--- title: "This Steam Train From 1945 Just Hauled 50 Freight Cars in 2022" description: "It's not every day—or month, or year—that you see an old steam engine still hauling freight." date: "2022-04-26" modified: "2022-04-26" authors: - name: "James Gilboy" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/this-steam-train-from-1945-just-hauled-50-freight-cars-in-2022" categories: - "Culture" - "News" tags: - "Trains" --- # This Steam Train From 1945 Just Hauled 50 Freight Cars in 2022 ![]() *Mike Burkhart via Twitter | @railfanmag* [Steam engines]() are antiquated machines that most people probably can't say they've ever seen run in person, much less in actual service. Tuesday morning, however, a few Pennsylvanians bore witness to a sight rarely seen on American rails since even Baby Boomers were kids: A steam locomotive hauling an honest-to-God freight train, on its own, for real money. The once-in-a-lifetime journey was captured in a video shared by *Railfan & Railroad Magazine* on Twitter, showing Reading Blue Mountain & Northern (RBMN for short) unit 2102 bound for Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania with 50 freight cars in tow. While it's common for steam locomotives to travel with assistance from [at least a semi-modern diesel unit](), 2102 notably made the journey on its own—something many railroads wouldn't ever entrust a heritage steam unit to, much less a real, revenue-bringing freight service. There was money on the line here (no pun intended), which shows just how much faith RBMN has in its finicky old steamer. https://www.instagram.com/p/CcvDfEGrBrN/ RBMN was able to entrust 2102—one of four surviving Reading T-1 class (different from the PRR T1) 4-8-4s of a batch of 30—to do the job because it had just completed a five-year restoration on the unit, at a [stated]() cost of $2.4 million. Previously, 2102 had been out of service since 1991, having been retired from full-time duty at the end of the 1950s after barely a decade of service since its construction in 1945, according to *[Railway Age]()*. The steam era itself began drawing to a close around that time, and by the early 1960s, almost all railroads nationwide favored newer diesels. There were some regional holdouts that remained reliant on steam, some [allegedly as late as the early 1990s](), but steam engines have by and large been retired to the status of novelties; historical whimsies mainly used on tourist railroads, with occasional excursions on mainlines. (Though even [the mighty Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy]() travels with the assistance of a diesel.) RBMN 2102 faces such a future, but continuing on as a living, breathing curio is infinitely preferable to a life spent stationary in a museum—never mind one of rusting away on a forgotten spur, the way many once-iconic locomotives have gone. https://twitter.com/railfanmag/status/1518962713409449985 *Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: james@thedrive.com* ## Author James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids." ### Author social links [Instagram]()