Reading T-1 No. 2102 is back in steam after 30+ years, with a test train of 50 empty hoppers, running between Reading and Jim Thorpe. The train is headed upgrade along the Reading's Little Schuylkill Branch. The Reading saved $75,000 on each T-1 by "kitbashing" them (with Baldwin's help) from drag-era 2-8-0s instead of buying new. That's $1,171,450 in today's money- quite a savings per engine. They also reused the I-10sa 2-8-0's 61-1/2" drivers to upgrade some older I-9sb 2-8-0s that had 55" drivers, in another frugal but prudent rebuild program. The Reading's shops in Reading were first-rate, without a doubt, and the 2102's current owners are carrying on the tradition.
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom seen beauty of railroads from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding sunset to sunrise surprises!)
