All aboard!

What is it about trains that we find fascinating? Some people love to build model train displays, others prefer the real thing. Of course, it’s hard to park a real train outside your house; the neighbors might complain.

Jim Thorpe/Mauch Chunk has always been a railroad town since the early days. According to Earl J. Heydinger in the RLHS Bulletin, trains in Mauch Chunk started back in 1827 with the famed Switchback Railroad.

“Pennsylvania’s first railroad and first anthracite carrier opened on Saturday, May 5, 1827, when seven cars of coal passed from the Summit Hill mines of the L. C. & N. Company to their canal at Mauch Chunk, descending 936 feet in the nine-mile trip.”

It was called the Mauch Chunk and Summit Railroad when it started.

Back in the 1800s and early 1900s, the trains were mostly work trains — either freight or passenger. Today, in Jim Thorpe, freight trains still go through. Now the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway offers train rides through the area.

My dad had a fascination with trains, photographing them and watching them go through Jim Thorpe and Lehighton. He photographed the many freight trains that hauled cargo through the area, plus he photographed the people who worked on the railroad as well as a lot of the equipment that was used on the tracks.

The earliest photos of Dad’s were from around 1976, steam engine 972 outside the Mauch Chunk Train Display.

When we moved to Jim Thorpe in 2007, he walked down to the station nearly every day and took many photos of the trains and the people.

When they refurbished the 2102 steam engine recently, I was pleased to find a photo my dad had taken years ago when the 2102 used to come to Jim Thorpe.

In 2022, I spoke with Darrell Matz, a then 31-year veteran of the railroad who was working as a conductor on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad.

“I started working here when we started here over 10 years ago,” Matz said. “I’ve been doing railroad work for 31 years. My first railroad job was with the Pennsylvania Railroad in Columbus, Ohio. I’ve always lived in the Reading area, a lot of trains in that area.”

I have been on several of the trains. My preference is the open-air cars. As a photographer, I like a clear shot at what I am photographing. And I am looking forward to seeing the fall foliage again by train.