Jim Rowland / photos as noted
Railroad Historians of the Lehigh Valley and Lehigh Valley Chapter, NRHS sponsored Railroad Explorer VI on Saturday, April 18, 2026. These rare-mileage, photographer special trips on the Reading & Northern Railroad have developed an outstanding reputation, and this year was no different, with this year’s trip selling out in a little over one month! An encouraging sign this year was the number of young fans who were part of the 200+ riders (some of whom were international) that rode and photographed another successful trip over more rare-mileage trackage on the Reading & Northern system. All riders were provided with a lavish 24-page trip guide thoroughly describing and illustrating the former CNJ, Lehigh Valley, and Reading trackage we were covering.
ABOVE: The three-car Budd RDC trip approaches R&N’s new campus in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania, to board passengers on Saturday morning, April 18. — Robert DiMattio
This year’s trip featured a trio of Budd RDCs covering trackage that was, except for a few miles, rejected for inclusion in Conrail. This included Jersey Central’s Nesquehoning Valley Branch, Reading’s Catawissa Branch between Haucks and Lofty, Lehigh Valley’s Hazleton Branch between Oneida Jct. and Laurel Jct., and LV’s New Boston Branch from Laurel Jct. to end-of-track at Morea. Most of this trackage became light density/contract subsidy operations. It wasn’t until the 1989 opening of the Lofty Connection that linked the CNJ Nesquehoning Branch and the Reading Catawissa Branch into the LV Hazelton Branch, that this route was transformed from a series of disconnected line segments into one continuous route under the auspices of the Schuylkill–Carbon Rail Transit Authority.
ABOVE: Photographers detrain at Delano Junction, the second photo stop. Excellent crowd control at every stop enabled people-free views. — Jim Rowland
Reading & Northern purchased the RDG and LV Hazleton Branch trackage from SCTRA as part of its East Mahanoy & Hazleton subsidiary in 1992. RBMN went on to acquire the New Boston Branch in 2016, and CNJ’s Nesquehoning Branch in 2021.
ABOVE: Off to the races! The first highlight of the trip was crossing the massive Hometown Bridge, 1000 feet long and more than 160 feet high. — John Olejnik
Departing Nesquehoning promptly at 9:00 a.m. in beautiful spring weather, we proceeded directly to Mauch Chunk Jct. at Haucks (the connection between the CNJ and RDG) for our first photo stop. We then proceeded west using a combination of RDG Catawissa Branch trackage and the Lofty Connection to arrive at Delano Jct. This junction was created in 1989 as part of the Lofty Connection. This was the site of our second photo stop. R&N owner Andy Muller and VP–Operations Tyler Glass were noted chasing the trip; VP– Passenger Matt Fisher rode aboard with us the entire day. From Delano Jct. we made a direct run north to Oneida Jct., which is the end of RBMN-owned trackage. RBMN operates over NS trackage rights west of here, and as such we were precluded from going further…
