The first passenger train to leave Tamaqua in over 25 years departed the station for a 4-1/2-hour, 75-mile round trip excursion.

As the “Anthracite Express” pulled out of the decorated 1873 Tamaqua Depot, she carried almost 800 passengers from not only the Tamaqua area, but from all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York, and from as far away as Connecticut and Florida.

The over 400-ton “iron horse” was powered by 26 tons of coal and 19,000 gallons of water as it made its way from Tamaqua to Port Clinton and along the Schuylkill River Valley.

The steam engine was built in 1945 by the Reading Locomotive shops and is one of 30 Northern Class engines that pulled coal trains and freight through Schuylkill County and the Reading Lines.