R&N Hopper Jet Excursion - May 5th

The Reading & Northern along with the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Chapter, NRHS ran a "Hopper Jet" excursion on May 5th. The train "traveled former Reading lines from Port Clinton to North Reading Yard, East Mahanoy Jct., and Mahanoy City over rare freight-only mileage on the R&N’s mainline and Mahanoy & Shamokin lines into the heart of today’s anthracite coal corridor. The train will consist of three former Lehigh Valley SW-8 diesel locomotives, ten coal hoppers, passenger cars, and caboose."

It's heard to believe it's been four months already and I was way behind in getting some photos uploaded to share. I also thought there was a post here already, but I didn't see it today when I double checked. Anyway, here are some photos from that day, which was a great excursion.

At Port Clinton before leaving
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=3172546

First photo runby at East Mahanoy Junction:
R&N caboose: http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=3172545
1st runby: http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=3172547
2nd runby: http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=3172548

At Blacshak Coal Company:
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=3172542
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=3172549

Ex Denver & Rio Grand hopper purchased by the R&N:
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=3172550

Final runby of the day:
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=3172543

Enjoy!

Better late than never. Thanks for posting. Now if only those pups were still painted Cornell Red.....

Thanks for the pictures. I wanted to ride that excursion, but was out of town that weekend.

It was an 81 mile excursion including the run down to Reading to turn the train according to my GPS track. Traveling to Mahanoy Junction and beyond was a thrill for me because that spot and the former Lakewood Park hold some fond memories. I even bumped into someone I know who lives 50 yards away and was watching the trains and mass of people from her car.

It was a fun day for me and well worth the price IMHO! I hope next year they do it again and run even further up the line!

Thanks for the pix!

Outstanding photos, Steve! Good weather, great scenery, cool equipment...can't beat that.
Chris

Thanks for the compliments. It was a great trip, I just wished there was a runby coming into/leaving North Reading Yard. The weather was terrific and the power used was definitely one of the selling points for the trip. Hopefully, they will do something like that again.

Here are two videos from that day as well:
1st photo runby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf0-A9e_ ... ture=g-upl
2nd photo runby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTbiS3Ju ... ture=g-upl

There is talk that there may be another excursion in May 2013. No details yet as it is in the planning stages. Keep an eye out for more information down the road.