Eastern Railroad Discussion > “The Shifter” A&A 206 Working Kutztown, PA

I grew up in Kutztown, PA and every time a train came into town my dad would call it "the Shifter" which he says goes back to what the Reading crews called their local (it was officially the "East Penn Local").

Tonight when I was in Kutztown the Allentown and Auburn was shifting freight for the foundry there.

Here the 206 pulls outbound cars from the foundry.

I'll post a few scenes after this one...........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/25 18:35 by dschlegel.

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Here conductor Nolan rides the shove back towards the foundry to spot 3 inbound cars.

Note that after I tell him to smile he asks if this will be on Trainorders in the morning!!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/25 18:36 by dschlegel.

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Finally it's time to get out of town. Nolan has to hustle a bit to flag Main Street, and does a fine job thanks to a fuel truck that has already come to it's required stop.

It was fun to watch for sure, and reminded me of being a kid in the late 70's/early 80's watching Conrail come into town with engines still wearing Reading, Erie Lackawanna, and Penn Central schemes.

I'd stand at these same spots to watch the action!

Enjoy!
Dan

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Great to see this RR active with freight customers and well as the tourist operation.  

It was given up for dead by the dopes and CR/NS

Yep the shifter was in Town tonight . I even went down to watch it. There is going to be a lot more "Shifting" here in Kutztown for the Re-opened Kutztown Foundry and Machine LLC. Now part of the FerroWorks family.
Here is a picture of the Reading shifting the Kutztown Foundry back in the 1960's when I was a young teeager.

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I used to see the Reading "Shifters" at Abrams and on the Plymouth and Chester Valley Branches (gone), at Pheonixville Bridge & Steel (gone)and Conshohocken's Alan Wood Steel (probably going) as a kid.
In my younger adult years we still had the daily "Shifter" working Lansdale and the Bethlehem Branch while dodging the RDCs to Bethelehem (now covered by two shortlines)
Today there is what was called the "Beltliner" working out of Spring Street Yard in Reading and it sometimes makes it all the way east of Pottstown on the former Reading Mainline to reverse at CP Cromby although I rarely catch it lately, maybe running at night?
Gonut

Three nice videos!

Nice videos Dan, great to see all that traffic in Kutztown. I just wish they could paint that shabby caboose. When I lived out that way I tried several times to catch any movements into Kutztown but never succeeded. Thanks for posting!

JG

That is one handsome looking switcher! And those M3's sound pretty nice too. Wish that Dunkin' Donuts had been there back when Rich Bader and I used to switch that Branch for the Reading & Northern many years ago, 1989 to 1995.

Posted from Android

Chris Bost
Leesport, PA

RBMN-ENGR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is one handsome looking switcher! And those
> M3's sound pretty nice too. Wish that Dunkin'
> Donuts had been there back when Rich Bader and I
> used to switch that Branch for the Reading &
> Northern many years ago, 1989 to 1995.
>
> Posted from Android

Hey Chris!

You and Rich had a handsome locomotive too back in those days. BM&R 600 if I remember right, green with gold lettering.

It was always fun to see you guys working.

As for Dunkin, I miss the gas station that was there! It was Pollard Tire company and when I worked there from about 88-93 and again 98-99 we did a lot of light vehicle work like oil changes, tire repairs, brakes, inspections, etc. all while pumping full serve Texaco!

Dan

Posted from iPhone

I worked there when it was Oswald's Atlantic Station back in the 60's.