And what in particular about the Reading fascinates you? I grew up near the Reading, but I am PRR guy all the way.
Got any pics of reading locos you would like to share be they models or actual photos of real steamers?
I don’t model the Reading but I love the railroad. I have an Overland T-1 and caboose plus a zillion hoppers. I think the Reading in steam days had some great locomotives and I especially like the looks of the T, K, M, N and P classes. The FA/F-unit paint job was pure class! Their operations and other equipment were very interesting too. I’m very much into coal hauling railroads so naturally the Reading is a favorite.
Roger Huber
It has enough traffic to make it busy, but not an overwhelming amount like the Pennsy. It serves large industrial areas, but also is “out in the woods”. Big enough to support any layout’s operations, but small enough to be modelable.
I love the Reading. I was fortunate enough to ride on some of the Reading Rambles behind their immortal T-1 4-8-4’s. This was my first taste of Big Steam, at 70 MPH, with my head out the window all the way.
My East New York Railroad is supposed to simulate activity on Long Island, NY, (PRR/LIRR/NYNH&H) with some wandering north to Chatham, NY, but I have included Blue Comet cars off the CNJ, and a Reading I-10sa with a coal train and a Reading 4-wheel caboose (I’m a little loose on the precision of my specificity). My all time favorite steam locomotive is the Reading P-7sb 4-4-2, and I am still waiting for NJ Custom Brass to release theirs (announced c. 1977). I’m starting to lose hope.
I do. I’ve always been a Reading fan and I really can’t explain why, since where I grew up I would have seen mostly Lehigh Valley, except for the one camping trip we took to Hershey shortly before I turned 5, the Reading tracks ran right along the edge of the campground and when I heard a trin I’d always run down to watch.
I began with the idea of doing the East Penn branch, but the more I got into it, I decided double-track railroading just wasn’t for me. My latest endeavor will be the C&F branch in an approximately 11x15 room (first thing I’m doing when I move in is get accurate room measurements). I have soem ideas on how to work this into a later ‘big basement’ plan should I ever have one of those again. Lots of interchange, a big cement plant, and all single track.
–Randy
ME!
As Dave says, it’s big city railroading, and forlorn coal branches; big enough to support intense operation, but small enough to be modelable. It’s also just a bit different from the PRR. And it has classy paint schemes.
I actually model a freelanced shortline co-owned by the Reading and D&H. The right of way is based on Reading standards and operates using a mix of RDG and D&H equipment.
Nick
I don’t model it directly, but I do follow its paint scheme. I did grow up near the Reading route as it ran through Royersford, Pa, and one of my favorite memories from those years is my Mother taking us to Philadelphia on the train to go Christmas shopping on Black Friday. We’d leave from Royersford (my Father would drop us off on his way to work) or Phoenixville if my Sister took us in and run to Reading Terminal, which was in the heart of the shopping district. We’d shop, have lunch at the Horn and Hardart Automat, see the displays in the big Department stores, and take the train home.
My diesel paint scheme for my own roadname, Samson, Burnton, and Southern is a copy of the Reading’s green and yellow hood unit scheme, an example:
The C&F branch is cool, lots of opportunities for other anthracite roads. The ARHS “Flags Diamonds and Statues” mag had a 2 part article on Catasagua many years ago, complete with track maps. One of the LNE’s 0-6-0’s they used at Catasagua to interchange with the Reading is at the Illinois Railway Museum at Union.
The Reading’s yard is completely gone, covered with an office park. The last time I was ther about 15+ years ago the only thing I found was the foundation of the scale track pit.
Yes, I need to locate those issues of FD&S. Most of the track from Chapman down to Alburtis is still the same, I need to go do some information gathering soon. The cement plant is gone of course, but the quarry still remains. The Ironton interchange gives me an excuse to get another Baldwin switcher and another P2K caboose. I do have some historcal maps that show the track alignments from the late 40’s/early 50’s.
–Randy
Ahhh, Bob, regarding that NJ Custom Brass Reading P-7sa/sb, CB hasn’t been making brass locomotives for many years now so I would guess that project is long since down the drain (as were so many of CB’s projects). These days they limit themselves mainly to cars and details.
I would point out, however, that - crude as it might be - Mantua produced a composite-materials P-7sa a lifetime ago, which still occasionally turns up on eBay. I believe that may be the only example of this class of Reading engine ever offered in HO. Incidentally, nearly all the early Mantua locos were based on Reading Prototypes.
CNJ831
Funny thing is, I lost the clipping that shows the actual-loco photo that NJCB used in their announcement, and it might have been a C-1 class 4-4-4 (from which the 4-4-2’s were rebuilt). I know that clipping is around here somewhere . . .
And don’t forget the American Flyer S-gauge RDG Atlantic with undersized drivers! My father’s is at my mother’s house; she is 92 and still has it on display. Dear old mom, dear old dad.
The Reading G-1 Pacifics are among the prettiest Pacifics ever, in my book. And thanks for the reminder about the ancient Mantua Atlantic. I have an old catalog (the kind that gives you asthma when you open it) that shows that engine.
I model the Reading. My Great Grandfather started as a fireman and than became an engineman. All steam. He worked switching jobs and drag jobs out of Wayne Junction. I grew up in towns like Penndel, Trevose, and Levittown, all within earshot and sight of the Reading New York Branch.
I model Philadelphia industrial branches, Willow and Noble Street Yard, Delaware Ave, Shackamaxon Street area, Jack Frost Sugar.American Street Port Richmond area.
Several sources have it that the P-7sb was the inspiration behind the AF Atlantic even though they didn;t make an exact scale model out of it.
–Randy
Thanks RDG1519
Very interesting thanks for sharing… I drive by wayne junction very often at night to watch the vast amounts of signal bridges.
I’m in the process of modeling the Reading as it served the Pottsville/St Clair area. Rode from Pottsville to Reading/Philly a few times in the 50’s but really can’t remember much about steam, which is the time period I’m modeling…mid-40’s to mid-50’s. Anthracite coal-hauling is what really interests me. See my avatar for my Reading G2sa Pacific.
I model the Western Maryland, which was a partner in the Alphabet Route along with the Reading via a connection at Lurgan near Shippensburg, PA. My main terminal represents Hagerstown around 1970, so there’s always plenty of green and cream on hand…
One of these days I’ll get up the nerve to hack into that cab to make it a proper RDG SD-45…
The WM and RDG also worked together with the B&O to move zillions of tons of coal to New York and New England.
Lee
Hi rjake: I watched Reading steamers pass through a deep cut under a road overpass in Ironville on the Reading Columbia branch in the late 40’s and early 50’s. I model a live interchange with the PRR. I don’t have any Reading steamers, but I do have a GP7.
Yep those tracks by the campground are still there although Norfolk Southern traverses them now. I’ve been in the local convenience store on occasion listening to campers grouse about how the trains rumble them right out of there tents in the middle of the night! My wife used to work at the campground as a teenager and she says campers were always coming into the office the next day whining, complaining, wanting there money back because they couldn’t get a good nights sleep with all the racket. Some of the engineers get a kick out of blowing their horns just as they pass the campground at 2am! (LOL [(-D])
Matt
i’ve read a lot about the Reading shops where the wootten firebox and camelback engine were developed, the I10 2-8-0s were converted to t14-8-4s, N1 2-8-8-2s converted to 2-8-8-0s and later K1 2-10-2s. they experimented with a 4-4-4 and they built 30 G1 pacifics.
i know the reading bought baldwin locomotives, but how unique is it for a railroad to build their own steam locomotives, much less develop new ones?