Back in September, my good pal Danny was visiting home from Chicago for a week, and I decided to take a Friday off work so that the guys and our pal from the windy city could get out for a fun day of buffing. With a beautiful day of weather on tap on this late summer day and some solid info, we hit the road to the Reading and Northern. R&N PNPV, the twice-a-week local that departs Port Clinton up the Pottsville Branch to work the Pottsville/Cressona area customers, would be using a pair of the coolest locomotives on the roster, RBMN SW8M 803 and SW8 801, both former Lehigh Valley veterans, with a big train in tow for their customers. The PNPV usually works the transload facility in West Cressona Yard, Hydro in Pottsville and the Yuengling Brewery in Port Carbon. We've chased the PNPV a few years ago when they used a GP38-2, but never caught this run with a pair of switchers, so needless to say, we were pretty stoked. The switcher pair sounded awesome, with the 803 sporting a Nathan M3 horn, and plenty of Lehigh Valley red showing thorugh the green. Talk about classic!
Starting out in Port Clinton, the PNPV can be seen putting their train together as the sun begins to rise, before the pair of switchers lift the husky train onto the Pottsville Branch, friendly crew on this train, as is often the case on the R&N. We catch the train again as they round the bend through a mostly empty West Cressona Yard, where they will arrange their train for their work. Something about the heavy train with the SW800s under power coming straight out of the sun into Cressona was very cool to me. After working Hydro, which is pretty much totally inaccessible to the public, we see them begin their work at Yuengling, which receives covered hopper cars with malt and hops in them. After drilling out the brewery for a while, the PNPV would depart, headed back down the Schuylkill Haven at Mine Junction, where they would reverse into West Cressona to assemble their train of outbounds for Port Clinton. Enjoy the video!
R&N PNPV - September 15th, 2023
RBMN SW8M 803
RBMN SW8 801
00:00 - Port Clinton, PA
10:19 - West Cressona Yard - Cressona, PA
13:47 - Yuengling Brewery - Port Carbon, PA
24:07 - Commerce Street - Port Carbon, PA
25:32 - Pottsville Street - Pottsville, PA
Thanks for watching!
28 июл 2024
