Reading Company 902 and Reading Company 903 are two preserved ex-

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

EMD FP7 The EMD FP7 is a , B-B dual-service passenger and freight-hauling diesel locomotive produced between June 1949 and December 1953 by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Il ...

History

Reading 902 and 903 were among of the first six FP7s ordered by the railroad in March 1950 to replace passenger

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s. The two units were completed on June 1 of that year and delivered to the Reading via the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

. The pair pulled their first train on June 6. In the following years, the two locomotives sometimes worked together, and sometimes were split, depending on the size of their trains.

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

inherited the units in 1974, and they were renumbered by the new Consolidated Rail Corporation in 1976, with the 902 becoming 4372 and the 903 becoming 4373. During the SEPTA years, the FP7s usually operated in push-pull configuration. 903 was the first FP7 to receive the SEPTA paint scheme in February 1978. 902 was involved in a derailment in February 1978, and when it re-entered service in June, it was also repainted into the SEPTA paint. SEPTA ceased all diesel-operations in 1981, and the locomotives were retired. Both locomotives were eventually purchased by the National Railway Historical Society in September 1983. 902 was obtained by the Lancaster Chapter of the NRHS, while 903 purchased by the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Chapter of the NRHS. They were stored at the

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The museum is located on the east side of Strasburg along Pennsylvania Route 741. It is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museu ...

. Restoration on the two began in 1986 and was completed in 1995. In January 2007, the Lancaster Chapter donated the 902 to the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society. 902 and 903 operated an excursion on an ex-Reading line owned by

Penn Eastern Rail Lines East Penn Railroad is a short-line railroad that operates a number of mostly-unconnected lines in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Except for two industrial park switching operations, all are former Pennsylvania Railroad or Read ...

in October of that year, but no more trips are planned for 2008. In January 2010, the 902 and 903 were loaned to

Steamtown National Historic Site Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The museum is buil ...

for a year to maintain the locomotives in exchange for excursion rights. As of 2014, both units are still at the park, but are out of service and on display.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reading 0902 Electro-Motive Division locomotives B-B locomotives Reading Company Individual locomotives of the United States Preserved diesel locomotives Philadelphia and Reading Railroad locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States