Eastern Railroad Discussion > Reading & Northern with two fracking sand trains

This afternoon the Reading & Northern moved 100 car loads of Fracking sand that just came off the NS at Reading PA. The 100 cars was too much for the Regional Railroad to move over the steep grades in Schulykill & Carbon Counties. Here are some pics of the NRPI and the NRFF moving sand at Nesquehoning and Rausch;s, PA. The first train had 75 car loads and 5 SD40's in the lead. The second train had 25 loads and 3 SD40's leading.

NRPI at Nesquehoning.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/22 11:52 by jim6300loco.

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At Rausch's in Schulykill County.with the NRFF and 25 loads of Fracking Sand.

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pic 7 Sitting at Tamaqua yard.
pic 8 At Steinsville on the WK&S
pic 9 At Kempton, PA. A ring Neck phasant a rare find!

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What time did the second one leave N. Reading?

Posted from iPhone

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

2:15. The NRFF is back to it's regular schedule. leaves North Reading Yard at 2:15 in the PM daily. except sometimes it doesn't run on a Saturday.

Good stuff pop!

Dan

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for posting your excellent photo series.  Each one is a real winner.
ALLEN

Terrific set!

JG

Gosh, I remember when all the Reading tonnage was headed down the line, not up! Coal then,not sand.
The Ringneck is doing exactly what has caused its demise, strutting across roadways! Not exactly 100% true, but when we moved into this house 20 years ago I saw a Ringneck a couple of times and then it was road pizza. Last one I saw anywhere. Many others succumb to feral cats and pet dog’s that discover a Pheasant’s ground nest. Where I grew up when you walked through tall grass you often scared a Pheasant that would take off flying and squawking. Of course they waited until you were about a foot away! Pennsylvania had a Pheasant Hatchery near here but gave up as the stupid birds kept getting wiped out on the ever so busier suburban highways.
Nice post of today’s railroading in Schuylkill County.
Go

jim6300loco Wrote:
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> 2:15. The NRFF is back to it's regular schedule.
> leaves North Reading Yard at 2:15 in the PM daily.
> except sometimes it doesn't run on a Saturday.

OK, I misread that the first time. I thought you meant there were two separate sand trains.

I got the FF at Penobscot

Posted from iPhone

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

Didn't know that RBMN handled fracking sand.  Is this new business for them?

Interesting how they handled this move.  It reminded me of the unit potash trains that CP and INRD used to run to Louisville.  Due to buffer and other issues through hilly Southern Indiana, the trains were handled in two sections, with the first section being a unit train with a reduced number of cars, whereas, the remainder of the potash loads were added to the regular Louisville train.

Have to admit that the WK&S photos have a particular appeal on this otherwise indfferent Monday morning.

Ringneck pheasants must be more plentifull further west, given that Watco now has a railroad through South Dakota that it named the Ringneck & Western.

inrdjlg Wrote:
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> Didn't know that RBMN handled fracking sand.  Is
> this new business for them?
>
> Interesting how they handled this move.  It
> reminded me of the unit potash trains that CP and
> INRD used to run to Louisville.  Due to buffer
> and other issues through hilly Southern Indiana,
> the trains were handled in two sections, with the
> first section being a unit train with a reduced
> number of cars, whereas, the remainder of the
> potash loads were added to the regular Louisville
> train.
>
> Have to admit that the WK&S photos have a
> particular appeal on this otherwise indfferent
> Monday morning.
>
> Ringneck pheasants must be more plentifull further
> west, given that Watco now has a railroad through
> South Dakota that it named the Ringneck & Western.

rbmnrr.com/news, scroll down to the R&N Newsmagazine, latest issue has article.

Great narrative story, and it was a surprise to see the caboose.

Frac sand in northeast Pennsylvania is an indication of good jobs in the oil patch.

Great shots and nice business, good to see a shortline perform. As to pheasants, had an auto incident with one
in Kansas, it flew into the side of my car!

Out

Why not move 2 equal 50-car trains, vs. a long and short one?  Curious......

The second train if the NRFF a daily train from Reading to Pittston. So my guess is the first train was actually an extra and the left over cars attached to the regularly scheduled train.

Posted from Android

Yesterday, while walking in Huron, Ohio, and looking down the tracks at the crossing; I noted an eastbound train was coming, so I sat down by the crossing.  I did not have long to wait.  The NS had charge of a HUGE train of loaded frac sand cars rolling eastbound; with four UP locomotives; two in the lead and two on the rear as DPU's.  No doubt, some if not all of the loads were going here and will be on a future RBMN train a few days from now.

Not a ring neck. No white ring around his neck....