Beginning The
Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad was founded in 1983 to provide freight service on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Division between
Hamburg and
Temple. Starting in 1985, the BM&R began operating passenger excursions over the line using two steam locomotives: ex-
Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad 4-6-2 № 425 and ex-
Reading Company T-1 4-8-4
№ 2102. The BM&R also began operating three more state-owned lines: the
Allentown branch, the
Perkiomen Branch, and
Colebrookdale branch. The railroad also entered into a partnership with the Reading Company Technical and Historical Society, which leased track space in
Leesport and in return leased two vintage Reading Company diesel locomotives and assorted passenger cars for use on the line.
Expansion In 1990, the Blue Mountain and Reading took ownership of 150 miles of track located in the
Coal Region north of
Reading, referred to by Conrail as the "Reading Cluster". Shortly thereafter, the company renamed itself the
Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad and moved its headquarters from Hamburg to
Port Clinton. Despite the discontinuation of the Hamburg to Temple excursions, steam operations continued elsewhere on the railroad. In 1995, No. 425 was present at the grand opening of
Steamtown National Historic Site in
Scranton. № 425 remained at Steamtown until 1997. Between 1998 and late 2008, all steam operations were suspended while both № 425 and № 2102 underwent full rebuilds in compliance with federal guidelines. № 425 returned to service in 2008, while № 2102 returned to service in 2022.
21st century In 2005, regularly scheduled passenger excursions resumed with the introduction of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway in
Jim Thorpe. In December 2016, the RBMN announced that it spent $2 million to build a train station at
Pennsylvania Route 61 and Bellevue Avenue in
Muhlenberg Township outside Reading, called Reading Outer Station, with plans to operate passenger excursions from there to Jim Thorpe. The first round-trip excursion from Reading Outer Station to Jim Thorpe ran on May 29, 2017. It used refurbished
Rail Diesel Cars built by the
Budd Company in the 1950s, which operated along the
Pottsville Line between
Pottsville and
Philadelphia via Reading until
SEPTA discontinued diesel service in 1981. Between 2009 and 2010, RBMN expanded operations due to the emergence of
Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in northeastern Pennsylvania. The railroad spent $100,000 to update an outdated and lightly used
Pittston Yard between
Scranton and
Wilkes-Barre. RBMN also purchased two new locomotives, 101
rail cars, and of track between
Monroeton and
Towanda, where much of northeastern Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale economic activity is focused. In 2017, the railroad completed its connections to the Hazleton Shaft and Hazleton Hiller Drying Plant. In 2019, an audit by the borough of Jim Thorpe revealed the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway owed the borough $90,000 in amusement tax. The Railway fought the tax bill in court, where the judge sided with the borough; the railway appealed the decision, arguing that the tourist railroad was "not an amusement". Company officials threatened to leave the borough of Jim Thorpe, and briefly ceased excursion operations in November 2019. RBMN officials shortly thereafter, negotiated a new agreement with the Jim Thorpe Borough government, and excursions resumed in February 2020. On May 6, 2021, railroad officials announced their purchase of the Panther Valley line from
Carbon County for $4.7 million. This line, part of the Reading Division, ran from East Mahanoy Junction to Jim Thorpe via Nesquehoning. The RBMN had run over this line via
trackage rights, but with this acquisition was able to control maintenance and dispatching on the line. The railroad immediately announced $1M in repairs, in order that the line might be brought to
FRA Class III standards. On April 21, 2022, railroad officials announced their purchase of the property of the former KME Fire Apparatus plant in
Nesquehoning for $2 million. The Reading and Northern now uses these facilities for maintenance of locomotives, passenger equipment, freight cars, and company automobiles, as well as storage. On June 22, 2024, the Reading & Northern debuted its new Nesquehoning Station at the former KME site for the day's Iron Horse Ramble to
Tunkhannock. ==Connections==