Steam & Excursion > Who is riding the Reading steam trips?

Who is riding the Reading steam trips?
I have my ticket for the June 21st trip. Rode it last year and had a great time

I scored dome car tickets for February. 

Chalk up 4 Dome Car tickets for me on the 6/21 trip. Been wanting to to ride the train for some time, but every time I found out about tickets being on sale, I was too late to purchase premium seating. Not this time however, as I got e'm within 10 minutes of going on sale. I'm sure it'll be a good trip and I'll enjoy watching the foamers trip over each other and speed between locations to get their photos.

J

I'll be riding the Feb. 7th. trip in o/w coach #4 in seat 9 on the engineers side with my window wide open regardless of what the weather is doing. It will be a great show and I'm confident that Andy's first rate steam team will give us more than our money's worth. 

    Onward & Upward. Ross Rowland 

I purchased three dome car seats for the February 8th,  I am going with my brother and son.  It appeared that the bulk of the winter trip is sold out.  We figured they might never do another winter run.  Working on steam in very cold weather can be a challenge and I did that once on the Ohio Central many years ago.  You had to be very careful on the locomotive was there was ice everywhere.  My fingers almost turned blue from feeding the grease sticks on the alemite gun,  I was not comfortable using my gloves for that. JJJ did that once and that was it!

Ron

I was Bill Benson's Steam Supervisor for the 5 years that we 
ran his trips using 2102.   We ran many steam trips in cold, bitter weather.

She talks to me every on every trip, so, I can enjoy her in so many ways.
Having the opportunity to continue to have her show me what she can do,
is truly a marvelous life-experience. 

I rode in her cab for every one of those thousands of miles.
I wouldn't trade a minute of that time for a million-dollars..

She continues to amaze me, every minute and every mile.
I enjoy watching the new crews --- getting better at managing her.
She's a very patient teacher.   I empathize with her when their 
learning takes a little longer.  But, I understand.
The engineers get better with every trip, and better familiarized with the 
the way varying and subtle, track profiles affect 2102's performance.
You can't get that from any book.

There's a LOT to learn about being a steam engineer, both in the locomotives
and in understanding how the track profile affects performance 
She'll break stuff, as learning lessons for her maintainers.
If they seek to learn.   Otherwise, she'll make your life miserable.

​W.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/25 20:09 by wcamp1472.

Has anyone ridden in the Pullman car before? I was thinking about calling and seeing if I could trade our dome car tickets for a Pullman but I could only find one or two small pictures on their website and they aren't much to go on. Also are there any open air cars like on some other excursions where you can ride in a baggage car, etc. for a short time? 

The Pullman is a classic 1920's all bedroom sleeper pretty much exactly as it was in Pullman service back in the day. No a/c and limited electric heat. Rides well . As to open air space you'll be able to find an empty seat in one of the 9 o/w coaches that make up the head end as there's always an empty seat or two. 

    There's some heavy pulls in both directions so you'll get to witness the 2102 pulling for all she's worth. 

    Happy New Year. Ross Rowland 

co614 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Pullman is a classic 1920's all bedroom
> sleeper pretty much exactly as it was in Pullman
> service back in the day. No a/c and limited
> electric heat. Rides well . As to open air space
> you'll be able to find an empty seat in one of the
> 9 o/w coaches that make up the head end as there's
> always an empty seat or two. 
>
>     There's some heavy pulls in both directions
> so you'll get to witness the 2102 pulling for all
> she's worth. 
>
>     Happy New Year. Ross Rowland 

Thank you for all the information! 

I rode the first trip with 2102 when it broke down.  We have a credit for a future trip if we can ever get back there.  Every experience we had with the Reading and Northern has been terrific.  Visiting the operation at Port Clinton is very interesting and all the Reading and Northern people are very helpful @nd friendly.  I've also taken the scenic train up the valley from Jim Thorpe...do the cab ride, if possible.  Nice experience.

There are currently now 2 dome tickets open for the Feb 8th trip.  Get them while you can! I decided to go with the open window Pullman room this afternoon. Excellent customer service on the phone line with a very nice lady.

SantaFeCF7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are currently now 2 dome tickets open for
> the Feb 8th trip.  Get them while you can! I
> decided to go with the open window Pullman room
> this afternoon. Excellent customer service on the
> phone line with a very nice lady.

OK, I'm a bit confused. The Pullman really has "open windows"? Won't that make a mess of those nice Pullman rooms?

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SantaFeCF7 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There are currently now 2 dome tickets open for
> > the Feb 8th trip.  Get them while you can! I
> > decided to go with the open window Pullman room
> > this afternoon. Excellent customer service on
> the
> > phone line with a very nice lady.
>
> OK, I'm a bit confused. The Pullman really has
> "open windows"? Won't that make a mess of those
> nice Pullman rooms?

According to the ticket agent, and the ticket it is an open window Pullman!

 

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