As it closes in on another record-breaking year for ridership in 2025, the Reading & Northern Railroad Passenger Department is already at work finalizing its 2026 schedule. Tickets for
some of these excursions, scheduled for January and early February, went on sale with special early-season pricing.
Reading Outer Station and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Regional Railroad Station at Pittston will continue their schedules of all-day weekend excursion trains to Jim Thorpe in January and February. This sets the stage for year-round excursion train operation for the first time ever in the history of Reading & Northern outside of its Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, based in Jim Thorpe. The LGSR itself operates year-round, and will run primarily on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until March 13, 2026, when daily operation will resume.
The excursion trains from Reading and Pittston to Jim Thorpe are currently scheduled for Saturdays and Sundays beginning January 3, 2026 through February 8, 2026. During this time frame only, special pricing of $29.00 per ticket from Reading and Pittston is offered. Passengers boarding at outlying stations such as Port Clinton and Tamaqua (on the route from Reading), or Penobscot and White Haven (on the route from Pittston) can purchase their tickets for only $24.00 each. Each route will be serviced by a self-propelled Rail Diesel Car, better known as an RDC. More of the 2026 schedule will follow early in the new year.
The most anticipated excursion news, however, is the announcement of Reading & Northern’s first Iron Horse Ramble of 2026. This follows another well-received Reading & Northern first, a wintertime Ramble that ran in February 2025. Featuring the popular 4-8-4 T-1 steam locomotive #2102, the first 2026 Ramble will take place on Saturday, February 14. It will operate round trip from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe, with a station stop at Port Clinton. This too will feature special lower early-season pricing of $69.00 per Standard Coach seat. Premium seating options will also be available. Tickets for this exciting Iron Horse Ramble will go on sale Monday, December 22, 2025 at 9:00am.
-via Press Release