Wow! Really nice Jaime! It really helps you to have the time tables of the trains ahead of time! Really enjoyed the condensed action here and especially the NS local at the end. First time I saw anything on that track going under the bridge. Great job!!
@robkrasinski62173 ай бұрын
The NS train was an Allentown to Hazleton local. I live just west of Allentown and there is the Foglesville industrial track near me. NS used to have a train from Allentown to Binghamton, NY called 12T and 13T but I think that is gone now. RBMN has more traffic than NS in the Jim Thorpe area. And NS has no passenger trains, but they did have steam excursions again from Sept 2011 to May 2017 and in late August 2015 the Fort Wayne 765 pulled two excursions from west of Bethlehem to Pittston and back. I was on the Saturday one. 765 and 425 exchanged whistle blasts when 765 was going north on the other side of the river on the NS track, ex-LV, and when entering Jim Thorpe on the return trip. But, R&N has coaches with openable windows and open air cars. NS considered open windows and open vestibule doors on 21st Century Steam excursions a liability. But, sometimes a crew member from NS or one of the museums that participated in the program opened a vestibule door while the train was moving. They mostly used streamlined coaches with roller bearings which are safer than older journal box friction (plain) bearings which can hotbox and trip detectors. RBMN has a bunch of coaches with journal boxes but I read they are converting some to roller bearing. There were a few Lehigh Gorge guys (employees) on the 765 train in August 2015. They must have got on at Bethlehem which was the site of the former Conrail Trailvan piggyback facility on the ex-LV side. We were bused in a school bus to and from the boarding site, and we had to park in a parking lot on the former Bethlehem Steel property. My late father who passed March 8, 1986 worked for Bethlehem Steel. The company went defunct in 2003 and was sold, and the main Bethlehem plant closed Nov 1995 and the coke works 1998.
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks so much @bekleidungu.ausrustung7068! The NS H66 has really spiced things up in the gorge this spring, even though RBMN gives us plenty to enjoy.
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks for sharing those cool memories @robkrasinski6217!
@rosiemcnaughton99333 ай бұрын
Thanks!
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
You're welcome!
@marilynscull45853 ай бұрын
Awesome video Jamie
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks Marilyn!
@Northcoastrails3 ай бұрын
Good morning Jamie a another great video 👍🚂
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks so much!
@CentralLehighRails3 ай бұрын
Awesome Video Jamie! Kinda in a rush so im gonna make this comment quick, Love seeing all the R&N Excursions and LGSR doing there thing, With NRFF and H66 Incorporated into the mix, Makes for a interesting video!!! Scott
@robkrasinski62173 ай бұрын
No steam though. Looking forward to the 2102 ride on June 22 which has sold out. it will be my fourth time behind 2102 and first time behind 2102 on the Lehigh Gorge route. I hope nothing goes wrong with 2102 and they substitute diesels. I like the Reading look of R&N diesels though. NS is boring black and white, and so was Penn Central. I grew up mostly in the Conrail era though and patched Penn Central units survived into the 80's and other predecessor railroads like Reading, LV, CNJ. But, Conrail painted a lot of their diesels blue as well. I was born Jan 14, 1974 and Conrail started April 1, 1976. BM&R started Sept. 1983 and tourist operations July 13, 1985. RBMN name Dec 1990 and BM&R name was retired after 1995.
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks so much, Scott! It really has been fun having the NS H66 added into the mix of Sunday trains this year.
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
@robkrasinski6217 I'm looking forward to the June 22nd ride too! It's always a thrill to ride behind 2102 and to go into new-to-me territory on that trip will be a nice bonus.
@dennis783823 ай бұрын
Good morning Jamie. I really enjoyed the video. I'm really in a rush, but not in that much of a rush that I don't have time to tell you that I'm in a rush and then not explain to you what the rush is about so that you will understand why I am in a rush.😅
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Good evening Dennis! I rushed through reading your comment because the cats are rushing me to dispense treats to them so I'm rushing to finish typing this before they chew off my fingers!
@LRSX3 ай бұрын
Another great video Jamie! Made me go look in my files for april 7th... because none of those trains looked familar... but i was out that day😂. Theyll all start to blur into one i guess lol.
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks, Ian! And I totally know what you mean about the days blurring together.
@dennis783823 ай бұрын
Rewatch friend! 🎉
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks Dennis!
@joshbenton40803 ай бұрын
Sweet! It looks like the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern has been expanding their fleet and expanding operations. That Norfolk Southern freight powered by two ex Conrail SD40-2s were on "home rails" it looks like. The SD40-2s Conrail ordered from EMD were built with "Flexi Coil" trucks, instead of the usual "Blomberg" type trucks. These units had their ditch lights installed on them below the anti climbers, when Conrail applied them to their fleet in the 90s. Some of these are probably rebuilt SD40s from the Penn Central era that Conrail rebuilt to SD40-2 specs. The SD40 / SD40-2 are my favorite freight locomotives, especially the green and black Burlington Northern engines. (This was pre BNSF) Years ago back in the 1990s, I lived in Colorado Springs, CO near the Rio Grande / AT&SF "Joint Line". (Now the UP / BNSF Joint Line) There were a lot of unit coal trains going to and fro from the Powder River Basin and most of these coal trains were powered by BN SD40-2 freight engines. There was a whole lot of variations in locomotive types and paint schemes. There were even a few detouring Amtrak trains powered by the newer Genesis diesels in the "Pepsi Can" scheme. (These were probably the California Zephyr) Good times, I miss those days. God bless.
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video, and I appreciate you sharing all that info and your memories of SD40-2's running in Colorado.
@joshbenton40803 ай бұрын
@@JamieMakin Your welcome! And I enjoyed this train video very much. As you could imagine, I have a lot of HO SD40-2's, some in Conrail, at least one C&NW, a few Burlington Northern and even some Norfolk Southern. The BN SD40-2's were once "ubiquitous", as I saw them just about everywhere back in the '90s. I also have a few Amtrak GE P40 Genesis engines in the "Pepsi Can" scheme, along with matching Amtrak passenger cars and baggage cars. (Mostly from Walthers) I have a roughly 30 year collection of mostly HO trains and locomotives. I even have some European trains in HO in Deutche Bahn lettering and painted beige and blue, which is a German Railway. I rode on the "Duty Train" when I lived in Germany many moons ago, as that was where my father was stationed while he was in the US Army. He was stationed in Potsdam, outside of Berlin, Germany. (My father was one of the "lucky ones" that didn't get sent to Vietnam, but was assigned to the "Liaison Mission" to spy on the Soviets.) My dad retired from the Army in 1992, while he was stationed at Fort Carson, south of Colorado Springs. And so, my interest in trains began as a very young kid.
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
That's awesome that you've had a lifetime of railfanning to enjoy. I started as a young kid too. Last year I got the Amtrak P42 "Pepsi Can" in N scale. That's always been my scale, but my dad had a huge HO collection and layout.
@billyrueckert51133 ай бұрын
Great video as always! Are LGSRY consists shorter for Spring?
@JamieMakin3 ай бұрын
Thanks so much! Yes, spring ridership tends to be lower than summer and fall, so the trains are usually shorter. The exception tends to be the Easter Bunny trains which are pretty long. The train length is adjusted each day if needed to accommodate the anticipated ridership.