In 1984 Mr. Wendell Dillinger bought the 441 Rio De Janiero Tram/Rio JT from The Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin, Illinois. This trolley was built in 1909.
In May 2007 it looked liked this:
By August of 2007 it was well into the restoration process. Here’s the newly restored inside:
In October of 2007 it was out of the barn and on the tracks again!
Since then it has been used for special occasions including the Middletown Autumn fests.
If you have never had the pleasure of riding in an open trolley why not come visit on July 18, August 1 or 18? Come hear the clang, clang, clang of the trolley!
During train rides snacks and drinks can be purchased and enjoyed in the newly decorated cafe car or taken back to your seat.
This mourning dove thinks it is. She has at least 2 baby birds under her wings.
More pictures by Joe Pagano more…
2nd Annual Ride the Rails For Cancer
On Sat., June 12 from 11am-5pm and Sun., June 13 from 11am-4pm the Conrail Historical Society is sponsoring caboose rides on the M&H tracks to benefit Vickie’s Angel Walk.
Vickie’s Angel Walk is a non profit with a mission of helping families who have difficulties paying their bills during the challenging times of fighting cancer. Their goal is to take the financial worry away from the family so the family can focus on the cancer and not their finances.
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Tickets are available the day of the event at the boarding platform next to Hoffer Park for $5.00 per person and children under age 5 are $1.00.
This is the same day as the Middletown Arts & Craft Fair so there will be lots to see.
Join the fun and help families battling cancer!
We just returned from the Easter bunny express and I want to say thank you! We had a fun time and the train staff was so friendly. Our daughter enjoyed seeing the Easter bunny and receiving a treat. What a fun family activity! Keep up the good work! ~Michelle from PA
Our annual rules class held on March 13, 2010.
For other blogs that participate in Wordless Wednesdays visit wordlesswednesday.com.
This is a Chicago made Pullman car from 1916 that was showing it’s age.
Ready to remove old heaters under seats
It became the big project for the winter of 09-10. more…
Benjamin L. Bernhart, who is the Reading Railroad Museum curator, wrote an article for the January 2010 issue of Reading Railroad Magazine. It is titled Moving Milk on the Reading and gives us another clue into why the M&H is sometimes referred to as the milk & honey railroad. Following is an excerpt from that article:
Milk operations were at their height between 1910 and 1920. The Reading Railroad was moving between 3000 and 4000 cans daily. Every day, early in the morning, a special milk train left Harrisburg for Philadephia. The train began its journey with cars of milk gathered from the Gettysburg Brand and the PH&P Branch that morning.
Additional milk was taken on at the junction of the Middletown & Hummelstown Branch, just west of Hershey.
Milk cars were added at Lebanon from the Lebanon & Tremont Branch. At Reading, milk cars were added from the Reading and Columbia Branch, Wilmington & Northern, Schuylkill & Lehigh, and the East Penn Branches. East of Reading milk was added at Douglasville, Phoenixville, and the Pickering Branch finally arriving at 3rd & Berks Streets in Philadelphia late that night for process and sale in Philly the next morning. So think of the Reading Railroad as a big river of milk stretching from Harrisburg to Philly with tributary streams like the M&H.
Photo by Jeb Boyd, Whiskey Spring Studios
Built prior to 1890, this car has a wood frame, link and pin couplers and hand brakes.
George Westinghouse’s air brake invention was first used on passenger trains in 1868; freight cars came much later. On a signal from the engineer, the brakeman jumped from car to car setting the hand brakes.
To couple the cars, the brakeman had to slip a pin down through the hole in the coupler and through the link as the cars slammed together. All this was done, night and day, in all kinds of weather. Railroading in the “good old days” was an extremely hazardous occupation. Many men were seriously injured or killed.
Truss rods under the car were periodically tightened to keep the car from sagging in the middle.
The box car in the picture is owned by Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad.
