The Reading and Northern cars await the boarding of their passengers on a wintry morning at Reading Outer Station.
Submitted photo
PITTSTON — Reading & Northern Railroad, coming off a record-breaking year for ridership in 2025, is in the process of finalizing the 2026 schedule. Tickets for some of these excursions, scheduled for Jan. and early Feb., went on sale this morning at 9 a.m. with special early-season pricing.
“We are pleased to be able to offer even lower ticket prices to our customers, both old and new,” Matt Fisher, senior VP/GM-passenger, said. “We want to attract as many customers as possible and continue our path of steady growth. With loyal employees who have been with us ten, twenty, thirty, and in some cases, forty years, we have become quite efficient at operating these excursions. We have already broken our 2024 ridership record as of week ending Nov. 16, 2025; and are well positioned to carry on that upward trend in 2026.”
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Regional Railroad Station at Pittston will continue its schedules of all-day weekend excursion trains to Jim Thorpe in January and February.
This sets the stage for year-round excursion train operation for the first time ever in the history of Reading & Northern outside of its Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway (LGSR), based in Jim Thorpe.
The LGSR itself operates year-round and will run primarily on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until March 13, 2026, when daily operation will resume.
The excursion trains from Reading and Pittston to Jim Thorpe are scheduled for Saturdays and Sundays beginning Jan. 3, 2026, through Feb. 8, 2026.
During this time frame only, special pricing of $29 per ticket from Reading and Pittston is offered.
Passengers boarding at outlying stations such as Port Clinton and Tamaqua (on the route from Reading), or Penobscot and White Haven (on the route from Pittston) can purchase their tickets for only $24 each.
Each route will be serviced by a self-propelled Rail Diesel Car, better known as an RDC. More of the 2026 schedule will follow early in 2026.
The most anticipated excursion news, however, is the announcement of Reading & Northern’s first Iron Horse Ramble of 2026.
This follows another well-received Reading & Northern first, a wintertime Ramble that ran in February 2025, featuring the popular 4-8-4 T-1 steam locomotive #2102.
The first 2026 Ramble will take place on Saturday, Feb. 14. It will operate round-trip from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe, with a station stop at Port Clinton.
This excursion will feature special lower early-season pricing of $69 per Standard Coach seat. Premium seating options will also be available. Tickets for the Iron Horse Ramble will go on sale at 9 a.m. Monday.
