Reading Blue Mountain & Northern No. 425 is a 12-38 ¼ D class 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA in 1928 for the Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad (GM&N). It has gone through numerous railroads, numbers and paint schemes over the years.
425 originally was a freight locomotive used on various shortlines, but was eventually used to haul passenger excursions on the Reading & Blue Mountain Railroad (RBM&N) after being sold and preserved in 1983.
After retirement from the GM&N in 1950, 425 was purchased by Paulson Spence as part of his Louisiana Eastern Railroad. The locomotive was renumbered to 4, and later renumbered again to 2, as part of a large collection of steam engines hauling freight. 425 was later sold in 1962 to Malcolm Ottinger and became the main power of the Valley Forge Scenic Railroad of Kimberton, PA where it was also regained its original number. In the 1970s, 425 was leased to Brian Woodcock and moved to the Wilmington & Western Railroad, though it never operated on the line.
In 1983, 425 was later sold to Andrew J. Muller, Jr. to power tourist excursion trains on the newly formed Blue Mountain & Reading Railroad (BM&R) based out of Temple, PA. The locomotive made many runs on this 26-mile shortline, as well as a few trips on the mainline. The high-stepping Pacific type was later joined by former Reading No. 2102 in 1987.
The idea came to Mr. Muller to paint 425 in dark blue by former Reading Company Engineer Charles W. Kachel. 425 was a featured guest at the Steamtown National Historic Site Grand Opening in July 1995, and made a number of excursions out of Scranton, PA. 425 returned to Port Clinton in late 1996. 425's last excursion was the Tamaqua Fall Fest on October 13, 1996. From 1997 to 2008, steam operations took an extended break on the BM&R.
The BM&R became much larger with the purchase of nearly 300 miles of former Conrail trackage throughout the early 1990s. The railroad was renamed to Reading Blue Mountain & Northern (often shortened to Reading & Northern). In 1995, both names officially merged. Having more tracks gave both 425 and 2102 a large number of new areas to roam and the locomotives became based out of the railroad's own headquarters of Port Clinton. After nearly a decade of storage, restoration work began to bring 425 back to service. Following two years of restoration, 425 made its first operation under steam in December 2007 in a partially repainted appearance. Another test run was done on May 11, 2008 where the locomotive debuted in a new lighter blue color and an above-centered headlight. 425 made its return to excursion service in June 2008 on a round trip from Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe, a run it would make often. The RBM&N's new steam star made many excursion trips to Jim Thorpe and other locations over the next three years, with employee runs, tourist trains on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, and a featured attraction of the 2010 NRHS Convention. Since then, 425 has received various different paint schemes, various different bells, whistles, and headlight mounts, as well as undergoing several overhauls.
As of July 2022, 425 is still operational on the RBM&N alongside 2102, which was restored back to operation by the RBM&N for excursion service on April 6, 2022. On August 13, 2022, 425 doubleheaded the RBM&N's Iron Horse Rambles excursion with 2102 for the first time since 1988. 425 also operated the RBM&N's 2022 Santa Trains, after which, it was taken out of service temporarily on December 19, 2022 for its Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection and overhaul. It will eventually run again when the 1,472-day restoration is complete.
Trivia[]
- 425 was featured in films such as Lots and Lots of Trains, I Love Toy Trains 7, I Love Big Trains 3, All About Trains, Blue Mountain Steam, The Blue Mountain & Reading Story, and Choo Choo Trains: Up Close and Very Personal.
- In 1996, 425 hauled the Springtime Special from Tobyhanna to Scranton and return while doubleheading with Canadian Pacific No. 2317.
- In 1987, 425 hauled the Reading Railroad Steam Spectacular while doubleheading with Reading No. 2102.
- In 1995, 425 hauled the Ashland Special.
- On September 4, 2017, 425 was in push-pull mode when it hit a car pulling into Jim Thorpe.
- On August 13, 2022, 425 doubleheaded with recently restored 2102 for the first time since 1988 on the RBM&N's Iron Horse Rambles excursion.
- 425 can change multiple whistles, such as the Reading 6-chime whistle and others including: Southern Pacific 6-chime whistle, which is from scrapped Southern Pacific No. 4450, Boston & Maine 6-chime whistle, which supposedly came from Boston & Maine No. 3713, a Pennsylvania Railroad 3-chime whistle, a Santa Fe 6-Chime whistle in 2010, a CNJ 3-Chime whistle, and its famous Baltimore & Ohio "Tumor-Top" 3-chime whistle.
- 425 has a few changes and paint schemes that have been changed such as: its headlight came from Delaware & Lackawanna No. 1501. Its bell is supposedly from a Reading G-Class 4-6-2 "Pacific". Its headlight was originally located in front of the smokestack instead it's located underneath the new location of the bell which is also located in front of the smokestack. it has three paint schemes such as: it's original black paint scheme, which was used in the 1970s to the mid 80s and by that its paint scheme was blue during her test run. In fact, another paint scheme was used from 2008-2014 and that was a pair of light blue coat with light blue wheels, yellow linings and yellow lettering. In 2015 a darker blue coat was added with white lettering and black wheels in addition.
- 425 has supposedly succeeded Frisco No. 1522 as the loudest operational steam locomotive in the world as of today, following 1522's retirement from excursion service in late September 2002.
- On December 17, 2022, 425 made its last run before being temporarily taken out of service two days later on December 19th in preparation for its FRA mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection and overhaul, meaning that the other steam locomotive, No. 2102, will operate until 425's overhaul is finished.
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