Reading & Northern adds new passenger train to Jim Thorpe fleet

The Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad this week added a new passenger coach to its Lehigh Gorge fleet in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.

Dubbed the Pagoda, or Coach No. 450, the passenger car is named after the Reading Pagoda found south of Reading, Pennsylvania. It’s a heavyweight six-axle car built in the 1920s, originally destined for Illinois Central Railroad. The coach was recently purchased in a rail-car auction, Reading and Northern officials said in a press release.

The car was a major project for the railroad’s restoration and paint department over the summer, with the roof and exterior receiving paint to match the rest of the passenger fleet, they said. The interior received a thorough cleaning and the seats are being reupholstered.

The coach is in service on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, owned and operated by the railroad, which runs daily out of downtown Jim Thorpe.