Great video. You can feel the decline of the passenger service at this period, especially with tires dumped near the tracks, passenger cars dirty etc. sad, but very historic ! Thank you

Love the video . Thanks for posting . Rode both types of trains . Those older heavy weight cars with the sealed windows were very comfortable and blessedly air conditioned. I remember leaning back in the reclining seats and closing my eyes briefly; when I opened them we were gliding out of the Reading Terminal . The train started so smoothly and rode like butter . And quiet ! It was express from North Broad to Dekalb Street Norristown.

I wish I could go through time to see Reading Railroad's express trains on the Norristown Line. Old coaches, F7 diesels, and a branch line going to Pottsville.

i remember seeing the 2 and 3 unit budd consists at the Franklin Street station in Reading all the time

Very pretty. Great aerial shot at Klapperthal Jct.

You know, its not RDG steam, but still got onto my playlists because RDG cap units are awesome.

I saw 903 and her sister at Steamtown this past weekend. Still beautiful! All that trash on/around the main in the first clip makes me sick. Great video as always!

Never gets old

Outstanding video. I rode the Push-pull train once from Philly to Reading in the late 1970's.

I think 7:23 is Old York Road, just south of Elkins Park. But everything else looks like someplace between Philly and Pottsville to me. Awesome job!

Always pleased to see when you've uploaded a video... Thanks!

@trainsupporter9088

5 жыл бұрын

Same here!

Excellent video. I missed my catch to catch all the railroads before Conrail.

Loved the video, so many locations I am not familiar with. There's some really crappy track those "F's" are running over!

Great video thanks

Plans are in place to expand Amtrak to restore passenger rail service to areas that have not seen it in decades.

@fmnut

8 ай бұрын

Forgive me if I'm a skeptic. There have been "plans in place" for the restoration of Philadelphia to Reading service since the last train ran in 1981. One of these "plans" was the ill fated Schuylkill Valley Metro. In total, various entities have spent enough on plans and surveys to buy a set of equipment and initiate service. As for Amtrak, don't hold your breath as long as Congress holds the purse strings. This is a commuter operation more properly dovetailed with SEPTA rather than Amtrak.

Great video! I especially enjoyed seeing the RDCs. I'm not sure if the Reading had diner cars but IIRC at least one railroad in the region had one kitted out for food service.

@fmnut

2 жыл бұрын

The Reading had dining service on the Crusader and Wall Street. There were also diners on the Schuylkill and King Coal. After conversion to RDC's, the Crusader and Wall Street had "Refreshment cars" which were an RDC2 and RDC3 with their baggage/mail sections converted to lunch counters. They served light breakfast on the morning runs and sandwiches and drinks in the afternoon. The RDC3, 9166, survives on the Reading and Northern as part of their Budd train.

@Poisson4147

2 жыл бұрын

@@fmnut Great info - Thank you!

@0759trainz

Жыл бұрын

@@fmnutthey also had grill cars

Great video

Great stuff but the obvious dubbed sounds of modern subway cars is noticable.

@professorjamesmoriarty5191

27 күн бұрын

I don't hear it?

Thank you for contributing this. I thoroughly enjoyed watching. This isn't a criticism by any means but more of a wish; I wish from time to time there were digital captions of certain locations embedded in the film (not sure if that's even possible). For instance, I'm curious to see if earlier in the film there's a viaduct that looks like it heads to the former upper train station of Ivy Ridge (now a rail to trail bridge). I've never seen clips of trains going across that bridge. Really cool to see the different diesel trains. Also the train station at the very end, where is that? Thanks, again! Bravo!

@fmnut

5 жыл бұрын

That viaduct location that is now a trail is Manayunk. RDG and PRR both had stations there, the PRR on the upper level. The station at the very end is Franklin St, Reading.

@fmnut

5 жыл бұрын

Due to requests from you and others I am uploading a version with locations. Enjoy!

@fmnut

5 жыл бұрын

If you want to see a rear end view of the Manayunk viaduct, see the middle portion of my "RDG PRR riding the rear end" video.

I don't know much about the Reading, but I thought the F units were long gone by the 1970's, along with their diesel-powered passenger trains. Amtrak, of course, took over in 1971, and I didn't think they operated a single train on the Reading. Good quality video.

@fmnut

5 жыл бұрын

Most of Reading's F units were retired long before Conrail, however 3 were retained for the Push Pull train. They lasted to the end of service to Reading/Pottsville/Bethlehem in 1981. All three were preserved. Amtrak took over LONG DISTANCE passenger trains, while Reading's were considered commuter service and RDG was never considered for entry to Amtrak.

@rexracernj7696

5 жыл бұрын

@@fmnut Toward late 1970's the push-pull consist was repainted a gaudy SEPTA red/white/blue; nicknamed the "circus train" until abandonment.

@fmnut

5 жыл бұрын

@@rexracernj7696 Yes, I was in the shops when it was getting repainted. The repaint job came after the train derailed at Norristown and was shopped for repairs. See my "Push Pull" video for scenes in the SEPTA scheme.

@malachimuhammad-dy2ow

Жыл бұрын

@fmnut I really miss diesel express trains going to Pottsville via the Norristown Line.

That was A-OK! Mr. B.

Passenger service ended in the Coal Region in the early 60's.

@fmnut

4 жыл бұрын

Define coal region. Pottsville is part of the coal region and service there didn't end til 1981. I think you mean service to Tamaqua/Shamokin ended in the 60s.

A sad video, but this was just before Conrail, I believe, or was this under SEPTA using RDG equipment? (OMG, has it been 50 years?)

@fmnut

3 ай бұрын

Some of both, pre and post Conrail.

Excellent. What is the location of the scene from 13:55 to 14:10? Looks like the Blue Mountains to me, but other scenes here don't appear to be north of Reading.

@fmnut

5 жыл бұрын

That's the Pottsville shuttle at Stone siding, about 2 miles north of Port Clinton. It is no longer accessible by road.

This was great. How did they do the push-pull? Were the units MU’d or was the trailing unit dead? When you say you edited the sound, do you mean it was added later to a silent film?

@fmnut

26 күн бұрын

Both units ran under power, the first such application in the US. If you pause an overhead shot, you'll see the MU cable running down the center line of the coach roofs. The sound was added to silent film.

@lancomedic

26 күн бұрын

@@fmnut Thanks. The last time I saw those locos they were painted in SEPTA colors at SRR. I know 900 at Hamburg.

How’s Walt doing? Glad to hear that he’s still kicking it. Haven’t seen a Railroad Video Production title in a long time.

@fmnut

5 жыл бұрын

Doing fine. We're working on some projects together.

@AllAboardAudio.

5 жыл бұрын

fmnut Good. Glad to hear that.

@fmnut

4 жыл бұрын

Look for Anchor Video on the Web. That's the name he's using now.

Great video! 2:45 Bethlehem, PA?

@fmnut

5 жыл бұрын

Wissahickon on the Norristown Branch

:10 oohhhhh 16th Street Junction.

1:34 R160 Alstom sounds, disturbing

@philocohen

5 ай бұрын

6:04 it's a blueliner.

@CentralJerseyRailfan

5 ай бұрын

@@philocohen ohhh i know that. the subway sounds are dubbed over lol

Alternate title: How sweaty, hairy, greeezy people moved between decaying, trash-filled city centers in the 1970s.

903 would sit all day in the Reading Terminal shed waiting for the evening return trip. Couldn’t they have given those windows or cars a cleaning once in a while? Filthy.

@kenhanks9620

2 жыл бұрын

Would have been desirable but bear in mind at that time Reading was on verge of bankruptcy and just did not have the funds for even many of the necessities.