After four Iron Horse Rambles during the summer months, Reading & Northern 4-8-4 #2102 closed out her first year back in steam with three Autumn Leaf Excursions in the fall. This program looks at the last two trips of 2022, as the locomotive ran the familiar Reading to Jim Thorpe route at the end of fall color season. These trips are covered in detail, with extensive video from in-cab and locomotive-mounted cameras supplementing the traditional trackside runbys.

On October 29th, #2102 took an 18-car train from North Reading to Jim Thorpe. This was the most exciting trip of the year and the locomotive put on an exceptional show climbing the steep grades in both directions. In the morning, the '02 struggled on the tough 1.4% grade north of Tamaqua, as leaf residue made the rails especially slick. You'll see the crew fight to keep the locomotive moving, as the driving wheels slip over and over again approaching East Mahanoy Junction. In the afternoon you'll see more wheel-slip, as #2102 climbs away from the Lehigh River and thunders up the 1.2% grade through Nesquehoning.

The '02 traveled to Jim Thorpe one last time on November 6th, pulling the final Autumn Leaf Excursion of the year. In contrast to the previous trip, it was wet and rainy all day long. Despite a shorter train, #2102 still turned in an impressive performance. We'll again cover the action in both directions with a unique mix of trackside shots and in-cab footage.

Filmed entirely in HD, this program provides a fascinating and unparalleled look into what it takes to get a heavy train over the steep grades of the R&N mainline. It features spectacular footage from inside the locomotive's cab during the toughest trip of the year. This program has minimal narration (with the option to turn it on or off) and no distracting music.