The Reading & Northern Railroad is set to begin another season of all-day passenger excursions from its Reading Outer Station, located at 3501 Pottsville Pike, Reading.

While rail excursions will operate to Jim Thorpe, there will also be alternative excursions to Pottsville.

Pottsville trains will operate on April 29, June 17, July 29, Aug. 19, and Sept. 16. Tickets are now available, priced at $39 round trip, and depart Reading Outer Station at 10 a.m. Passengers have five hours to explore Pottsville before reboarding the train for the return trip.

The Reading to Jim Thorpe excursions will resume on Saturday, May 6, and continue every Saturday and Sunday (plus holidays) through Sept. 30.

These trips depart Reading Outer Station ($39.00 round trip) at 9 a.m. and make station stops in Port Clinton ($39 round trip) and Tamaqua ($24 round trip). Tickets to ride from any of these stations are on sale now.

This year, passengers will have more time in Jim Thorpe - more than four and a half hours - to dine and shop in the historic downtown. The rail diesel cars (RDCs) will be utilized on this route.

The 2023 Iron Horse Rambles tickets will go on sale May 1 at 9 a.m. The Rambles are pulled by the pride of the fleet, 4-8-4 T-1 steam locomotive #2102. Seating options range from Standard Coach all the way up to Lounge Observation Car. Prices range from $99 to $210 per ticket depending on the accommodation chosen.

These excursions recall the days of the steam-powered trips of the same name that were operated by the Reading Company in the late 1950s into the early 1960s.

The 2023 season marks the second straight year of The Rambles on Reading & Northern and the return of #2102 to service after more than three decades of inactivity. These are scheduled to operate from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe on July 1, Aug. 13, and Sept. 2.

Tickets for the 2022 excursions sold out.

Reading & Northern Railroad, with its corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, is a privately held railroad company serving more than 70 customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties (Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill, and Wyoming). It handles more than 34,000 carloads of freight and 250,000 excursion riders annually over 400 miles of track.

Reading & Northern operates both freight services and steam- and diesel-powered excursion passenger services, owns over 1,700 freight cars, and employs nearly 300 people.