The Reading & Northern Railroad Passenger Department celebrated its 40th anniversary on July 13.

Four decades have passed since the inaugural passenger train operated over the original 13-mile Blue Mountain & Reading Railroad from Temple to Hamburg.

The Reading & Northern Railroad was formed in 1983 by Andy Muller Jr. as the Blue Mountain & Reading to haul freight over a little-used Conrail branch line that was once part of the Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Valley branch. Freight revenues in those early years were meager. Naysayers scoffed at the prospect of this privately owned enterprise achieving even remote success. In 1985, the Blue Mountain & Reading attracted national attention by introducing steam- and diesel-powered passenger excursions over its route; and eventually, special all-day excursions over Conrail main lines. Steam locomotives 425 and 2102 were the star attractions of the Blue Mountain & Reading.

These Temple-to-Hamburg excursions continued into the mid-1990s. As the new decade dawned, a huge opportunity from Conrail knocked. It had announced its intention to sell the “Anthracite Cluster” consisting of approximately 120 miles of branch lines located in the coal regions of Schuylkill County. On the heels of the success of the Blue Mountain & Reading Railroad, Conrail sold the lines to Muller; and in December 1990, the new Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad — or Reading & Northern for short — was born.

As the 1990s progressed, freight traffic became an enormous source of revenue for the railroad, as the company worked tirelessly to restore rail lines that were, in many cases, on the verge of abandonment. Passenger trains were gradually relegated to a small handful of occasions.

While many excursions operated over the newly acquired lines of Reading & Northern, the newfound success in the freight business overshadowed them. Steam locomotive 2102 was sidelined in 1991; 425 would follow a few years later.

All of that began to change in 2005 with the introduction of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway in Jim Thorpe. A several years long effort to reactivate an idle railroad bridge just west of the town with the goal of linking Reading & Northern’s Reading and Lehigh divisions to expedite freight movements over what had become an over 300-mile rail system finally resulted in success in 2003.

With this reactivation, opportunity knocked yet again and regularly scheduled LGSR passenger trains originating from historic Jim Thorpe began operation on Memorial Day weekend 2005. The LGSR was a success from the start. With it firmly in place as a true tourist attraction on the Reading & Northern Railroad, the revival of passenger service began. Excursions to the town became more frequent, operating mostly from Port Clinton but also from northern locations such as Duryea and Mountain Top. As the passenger business continued its exponential growth, it quickly became clear that the administration was outgrowing its humble corner of railroad headquarters in Port Clinton. In 2015, Reading & Northern purchased the historic former Reading Company passenger station in Schuylkill Haven, and moved its passenger operations in, where it resides to this day.

New passenger stations have been established at North Reading (Outer Station) and Pittston (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Regional Railroad Station) and are huge draws for their respective areas. Passenger trains now operate round trip every weekend, 10 months of the year, from these stations to Jim Thorpe. Upgrades have been made to Tamaqua Station, and with the acquisition of the former KME/REV Group property in Nesquehoning, a new station has been established on its grounds. Perhaps most astonishing about this is the fact that tickets for Reading & Northern’s all-day excursions have remained at the same price point for much of the last 40 years.

The success of the passenger department since 2005 led to the restoration of steam locomotive 425 in 2007. It made several appearances on the LGSR and Reading & Northern main line excursions through 2022. No. 425 is currently undergoing its 15-year rebuilding and its return is eagerly anticipated by steam fans and employees alike. In 2016, Muller proceeded with the restoration of steam locomotive 2102. After 31 years of inactivity, 2102 returned to the rails of the Reading & Northern in May 2022 with the rebirth of the Iron Horse Rambles from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe. In August 2022, a memorable doubleheader excursion with 425 was operated over the same route.

Steam-powered trains remain the greatest attraction on the Reading & Northern Railroad; yet the entire spectrum of passenger excursion offerings draw visitors from anywhere imaginable. As one curious car host recently discovered, the LGSR hosted guests from as far away as Ecuador, The Philippines and Uzbekistan. In 40 years, Reading & Northern passenger trains have gone from the local spotlight to the worldwide stage. The hard work by its dedicated employees, under the leadership of Muller and family, has ensured that the passenger department will continue to be a worldwide phenomenon for the next 40 years and beyond.

Reading & Northern Railroad, with its corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, is a privately held railroad company serving over 80 customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties (Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill and Wyoming).

It has expanded its operations over the last 40 years and now transports nearly 35,000 carloads of freight (which removes over 200,000 trucks from the highway), while its Passenger Department welcomes nearly 340,000 riders annually. Reading & Northern operates its freight and steam- and diesel-powered passenger excursions over 400 miles of track, owns almost 2,000 freight cars, and employs over 350 dedicated people.

Reading & Northern has been repeatedly honored as one of the premier railroads in the nation, including being named Regional Railroad of the Year in 2020 by Railway Age magazine.