorial to all those people who gave so much of themselves. Thank you again for sharing this great piece of American history for all to enjoy.

[@chuckz8053]

I appreciate people who have a passion for this material and do such a great job of presenting it. Thank you very much I really enjoyed watching.

[@steamgent4592]

Very well done. Great glimpse of America's greatest little railroad. I hope the Reading never becomes forgotten. I know former Reading men who still gather for lunch each week even now. It was a very beloved company to those who worked there and to those it served. Companies aren't like that anymore.

[@JB-ug5mf]

Thank you for the video. My grandfather Emil was an engineer for Reading and then Conrail when he retired, in I think 1985.

[@angeloavanti2538]

those folks worked hard. my dad worked for the erie lackawana in edgewater nj. they would put on a fantastic holiday train show in one of the engine barns. they had o scale and s scale running through what seemed like miles of walls and tunnels. that was it, i was hooked.

[@scottsmith7051]

Fantastic video. What great history.

[@artillerest43rdva7]

It is great of you sharing this amazing piece of railroad history. Reading railroad was another one of the great roads that once supplied the north east, what stunning color combination and decorations so sad that it is gone and only images remain of the great railroad.

[@tombarnes7196]

Very nice video, well produced. Some of the best train videos out there! Thanks for sharing!

[@timothyrearden3178]

Excellent. Boy. Brings back so many memories as well as scenes before my time. Was a good time on the Reading.

[@600joe]

MAGNIFICENT. When men were men. The machine skills are long gone. People used to make/repair stuff.

[@mikeggg5671]

That video is so amazing. I grew up in Wyomissing in the late 80s. My grandmother (a retired head nurse of Community General's ER) would lament the trains speed as we watched them on penn avenue. She told me that in her day, a double headed train would roar by with fifty cars and be gone in a blur - none of this twenty minutes at a crossing nonsense. I am so sad I was not around to see it for myself. But that video of the 2102 at the Shops for the night photo op - I was there. I was only 4 or 5, but I remember it!

[@105C09]

Perfect balance of sound, film and still photography. It's a great railroad that was served some of the finest railroaders ever to ply the trade.

[@ZigZagMarquis]

Thanks for posting. Once upon a time Reading was a place were a working man could make a living and raise a family. No more. It's a sad place to visit these days knowing what it once was.

[@fmnut]

ZigZagMarquis I started my rail career in Reading in 1976 and retired there in 2012. When I started the shops were still a going concern. I watched the slow decline of the shop facilities and the surrounding city for 36 years. Still, I'm glad to have been a part of what was accomplished there.

[@bogthing1]

All the Northeast US is like that, dead towns and cities. A shame.

[@steamgent4592]

@@bogthing1 the wealth was fleeced by mega corporations who took all the money away & put it elsewhere. Now its being done globally. I expect the East to get much much worse. I'm sure state and local governments didn't help either. I dont even want to fathom what the railroad was charged for taxes on these facilities in property tax. I know what CarTech pays in Reading and with that bill you would think everyone else in Reading taxes would be free!!

[@ledgermaximiliano7558]

i know it is pretty off topic but does anyone know a good site to stream newly released movies online ?

[@maxwellonyx9636]

@Ledger Maximiliano Flixportal

[@ralphaverill2001]

The diesel locomotive pushing the steam units out of the way, @ 9:47>, is a metaphor of what happened to the steam era. "So long, Old Timers. We don't need you any more."

[@artvandelay0073]

Awesome video of a by-gone era! Especially love the shots of the double fish-belly bridge crane systems inside of the diesel shop.

[@Nethanel773]

Thanks for putting this together.

[@dschlegel75]

Incredible....I railfan the yard and surrounding areas as much as I can - awesome to see it in its heyday. Very well done video!

[@gerlinpic1]

Love those old FM Trainmasters and Alco C630s.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

you may be interested to know, that those RDG C630s were awesome. I remember them well. but after CR, they went unwashed and became very dirty. Also, 1 of them did not get re numbered, and it sat in collinwood for several years. also it was not dirty at all, but CR had done a crude spray painting of the CR number under the RDG number. someone had stolen the RDG number boards too, or CR had removed them, in anticipation of a re number job.

[@frankbaker9117]

When Con rail took over that was the end for the Reading.My dad was a Readine engineer, he told me that as a young man.

[@popps2502]

I wish our world was still like this. Where men had jobs and were proud to do them.

[@henryszubielski8601]

Great video! Thank you for sharing this!

[@frankbaker9117]

Like the saddle tank locomotive.🤠

[@rnrailproductions5049]

My dad would sure remember these days.

[@kerrykeehn8407]

My grandparents used to live at 6th and Perry. My grandfather was a Barber and his shop was below the house. I remember in the day many of the Reading Company men would get there hair cut by him. I Would walk down to 6th street and walk along the shops until the gate that was accross the street from the 6th and Pike Playground. Tuesday nights I think it was I would go to the out door movies at the playground. We’re talking the 50’s and 60’s before I went into the service in 64.

[@sandua51]

Incredible set of pictures and video! My grandma lived in the 1300 block of N. 9th. I spent as much time as possible over on the "commons" watching the shops and yard. Never forget the sound of making freight trains. It would rattle the windows -- and your teeth. Thanks!

[@hartmutlorentzen9659]

Great video, Thanks from Germany

[@jimikrentkowski4073]

Really neat Reading tribute!!

[@CRArr-oh2fy]

We will never see the likes of this again. Nice historic compilation...T-1's and Wooten fireboxes....and more.

[@jeremylando40]

My great uncle used to tell me stories about working there and running 1251

[@TOM2RN]

Great video. When people had a work ethic.

[@johnjablonski7638]

when Conrail took over things started to slow down but conrail was really the Reading in another form NS all but destroyed railroading here in Reading,Pa

[@Ranger-d3o]

How so?

[@centraljerseyconrailinnsca5676]

Great job! Really like the video. Amazing how big of a complex the Reading had. Thanks!

[@trussell8510]

Very nicely done. In those days we had meaningful work to do and the railroads were at the center of it. Today we sell hamburgers to each other.

[@johnjablonski7638]

I walk past the old shops and yards on my way to work everyday, its like nothing since NS took over.. miss the Reading railroad :(:(

[@chuckabbate5924]

NS and CSX are a joke....they have decimated the Northeast...breaking Conrail was a disaster...corporate greed at its worst

[@johannmckraken9399]

Wonderfully moody documentary of the Reading Company’s massive shop complex in Reading PA. I went to work for Santa Fe in 1974 and stayed through the BNSF merger finally retiring in 2015. I saw the changes from a working class to a computerized, vendor supplied and centralized environment. Change is about the only constant it seems at times. I’m sure if I returned now I would not be able to do my job, or have any desire to. Reading always struck me as a very classy railroad with a great history of achievements. They were very self sufficient and these shops and the men and women who worked here were a large part of what made the Reading a larger than life entity. My father came to Philadelphia with his family from Ireland right after the First World War and they lived right near the Reading tracks in Manayunk. He told me that as a kid he and his brothers would walk along the tracks and pick up any spilled coal from the trains so they would have adequate heat during the winter. He ended up working for Baldwin building locomotives before the Second World War so I guess that’s where the railroad got into my blood. I’ve studied the Reading over the years and really enjoyed seeing this documentary. I’ve always thought it would be fun to travel back in time and just observe the past but at least we have books, film and written history to rely on. Thanks for making this piece of history available.

[@danasoroko]

It's great that your parents had a chance to work at the Reading Company shops!

[@Flyby-1000]

That........was AWESOME!!!!!! Kinda wish I was an young adult in that era...

[@drby0788]

Haunting photos of What was

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

back in 1979 i made my only visit here. the only thing RDG was a caboose. there was a SEPTA FP7 freshly painted there. Kings Island amusement park, near cincy, has a train ride. Back in 1977, one of the loco drivers there was a retired RDG hogger. he told us about running RDG steam engines.

[@iusetano]

Amazing. I enjoyed watching. Excellent video.

[@rusty49able]

AMAZING ! Great video thank you. All gone now ? ........ SAD

[@caseyvanboxtel2279]

When men made the machines and the machines made men.

[@johnjablonski553]

amazing how the Reading Co. managed to get a fully operational yard with shops in a limited space... thanks to NS 3/4 of the tracks are pulled up and the shops are long gone

[@fmnut]

You can actually thank Conrail for that. All of the excess shop tracks were removed and the shops closed prior to NS taking over.

[@oddwad6290]

N&W used to build their own steam locomotives in Roanoke ,Va . Southern used to rebuild locomotives at their Spencer , No. Carolina shops . Sad it's the same all over . Modern class 1 railroading has transformed into a different corporate beast . Hope the Reading Shops can be reused for a future purposes .

[@fmnut]

Most of the facilities shown in the video are gone. The locomotive shop and passenger paint shop are warehouses. The car shop is a road salt storage barn.

[@BOBBYBOBBY-kz4io]

This is an awesome video thank you FM nut.

[@johnhemple7459]

miss the reading this is a great video

[@robertmuckey887]

Wow What a set_up

[@tacobellalugosi2527]

you know its sad that there is no museum for the Reading railroad ... so much history in Reading Pa

[@fmnut]

There is a Rdg RR museum in Hamburg PA

[@tacobellalugosi2527]

@@fmnut right but not in Reading itself .

[@fmnut]

@@tacobellalugosi2527 but you didn't specify that in your question, you simply asked if there was a museum.

[@tacobellalugosi2527]

@@fmnut heh true .

[@carbidejones5076]

So sad to know these great machines were scrapped

[@fmnut]

There are 7 surviving Reading steam locos including 4 2100 class 4-8-4's, an 0-4-0 camelback, an 0-6-0 tank and the Dorothy inspection engine. The RCT&HS has a representative collection of the diesel and MU fleets and several other diesels are on shortline and tourist rrs.

[@steamgent4592]

@@fmnut never heard it called " the Dorothy" inspection engine. Care to explain where that name comes from?

[@fmnut]

@@steamgent4592 Sorry, my bad. The name of the engine was "The Black Diamond". I have a print that was given to my mother by one of the guys in the shop. The writing on the back says "Inspection Engine - Dorothy" My mother's name was Dorothy and I guess he labeled it that way because he intended the print for her. I always thought that was the name of the engine until I just now researched it. Thanks for the question.

[@MICHAELSTEWART]

i remember watching the readng streamliner from my school #13 window coming through elizabethport at about 10 in the morning heading east to jersey city. i'm noticing now all their steam power had wooten fireboxes to burn anthracite.

[@pdxrailtransit]

Very nicely done. I put in an order with Santa for one of those steam dummy inspection cars, they were out of stock!

[@30yrsengr41]

It’s hard to get a handle on how much skill and knowledge those RDG shop people had , very few places left that can perform those tasks done on a weekly basis , they kept the RR moving

[@scottweisel3640]

I never thought about how the turntable needed to be large enough for both the engine and it’s tender.

[@njRRtrainer]

Great video.. Lot's of good modeling information here - thank you

[@charleskesner1302]

Nice look back.

[@deborahpierce5209]

George Hart broke his hip back in the spring and his train in Jim Thrope is no longer running, so he is down for the count at the moment. I know he and others used to call Preston by his railroad nickname "Keimmie", from what George has said to me in past conversations and from reading George's correspondence. I know your grandfather used to live in Birdsboro and worked at the Reading Shops under Ben Kantner, the Reading's General Boiler Shop Foreman. We have Kantner's collection of boiler tools on display at the Musuem so it is conceivable Preston Keim used them as well. In his retirement years, I know Preston worked for George Hart on his steam locomotives on the Maryland & Pennsylvania RR in the 1960s (one of those engines, Reading No. 1251 is on display in our Museum; his name appears in some of the boiler maintenance paperwork for this engine) and may have done the same in Jim Thorpe in the 1970s

[@fmnut]

George Hart passed away in April 2008. Your post makes it sound like you think he is still living. I don't know who you think I am but my grandfathers never worked for the railroad. My uncle lived in Baumstown near Birdsboro and worked in the shops his whole life, so maybe that's the connection.

[@jurgenihlau4052]

Great recordings. Thank you very much! I am planning to build a model railroad layout with the theme Rewading Co. Diesel and am looking for everything. Especially the diesel repair workshops etc. And what was the "scale test car" for?

[@manga12]

this is the documentry about garrett I wish I could produce about the old B&O shops but not enough time period photos of inside exist only outside and a few machine shop shots that are soo faded you cant tell what they are really doing but I did my best.

[@MaurizioVelati]

Stupendo. Molto evocativo

[@norfolksouthernmemphiswest5978]

Awesome video of such cool old catches, I just subscribed to you channel!! : D

[@fmnut]

Thanks. Hundreds of other videos to watch on my channel.

[@norfolksouthernmemphiswest5978]

@@fmnut Your welcome! Yeah this was the first video of yours I've seen, I was going back and forth with Railroad Media Archive, and he said he thought your old videos were even better than his so I checked it out and liked it!! I just scanned through your channel and I'm really looking forward to looking at more of your videos : D Did you used to work for the railroad?

[@fmnut]

@@norfolksouthernmemphiswest5978 Yes. Conrail 1976-1999, NS 1999-2012. Track Supervisor.

[@norfolksouthernmemphiswest5978]

​@@fmnut Very cool!!! It's soooo amazing to me that you works for Conrail! I have only seen 2 Conrail engines ever, and those were ex Conrail, NS 8503 with the Conrail back when it was sitting in Roanoke VA, and a Conrail GP something, when it was sitting in Roanoke in a huge deadline, both those were in 2019.

[@mistermann6231]

Very well done... Thanx

[@RichardKroboth]

Wow, a color shot of the FM centercab, nice find there. Is the saddle tank #1251 still at Strasburg? Sad seeing all the Centuries in storage.

[@fmnut]

@@RichardKroboth 1251 is indeed still at Strasburg, indoors and cosmetically restored. Yes, color shots of the little FM are exceedingly rare.

[@garbagemanify]

wow- those 484 engines of 21XX series... Chessie Steam Special unit types there boys!!!

[@eugeeropel5572]

Another EXCELLENT video. Thank you. If you don’t mind my asking, what do the letters, fmnut stand for.

[@fmnut]

fairbanks morse enthusiast

[@eugeeropel5572]

@@fmnut That’s what I figured. Thank you.

[@jayodonnell9838]

Thank you sir.

[@steamgent4592]

Was this available from Reading Tech?? This looks like that other video which was for sale up there that was all still photos made by Smitty and another fella. I have that and its great too!

[@fmnut]

I'm the "other fella". I used a lot of the shops photos I scanned for that project, plus a lot more from various sources including the "This is the Reading" books and other company photos.

[@steamgent4592]

@@fmnut oh thats awesome. I've been following your channel for several years and enjoy it. Didn't want to write your name and Schmitty is only a nickname was just being cautious with identity. Not everyone wants their real name out there. I see Schmitty up at Hamburg now and again and I've always enjoyed talking Reading with him and remember him actually running 2102 in BM&R days. Its wasnt often but he did get to do it a few times just like the late Jeff S. did. The late Cho Cho Charlie (pun on his hat if you remember it) got to do that more than anyone. Those two were great and surely missed.

[@johnthompson4067]

The view of G3 Pacific 217 in the scrap line was especially poignant. The Reading offered sister 219 to the city for display but when the city declined to pay for the move to a city park and installation it went for scrap, along with the other G3s, in mid-1957. A real tragedy; America's newest Pacific, and the Reading's last built steam locomotive, could have and should have been preserved.

[@BOBXFILES2374a]

Things are so much better, now that we're "post-industrial".....

[@billporter9494]

so how many of the Reading equipment peices are left?,and where can I find some titles that show all the power from A to Z.

[@fmnut]

Bill Porter Google Reading Railroad Museum. Their website has lots of info.

[@brianfalzon6739]

I wonder if they can restore the Reading Shops back to life, maybe as a tourist or railroad museum, yes, no, maybe?

[@fmnut]

No. An attempt was made to establish a museum in the 1980s when the RCTHS was leasing the shops. It would have cost too much to make the building compliant to codes for public use.

[@brianfalzon6739]

@@fmnut what a shame

[@jonnybeck6723]

@ 14:38... can anyone tell me the designation of this engine and was it also found on the Virginian? Thanx in advance and thanx for this great bit of footage and stills... cheers

[@fmnut]

It's called a Train Master. Fairbanks Morse model H24-66. Yes, the Virginian had these also.

[@samanthapreno3958]

anyone in philadelphia area have video wen reading had a yard at trenton ave n lehigh back in the 70s

[@southjerseyboy2844]

Does anyone know how long 1251 was the shop switcher? I know it stayed in service longer that most steam engines on the road.

[@fmnut]

Retired in February 1964. Prior to that time it was the last standard gauge steam locomotive in daily use on a Class 1 railroad, outlasted only by the narrow gauge steam on the D&RGW.

[@RailPreserver2K]

this is very well done the the facility still exist or is it completely gone now

[@fmnut]

Railroad,Preserver,2000 The loco, passenger and car shops and storehouse are still standing but repurposed. NS uses a few of the smaller buildings. Most of the track access to the shops has been removed.

[@fmnut]

Railroad,Preserver,2000 The roundhouse, coal dock, power house and carpenter shop are gone.

[@RailPreserver2K]

i hope she has both whistles used in the 1985 reading rambles

[@RailPreserver2K]

btw i subscribed

[@charleskesner1302]

Enjoyed those Alco RS units.

[@trainnut2012]

What did the Laboratory do?

[@fmnut]

In the early days of the shops, the lab was used to test the quality of various products offered by vendors for use on the railroad. One big focus was lubricants, as there were over 20 different grades of lubes used in the steam era. They also had a high voltage tester for electrician's rubber gloves, which had to be periodically re-tested for fitness for service. In the diesel era, lube samples from working locomotives were tested for viscosity, water mixing, and wear metals which would indicate imminent component failure. The latter was done with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Views of this process are shown in the video.

[@FrehleyFan3988]

Is this Norfolk southerns many shops?

[@fmnut]

Conrail Gp-40 Guy no, the locomotive shop was closed by Conrail on favor of Juniata (Altoona). The main car shop closed in the 1980s while the office cars were stabled there until the early 1990s. Nothing survived to NS except some of the buildings.

[@FrehleyFan3988]

It should be preserved. Not torn apart

[@fmnut]

Conrail Gp-40 Guy an attempt was made to save the Loco shop and make it into a museum but it failed due to the cost of upgrading it for public access. Estimated cost then was 10 million. Now it's a warehouse.

[@steamgent4592]

@@fmnut better a warehouse then gone. On another note that big overhead crane is enjoying a easy retirement. Those bundles of pipe are like picking fleas off the ground lol! For that huge crane

[@johnjablonski1278]

@@FrehleyFan3988 NS is more interested in pulling up track and destroying anything that was Conrail,,, or the Reading Co.

[@roberthawxhurst3717]

............. steel.....steel ....and.....more steel

[@BigDaddy-ms7gm]

It's a good video but it could have been so much better with a little discussion of the history involved. Opportunity missed...

[@jamielacourse7578]

Oh get real.......

[@notch8971]

Wow another vid full of ads, unsubed.

[@fmnut]

The ads are from my use of copyright music. I get no revenue at all. Sorry.