Bill McClellan and his son Rob did a fabulous job chasing and filming the very best of these excursions. They ranged from Philadelphia to Wilmington along the banks of the Brandywine River, without doubt one of the most scenic of the Reading Rambles. Others started in New York and were brought to Trenton by the Central of New Jersey. Many went to Gettysburg; others to Hershey. But the most interesting trips went into coal country - the reason for the Reading's existence. To tame the mountain grades, the railroad featured doubleheaded T-ls, often joining two steam-powered sections from different ends of the Reading system to explore the lines north to Tamaqua, Shamokin and West Milton.

T-ls were freight engines and the 'hooter' freight whistle was standard equipment. When revived for passenger service many received the melodious four chime passenger whistles. On many of the doubleheaded trips there is a continuing 'conversation' between the two engines, their two different whistles blending in a lonesome evocation of the days of real steam operations.

53 minutes

Throughout the film a variety of Reading diesel engines are seen in the background: covered wagons, RS-ls and 3s and lo-nose hoods. There's even a Heisler bustling around a local industry yard. The tape ends in a roaring salute to steam as a storm of doubleheaders thunder across meadow and mountain, from the first green of Spring to the last blaze of Autumn.