Four Day Pennsylvania Trip - 1

Hi, On Tuesday, October 12 friend Bill Kalkman and I headed to Northeastern Pennsylvania for some railfanning. I had four objectives for this trip. I wanted to photograph a Reading and Northern (R&N) SD50 in their new "tuxedo" paint scheme, a Delaware Lackawanna (DL) six axle unit in the Genesee Valley Transportation corporate scheme, the DL's Carbondale line and some fall foliage. Mission accomplished.

Our first stop was Tuckerton, PA, just north of Reading. Bill knew that the power for R&N's train NRFF (North Reading Fast Freight) would be here awaiting their early afternoon departure. The power set shown above would lead that day's train. I elected to get a few roster shots just in case.

Next we stopped at R&N's new Reading Outer Station where we found these two MP15DCs. Bill learned from an employee that our most likely targets would be the QASD and QAMC. Both trains originate in Tamaqua the former operating to Shenandoah and the latter to Mount Carmel, so we headed to Mahanoy City and began our search.

We encountered the QASD at Gilberton, west of Mahanoy City where it was working a coal mine and got three shots (above and three below).

Our next opportunities were the SDQA at Gilberton and

as a light engine at East Mahanoy Junction.

Our last activity of the day was a chase of the NRFF which we were able to photograph at Barnesville,

Glen Onoko Park in Jim Thorpe (above and two below) and 

at Oliver Mills in Laurel Run. Thus ended our first day.

I have included a photo take during April 1975 at Oliver Mills just before Conrail. In 1972 the Central Railroad of New Jersey abandoned their track in Pennsylvania and it was taken over by the Lehigh Valley. The Valley wove the two railroads lines into a single route (although some duplication remained). In this photo the tracks of both railroads can be seen. I am not sure which railroad's track the train was on. The Alco C628s are pushing an eastbound.

Thanks for looking.