Reading #2124

Originally built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works during the mid 1920s as a 2-8-0, Reading #2124 was rebuilt by the Reading Company in January 1947 as one of thirty 4-8-4 Northerns. These heavy-duty freight locomotives were assigned most often to coal traffic, using wide fire-boxes that burned culm, a waste product of anthracite coal. The engine and tender together weighed 405 tons and could easily pull 150 loaded coal hoppers. Retired from freight service in 1956, #2124 was rescued from the scrap heap, and during the early 1960s, when steam had all but disappeared from America's railroads, it pulled Reading trains filled with steam enthusiasts on the famous Reading Rambles.

Scranton, Pennsylvania · United States