It was the last weekend of 2024 Autumn Leaf Specials on the Wilmington & Western Railroad, in the suburbs of the northern Delaware city, but for me, this was a first. In my 15+ years of railfanning, I never made it out to railfan any of the railroad's fall foliage trips, for various reasons, until this year. For the first time, I would be able to see vibrant leaves and steam along this particular line. Unfortunately, a lot of the foliage had already fallen. However, the sun was still shining, and 0-6-0 #58 was still steaming and running well - so enjoy this look at Falling Foliage on the Wilmington and Western!

Bucks County, PA has many activities that someone can do for Christmas. One of my favorites involves a visit to the New Hope Railroad in New Hope, PA. Running out of the former Reading Railroad station downtown, visitors can ride either a diesel-powered holiday train, or Santa's Steam Train Ride, with 2-8-0 #40 at the helm. Being one of my "home" tourist railroads (only a half-hour away), it's a favorite stop of mine overall, and I try to make it a point to visit every time #40 is running. This year, I managed to get some decent shots along the line, including some night videography. Enjoy this look at Bucks County's Santa Steam Train Ride!!

For the past few years, the non-profit Iron Horse Society has partnered with Steamtown National Historic Site to run steam-powered holiday trips within Scranton, Pennsylvania's railroad yard and past the city's Nay Aug Park. 2024 was no exception, as once again, the park's currently lone operating steam locomotive, Baldwin Locomotive Works 0-6-0 #26 was the motive power for a series of sold out (or nearly-sold out) trains throughout the day. As an interesting note, the locomotive faces the opposite way from the normal Scranton Limited operations, giving new vantage points the locomotive as it leads facing westbound on the downhill grade.

As a bonus, one of the beautiful things about the northeastern United States is the chances of seeing snow in December while steam trains are still operating. On the night of Friday, December 20, 2024, snow fell across the eastern part of the state of Pennsylvania, including in the area of Scranton - so on Saturday, December 21, the city was blanketed in beautiful white snow, and it made for a very picturesque day.

Enjoy this look at Iron Horse Society's North Pole Limited - and Happy Holidays!!

It was a very cold day on Saturday, February 8, 2024 as the Reading & Northern Railroad ran their first ever Winter Iron Horse Ramble using famed 4-8-4 #2102 on a round-trip between Reading and Jim Thorpe, PA. The locomotive easily handled its 16-car train at both the lower (and drier) elevations of the area, as well as the higher (and icier) elevations of the line. The locomotive and crew, as usual, put on a fine show - so enjoy this look at the Icy Iron Horse Ramble with Reading & Northern 2102!