New Hope #40 fall foliage STEAM ACTION

The New Hope and Ivyland Railroad's pride and joy, steam locomotive #40, was back on the rails this fall, pulling the fall foliage excursion train from New Hope, PA to Buckingham, PA and back. Well, actually, it pulls the train only the Lahaska, runs around the train there, then pushes it to Buckingham, before backing back to New Hope.

These videos were taken on two separate dates, October 25th and November 7th, and were edited together to give an idea of what an entire trip was like, from start to finish. So if you see some differences between the videos, that's why.

Steam locomotive #40 is a 95-year-old 2-8-0 consolidation, built-in 1925 by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. It was originally sold to the Lancaster & Chester Railroad, and then to the Cliffside Railroad in 1947 before it was acquired by the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad in 1962.

An interesting addition in some shots, (specifically the October 25th ones) is the Ex Reading Blueliner No. 9123 on the back end of the train, still painted in Reading colors after being acquired from the Reading Technical and Historical Society. On November 7th, engine #40 was assisted by locomotive #8218, a GP-9u diesel-electric locomotive, built by EMD in 1957, due to additional capacity being required because of the COVID-19 pandemic and excess leaves on the track. Also on the 7th, Open Air Car #1525 was heading up the rear of the train. Its open platform at the back gives quite a show when 40 is pushing from the rear.