Reading 2102

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Reading 2102
Reading No. 2102 on an inaugural run of the Greenbrier Railroad at Cass, West Virginia on May 2, 1971
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works Serial number 57580 Build date 1923 (As Class I10sa 2-8-0 Consolidation #2022) Rebuilder Reading Company Rebuild date 1945 (Rebuilt as : T1 4-8-4 Northern 2102)
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte New: 2-8-0, Rebuilt: 4-8-4  • UIC New: 1'D Rebuilt: 2'D'2 Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver dia. 70 in (1,778 mm) Length 110 ft 6 in (33.68 m) Axle load 69,550 lb (31,550 kilograms; 31.55 metric tons) Adhesive weight 278,200 lb (126,200 kilograms; 126.2 metric tons) Loco weight 441,300 lb (200,200 kilograms; 200.2 metric tons) Total weight 809,000 lb (367,000 kilograms; 367 metric tons) Fuel type Anthracite coal Fuel capacity 52,000 lb (24,000 kilograms; 24 metric tons) Water cap 19,000 US gallons (72,000 l; 16,000 imp gal) Firebox:  • Firegrate area 94.5 sq ft (8.78 m2) Boiler pressure 240 lbf/in2 (1.65 MPa) Cylinders Two, outside Cylinder size 27 in × 32 in (686 mm × 813 mm)
Performance figures Power output 5,500 hp (4,100 kW) Tractive effort Loco: 68,000 lbf (302.5 kN), Booster 11,100 lbf (49.4 kN), Factor of adh. 4.09
Career Operators Reading Company Steam Tours Inc. Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad Class New: I-10sa Rebuilt: T-1 Numbers RDG 2022 RDG 2102 D&H 302 Allegheny 2102 RBM&NR 2102 Retired 1956 (revenue service) 1991 (1st excursion service) Restored 1962 (1st restoration) Current owner Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad Disposition Undergoing restoration to operating condition, based in Port Clinton, Pennsylvania

Reading 2102 is a preserved class "T-1" 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive. Originally constructed by Baldwin in 1923 as an earlier 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type locomotive, No. 2102 was rebuilt by the Reading's own locomotive facility as a 4-8-4 in 1945, and it was used for pulling heavy coal trains for the railroad until being retired from revenue service in 1956. Between 1962 and 1964, No. 2102 was used to pull the famous Iron Horse Rambles excursion trains alongside sister engines 2100 and 2124. After the rambles ended in 1964, No. 2102 was sold to Steam Tours Inc. of Akron, Ohio to spend the next 23 years pulling various fan trips in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. In 1985, it was sold again to Andy Muller to operate on his Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad. It would operate on the regional railroad alongside 4-6-2 "Pacific" No. 425, until its flue ticket expired in 1991. Restoration work to bring the locomotive back to service began in February 2016 and would likely be completed in early 2022.

History[]

Revenue service and first retirement (1923–1956)[]

By the end of the 1920s, the Philadelphia and Reading Company had approximately 1,015 class "I" 2-8-0 "Consolidation" types constructed by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as the Reading's own locomotive shops in Reading.^[1] One of those classes of 2-8-0s was the I-10sa class, and No. 2102 was one of the first I-10sa locomotives built in 1923, being numbered 2022 at the time. No. 2022 was solely used for heavy freight service on the Reading's Branch lines, and sometimes, on the Main line.

When the Reading was looking for even heavier and more-powerful locomotives during the end of World War II, they brought thirty of their Consolidations Nos 2020–2049, including No. 2022, into its locomotive shops in Reading. There, No. 2022 was heavily rebuilt into a 4-8-4 "Northern", and was reclassified as a T-1, being renumbered to 2102. It's four-axle tender was replaced with a larger six-axle tender, its boiler was extended, its driving wheel diameter was increased, it received two extra pilot wheels, and it received four trailing wheels to support its enlarged firebox. No. 2102 was reassigned for mainline freight service only, just as the rest of its rebuilt sister locomotives were. As the Reading fully dieselized in 1956, No. 2102 was retired from revenue service and, shortly afterward, it was sold to Carpenter Steel Corporation for use to provide steam for its plant.^[2]

Excursion career and second retirement (1962–1991)[]

In the Fall of 1960, the Carpenter Steel plant suffered a catastrophic fire, badly damaging No. 2102's steam generator. After that, No. 2102 was sold back to the Reading Company, which one year prior had decided to spare a few of its T-1s from the scrapper's torch for use on their final excursion fan trips between Wayne Junction in Philadelphia and Shamokin, known as the "Iron Horse Rambles".^[3] After its extensive overhaul was completed in 1962, No. 2102 would join fellow T-1 No. 2100 and replace No. 2124, which was sold to Steamtown, U.S.A. after breaking-down. It would even perform some doubleheaders with No. 2100. In 1964, the Rambles were put to an end, and by January 31, 1965, the last remaining T-1s were sold separately, and No. 2102 was sold off to Steam Tours, Inc.,^[4] based in Akron, Ohio and led by Bill Benson. Beginning in 1966, No. 2102 would operate in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest areas of the country. Its main storage site under Steam Tours' ownership would be at Milwaukee Junction in Detroit, Michigan, which was the same location where Grand Trunk Western USRA 4-6-2 “Pacific” No. 5629 was occasionally stored.^[5] In 1968, though, No. 2102 ran an excursion on Grand Trunk Western trackage when a minor derailment damaged its Hennesey oil lubricators on the second driving axle, and the lubricator was subsequently converted to a grease block. The locomotive sat idle for the next three years.

No. 2102 when it masqueraded as Delaware and Hudson No. 302 in 1973

In April 1971, No. 2102 was brought back out of storage for use on an inaugural run along the Greenbrier River from Ronceverte to Cass, West Virginia, as a novel way of letting tourists connect to the remote Cass Scenic Railroad.^[6] One year later, Ross Rowland's High Iron Company (HICO) sponsored an excursion to run to recreate an Iron Horse Ramble from Reading to Harrisburg on Reading trackage, and No. 2102 was the locomotive used for the run. Another year later, during the sesquicentennial of the Delaware and Hudson Railway, No. 2102 was sent to the D&H's Colonie, New York shops to masquerade as D&H K-62 4-8-4 No. 302, with elephant-eared smoke deflectors, a recessed headlight, some raised marker lights and a D&H-style number board.^[7] In April, the locomotive traveled to Steamtown in Bellows Falls, Vermont to perform a doubleheader with Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1278, which masqueraded as D&H No. 653 at the time.^[8] For the rest of 1973, No. 302 pulled various excursions sponsored by HICO from Hoboken, New Jersey to Binghamton, New York, and excursions sponsored by Steam Tours over the Pittsburgh and Shawmut. Yet, another year later, 2102 was sold again to another Ohio tourist group, the Allegheny Railroad, while the group gave No. 2102 an overhaul that would last until 1977. During that process, No. 2102 was reverted to its Reading livery, albeit re-lettered to "Allegheny".

No. 2102 with 4-6-2 No. 425 and an EMD gp30 for a night photo session at the Reading locomotive shops in 1985

Shortly after the overhaul was completed, No. 2102 performed a doubleheader along the famed Horseshoe Curve with Grand Trunk Western 2-8-2 No. 4070.^[9] However, that trip was plagued with mechanical issues; while on the curve, No. 4070 threw an eccentric rod, and the busy line where the train sat had to be shut down for several hours. After that, Conrail banned steam operations for the next several years. Soon, No. 2102 was overhauled, yet again by volunteers at the Monongahela Railway's locomotive shops in Brownsville. In September, 1985, under the lease of the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society, No. 2102 travelled to the ex-Reading locomotive shops to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the debut of the Reading T-1 class. Andrew J. Muller, Jr., owner of the Blue Mountain and Reading Regional railroad (BM&R),^[10] brought his steam locomotive for the event as well: Ex-Gulf, Mobile and Northern 4-6-2 "Pacific" No. 425, which had recently been restored for the BM&R in 1983. During the event, Andy Muller, who had always dreamed of owning a Reading T-1, made the financially-distressed owners of the 2102 an offer they couldn't refuse, and he purchased No. 2102 at an undisclosed cost. No. 2102 then operated more mainline excursions on the BM&R, Conrail and Gettysburg trackage. The locomotive also performed one doubleheader with No. 425 in 1988. Between December 1986 and 1987, No. 2102's tender was given the bold lettering “We the People of Reading and Berks County PA celebrate Constitution Day” to pay homage to the bicentennial of the United States Constitution. No. 2102's last run in the 20th century occurred in August 1991, after pulling a special 12-car train called "The Anthracite Express" to Tamaqua, in celebration of the 160th anniversary of the opening of the Little Schuylkill Navigation Railroad, before No. 2102's fire was again dropped in 1991, since it was due for another overhaul.^[11]

On September 25, 1995, No. 2102 was moved to Steamtown National Historic Site^[12] in Scranton, Pennsylvania, when Muller made a deal to use its facilities in exchange for Steamtown using his locomotives to run excursions whenever they were operable, and No. 2102 was finally moved to the working stall at Steamtown's roundhouse two years later. The locomotive was disassembled beginning in January, 1998, with the jacket, shielding, and ornamentation removed from the boiler, and the handles and gauges removed from the cab. On June 26 of the same year, No. 2102 was reassembled and was moved back to the RBM&N's headquarters of Port Clinton, where the railroad's own locomotive shop was under construction. For the next seventeen years, No. 2102 would remain in storage out of public view inside the Port Clinton shop, but every once in awhile it would be brought outside for static display in front of the RBM&N station in Temple.

Second restoration and excursion career (2016–present)[]

In January 2016, the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern started a mechanical evaluation of the locomotive to restored to operating condition once again.^[13] R&N CEO Andy Muller spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild the locomotive, and more money to rebuild No. 2102 came from ticket sales, since public donations weren't allowed to be made for the RBM&N's steam program.^[14] The inside firebox sheets were replaced, 724 stay bolts were either replaced or repaired, and all flues and tubes were taken out to check the hydro pressure. The rear support sheet was also replaced, since it was discovered that it had suffered a crack long ago and never got replaced.

By the end of 2020, the boiler was almost completely refurbished, and on January 10, 2021, No. 2102 was fired-up for the very first time in almost 30 years at its 240 psi working pressure. All components, including the boiler, injectors, feedwater heater and stoker, tested fine. However, a few leaks were discovered, and they would be repaired after the locomotive cooled down. The 4-8-4 still wasn't quite ready to run yet, as the cab still needs to be reinstalled, and the tender is still being rebuilt, although No. 2102 was using No. 425's tender for the test-fire. The multi-year project has cost more than $1 million so far, and Muller says that he expects to spend another $100,000 for completion.^[11] The steam crew and management gathered on January 12 for a small ceremony to blow the whistle.

In popular culture[]

On September 22, 1983, No. 2102 was fired up and was used to pull a freight train south of Pittsburgh, and footage of it was recorded specifically for the 1984 romance film Maria's Lovers, starring Nastassja Kinski, John Savage and Robert Mitchum, and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky.

See also[]

• Reading 2101
• Reading 2124
• Central Railroad of New Jersey 113

External links[]

• Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Official Website

References[]

Further reading[]

• Bednar, Mike (1998). Anthracite Rebirth: Story of the Reading and Northern Railroad (1st ed.). Garrigues House Publication. ISBN 0-9620844-9-2.