RailNews

A Reading & Northern passenger train rolls past the KME fire truck plant in Nesquehoning, Pa. on Oct. 19, 2019. The railroad has purchased the complex and will use it for expanded equipment maintenance, repair and storage. Photo by M.T.Burkhart.

Reading & Northern Develops Nesquehoning Maintenance Facility

By Railfan & Railroad Staff

The Reading & Northern Railroad has continued to develop a new maintenance facility at Nesquehoning, Pa., two years after it purchased the 10-acre site from fire truck manufacturer Kovatch Mobile Equipment.

The property sits at the midpoint of the regional’s 400-mile system running from Reading in the south to Hazleton, Scranton and Mehoopany in the north. Since it was purchased in 2022, the R&N has stationed its Maintenance of Way, Signals, Real Estate, and Passenger Departments on the site and it soon plans to establish a locomotive shop there. It will be the first time in over 75 years that locomotives will be maintained and repaired in Carbon County.

The railroad is also looking at building a passenger station on the site and running excursions out of Nesquehoning. Two such excursions behind Reading Company 4-8-4 2102 are scheduled for June 22 and August 17. The railroad is also opening a gift shop on the campus.