The Iron Horse Ramblers (reading T-1s)

Buynot · Aug 5, 2018

History:
The Reading Railroad's T-1s are a class of 4-8-4 Northern type locomotives numbered from 2100 to 2129. They originally began as 2-8-0s built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in the early 1920s. As the years progressed, the Reading Railroad was looking for a new form of motive power. As the coal business increased, the less and less their 2-8-0s were up to the task. This led the Reading to bring in several of their 2-8-0s into the shops and rebuild them into the T-1 Northerns. The rebuilds began in 1945 and were completed in 1947. At the end of the steam era, the Reading had decided to keep 4 of their T-1s for excursion service. The T-1s that they had decided to keep were numbers 2100, 2101, 2102, and 2124. These 4 locomotives were known as the Iron Horse Ramblers. They operated in excursion service until they were eventually bought or sold from the Reading.
2100:
After 1964, 2100 found itself in a scrap yard with 2101. 2100 was eventually saved in 1975 by Ross Rowland. After its time under Ross Rowland's ownership, 2100 changed owners a lot during the 1970's, 80's, and 90's. It eventually ended up in St. Thomas, Ontario where it was supposed to pull excursions, but the plans fell through. While in Ontario, 2100 was converted to burn oil. The locomotive was moved again to Tacoma Washington where it operated very briefly in 2007 before being stored away when the railroad operating the locomotive had shut down. Today 2100 is undergoing a restoration in Cleveland Ohio.
2101:
When 2101 and 2100 were bought by Ross Rowland in 1975, 2101 was restored to operation for his American Freedom Train project and 2100 served as a donor engine for parts. 2101 was re-numbered to American Freedom Train #1 and pulled the train all throughout the eastern United States. It eventually handed the train over to Southern Pacific #4449 during the tour, and later Texas and Pacific #610 took over for the train's stint in Texas. After the American Freedom Train had ended, the 2101 was sold to the Chessie System in the 1980s and put into a Chessie System paint scheme. There, it pulled the Chessie Safety Express, which was another exhibition train to educate people about railroad crossing safety. 2101's excursion carer was cut short after it was damaged in a roundhouse fire in Kentucky. Today, 2101 has been put back into its AFT paint scheme and re-numbered to AFT #1 and is on display in the B&O Railroad Museum.
2102:
2102, operated on many mainline excursions under the ownership of Steam Tours of Akron Ohio for many years after the Iron Horse Ramblers had ended. From 1985 to 1991, 2102 operated on the Reading and Northern Railroad pulling more tourist trains until its flue time expired. 2102 was moved to Steamtown USA in Scranton, Pennsylvania for a rebuild in 1995, this rebuild however, never happened. In 1997, 2102 was moved to the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad in Port Clinton, PA. In 2016, it was announced that 2102 would undergo a restoration to operation. As of today, that restoration is still in progress.
2124:
2124 was sold off 2 years before the Iron Horse Ramblers had ended in 1962. It was sold to F. Nelson Blount for his Steamtown USA collection in Bellows Falls Vermont. Eventually, 2124 was moved with the rest of the collection to Scranton PA where it remains on display today.
Conclusion:
These locomotives have lot of history with them and would make a fantastic edition to Train Simulator. There are several paint scheme options that could come with these locomotives, and I believe that many users would come to love these locomotives. It has probably been said before, but I will say it again, the US market for steam locomotives in TS2018, is very under represented. So please, Dovetail. I ask that the T-1's come to Train Simulator.