Santa Fe on the Reading and Northern "Mountain Job"

On June 26, 2014, the Reading and Northern "Mountain Job" returns to Tamaqua with a pair of former Santa Fe GP30's powering train MCQA (Mt. Carmel - Tamaqua) through the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. The locomotives, now classed GP39RN's and renumbered to RBMN 2530 and 2531, were purchased from LTEX in the beginning of the year. These GP30's were rebuilt to GP40u's, upgrading the 567D3 to a 645 prime mover. Like us on Facebook!   / centralpennrailproductions   Fan funding: The icon in the upper right corner allows you to make donations to this channel. We'd be more than thrilled by your extra support! 0:00 - We start out on the M&S Branch as the train slowly works its way east. Naturally, the background noise is dominated by trucks and other equipment found in coal country. 1:10 - Railfanning in anthracite region would not be complete without visiting a private crossing to one of the many anthracite coal businesses in the area. St. Nicholas is known for a variety of abandoned coal breakers still standing this day. 2:05 - The anthracite coal region is home to many small towns planned in a linear fashion between the ridges. Mahanoy City is one of the larger towns, oriented in this fashion, with a population around 5000. But for the sake of the video, I guess it's more about the neat railroad bridge in town that the train still crosses over—restored into Reading and Northern livery. 2:50 - Passing through East Mahanoy Junction. 4:10 - MCQA enters Tamaqua, making a brief pause to pick up some paperwork at the yard office. The train idles in front of the beautiful Reading Station for several minutes, allowing several different idling shots. 5:25 - Underway at Tamaqua. MCQA will yard the train, before doing work at an industry below town. 7:00 - Moments later, the same set of power shoves a hopper car toward a siding south of Tamaqua. 7:30 - Lastly, we see the train shoving to its final destination. Thanks for watching!