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Index: (click item to go
to that page) Woody
Mathews, of Seattle, WA, sent me this update on the Reading 4-8-4
#2100 I found a link to your TCA Division website in a post on the OGR Forum, and read Rev. Smith's discussion of the Reading T-1 4-8-4s with great interest. Though I never rode a "Ramble" I did attend school in Pottstown PA for a couple of years & recall seeing a T-1 pulling a 90-car freight northbound through town at a distance from a classroom one day over 50 years ago. As a fan of these locos I purchased an MTH model numbered 2124 with scale flanges (I'm mainly an O Scale 2-railer) early in 2005 when those models were first released. Naturally I was overjoyed when the 2100 was moved to Tacoma. Rev. Smith and some of your members might like to know that the 2100 pulled its first excursion with paying passengers on Saturday morning, August 5, 2006. I posted photos of that run in the "Photo Albums" section of the O Gauge Railroading magazine Internet Forum which can be viewed by anyone who cares to look--forum membership is not required to view. The 2100 is scheduled to operate Saturdays & Sundays through October 1st, leaving Tacoma approx 10:30 AM and returning about 2 PM. The locomotive is owned by Mr. Tom Payne, a member of the Board of Directors of the Golden Pacific RR, the company which runs the excursions. The loco pulls a consist of an ex-Amtrak F40 diesel which provides head-end power for the passenger cars (ex-2-level "gallery" commuter cars such as used in Chicagoland and the San Francisco-San Jose area). The rear car is a cab control car, whioch is used to conmtrol the train on the return trip. The train is not turned, so when returning to Tacoma the F40 diesel powers the train in "push" mode towing the steamer backwards. This keeps the operation simple & reduces costs. For further
info see the operator's website, www.gprr.com and a discussion of
the locomotive on the OGR Forum's "Real Trains" Section
thread titled "Reading 2100 on the Move." Fred
Braun's Rare and Unusual Dorfan Locomotive
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